[PHP] Re: Forms validation and creation- easier solution?
Daniele Grillenzoni dani...@b2informatica.it wrote in message
news:16.1e.28112.84ca5...@pb1.pair.com...
On 20/05/2009 9.03, Angelo Zanetti wrote:
Hi all.
We have done quite a few projects and we are looking to find better ways
to
implementing forms.
Forms seem to be quite time consuming and repetitive.
Generally are there any classes or libraries that will assist with:
1. Easy creation of forms (fields and layout)
2. Validation of specific fields within the forms (server side not JS)
3. Decrease in time required to setup the forms pages
any other comments are welcome.
Thanks in advance
Angelo
Elemental
http://www.elemental.co.zahttp://www.elemental.co.za/
Dynamic Web and Mobile Solutions
Personally I created a little Class that handles it.
First I create an array of associative arrays, every associative array
represents an input of an abstract type (similar to the webforms, meaning
i have stuff like type=telephone).
Stuff like
$inputs[]=array(
name = foobar,
required = true,
type = string, // text is reserved to textarea
label = Foo Bar,
error_required = you need to provide a Foo Bar value, dummy,
group = main
);
etc.
Then I create an array for groups.
$group[main] = array(
type = block, // types are either block which means div, set which
means fieldset, paragraph which means p or a raw html opening tag.
parent = NULL //optional of course, if set to the name of another group,
then the group becomes a child of the referenced group.
)
Then I create an associative array of options for the form.
Finally, I call the class constructor with the three arrays as params.
The class provides me with a few nifty functions:
* toHtml();
(do I need to explain?)
* toArray();
Returns the inputs, options, and groups inside a single array, with the
value altered when necessary
* wasSubmitted();
Does some guesswork to see if the form was submitted, there's a lot of
smart automagicness inside.
* runAutoChecks();
Runs the checks he can, like the validity of emails in 'type' = 'email'
inputs, pattern validation for input with a set pattern, required inputs,
fills the error array with error messages, sets class[]='error' to wrongly
filled inputs...
* wasValidInput();
Returns true if none of the autochecks or eventual manual checks returned
an error.
And it works like this:
[...]
if ($form-wasSubmitted()){
$form-runAutoChecks();
/* Additional non-automatable controls */
// None in this case
if ($form-wasValidInput()){
// success, do stuff
} else {
// show errors and form again
}
} else {
echo $form-toHtml();
}
There are other things I didn't list, like the fact that ever input has
options to specify a wrapper (class and id are associated to the wrapper
if it's defined), the form encoding automatically changes in case of a
file input, etc etc etc...
The types are abstracted enough that one could easily make a function that
automatically creates the code for a first draft of the forum out of the
db schema of an eventual table. Of course you'd have to provide error
messages, remove unnecessary inputs, adding new ones...
Your ideas are similar to mine, but I have a much more advanced
implementation which involves the use of a Data Dictionary. After building a
database table I import the structure into my data dictionary, then export
it to create a database table class and a table structure file. Still using
the data dictionary I can then build the family of transactions to maintain
that database table. This uses a standard set of page controllers and XSL
templates to build the HTML. So within 5 minutes I can run the transactions
to list, search, add, enquire, delete and update that database table without
having to write a single line of SQL or HTML. In most cases I don't even
have to write a single line of PHP. Is your method as fast as that?
All this functionality exists within the Radicore framework, so you can
download it and try it for yourself.
--
Tony Marston
http://www.tonymarston.net
http://www.radicore.org
--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Re: Forms validation and creation- easier solution?
Tony Marston wrote: Your ideas are similar to mine, but I have a much more advanced implementation which involves the use of a Data Dictionary. After building a database table I import the structure into my data dictionary, then export it to create a database table class and a table structure file. Still using the data dictionary I can then build the family of transactions to maintain that database table. This uses a standard set of page controllers and XSL templates to build the HTML. So within 5 minutes I can run the transactions to list, search, add, enquire, delete and update that database table without having to write a single line of SQL or HTML. In most cases I don't even have to write a single line of PHP. Is your method as fast as that? All this functionality exists within the Radicore framework, so you can download it and try it for yourself. Thank you! I am moving out of do it hand to learn how it is done into how can I get this work done quickly and well and you point me to Radicore! Stephen -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
[PHP] Re: Forms validation and creation- easier solution?
On 20/05/2009 9.03, Angelo Zanetti wrote:
Hi all.
We have done quite a few projects and we are looking to find better ways to
implementing forms.
Forms seem to be quite time consuming and repetitive.
Generally are there any classes or libraries that will assist with:
1. Easy creation of forms (fields and layout)
2. Validation of specific fields within the forms (server side not JS)
3. Decrease in time required to setup the forms pages
any other comments are welcome.
Thanks in advance
Angelo
Elemental
http://www.elemental.co.zahttp://www.elemental.co.za/
Dynamic Web and Mobile Solutions
Personally I created a little Class that handles it.
First I create an array of associative arrays, every associative array
represents an input of an abstract type (similar to the webforms,
meaning i have stuff like type=telephone).
Stuff like
$inputs[]=array(
name = foobar,
required = true,
type = string, // text is reserved to textarea
label = Foo Bar,
error_required = you need to provide a Foo Bar value, dummy,
group = main
);
etc.
Then I create an array for groups.
$group[main] = array(
type = block, // types are either block which means div, set
which means fieldset, paragraph which means p or a raw html opening tag.
parent = NULL //optional of course, if set to the name of another
group, then the group becomes a child of the referenced group.
)
Then I create an associative array of options for the form.
Finally, I call the class constructor with the three arrays as params.
The class provides me with a few nifty functions:
* toHtml();
(do I need to explain?)
* toArray();
Returns the inputs, options, and groups inside a single array, with the
value altered when necessary
* wasSubmitted();
Does some guesswork to see if the form was submitted, there's a lot of
smart automagicness inside.
* runAutoChecks();
Runs the checks he can, like the validity of emails in 'type' = 'email'
inputs, pattern validation for input with a set pattern, required
inputs, fills the error array with error messages, sets class[]='error'
to wrongly filled inputs...
* wasValidInput();
Returns true if none of the autochecks or eventual manual checks
returned an error.
And it works like this:
[...]
if ($form-wasSubmitted()){
$form-runAutoChecks();
/* Additional non-automatable controls */
// None in this case
if ($form-wasValidInput()){
// success, do stuff
} else {
// show errors and form again
}
} else {
echo $form-toHtml();
}
There are other things I didn't list, like the fact that ever input has
options to specify a wrapper (class and id are associated to the wrapper
if it's defined), the form encoding automatically changes in case of a
file input, etc etc etc...
The types are abstracted enough that one could easily make a function
that automatically creates the code for a first draft of the forum out
of the db schema of an eventual table. Of course you'd have to provide
error messages, remove unnecessary inputs, adding new ones...
--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
