Zend_Form : Subforms, dynamic element creation and best practices

[maxarbos]

Hello,

I am trying to understand the best recommend way to implement a form using Zend_Form. There seem to be a number of different ways in implementing and rendering them.

Here is my situation:

We are developing an application and will be using a number of ZF components: _DB, _Auth, _ACL, _View, _Layout, _Controller, etc...  as well as _Form.

When we want to built and show a form, we call a model like: TestingForm.php from TestingController.php

The TestingController.php has a method:
getTestingForm() {
   $this->_myform = new TestingForm(array('action'=>testing/process', 'method'=>'post'));
}


The TestingForm.php is built as such:
TestForm extends Zend_Form {
   public function __construct($options=null) {
          parent::__construct($options);

     $this->setAttrib('accept-charset', 'UTF-8');
}


   public function init() {
     $name = $this->addElement('text', 'name', array().....);
}

}




So now on my display page with the form, I have an action
indexAction() {
     $this->view->testform = $this->getTestingForm();
}

and the view is:
<?php echo $this->testform; ?>


=================

Is this recommened?



2)  I want to be able to add elements dynamically to the form depending on a result set of data from the db.

Say a person has 4 children, I want to dynamically add four text elements to the form, one for each record retrieved from the db.

How can I do this with my setup?

Any suggestions or advice would be great.

Thank you.

[weierophinney]

-- Bill P. <maxarbos@...> wrote
(on Monday, 30 June 2008, 01:40 PM -0700):

> I am trying to understand the best recommend way to implement a form using
> Zend_Form. There seem to be a number of different ways in implementing and
> rendering them.
>
> Here is my situation:
>
> We are developing an application and will be using a number of ZF components:
> _DB, _Auth, _ACL, _View, _Layout, _Controller, etc...  as well as _Form.
>
> When we want to built and show a form, we call a model like: TestingForm.php
> from TestingController.php
>
> The TestingController.php has a method:
> getTestingForm() {
>    $this->_myform = new TestingForm(array('action'=>testing/process', 'method'
> =>'post'));
> }
>
>
> The TestingForm.php is built as such:
> TestForm extends Zend_Form {
>    public function __construct($options=null) {
>           parent::__construct($options);
>
>      $this->setAttrib('accept-charset', 'UTF-8');
> }

I'd place the above in setAttrib() call as the first call in your init()
method below, and get rid of __construct() entirely.

>    public function init() {
>      $name = $this->addElement('text', 'name', array().....);
> }
>
> }
>
>
>
>
> So now on my display page with the form, I have an action
> indexAction() {
>      $this->view->testform = $this->getTestingForm();
> }
>
> and the view is:
> <?php echo $this->testform; ?>
>
>
> =================
>
> Is this recommened?

This is how I do most of my forms, and how I recommend doing forms in my
presentations and webinars.

> 2)  I want to be able to add elements dynamically to the form depending on a
> result set of data from the db.
>
> Say a person has 4 children, I want to dynamically add four text elements to
> the form, one for each record retrieved from the db.
>
> How can I do this with my setup?

Yes. Create an element for each child, and attach each with a different
form element name:

    foreach ($children as $key => $child) {
        $form->addElement('text', 'child' . $key, array('value' => $child'));
    }

--
Matthew Weier O'Phinney
Software Architect       | matthew@...
Zend Framework           | http://framework.zend.com/

[maxarbos]

Matthew Weier O'Phinney-3 wrote:

>
> The TestingForm.php is built as such:
> TestForm extends Zend_Form {
>    public function __construct($options=null) {
>           parent::__construct($options);
>
>      $this->setAttrib('accept-charset', 'UTF-8');
> }

I'd place the above in setAttrib() call as the first call in your init()
method below, and get rid of __construct() entirely.

>    public function init() {
>      $name = $this->addElement('text', 'name', array().....);
> }
>
> }
>
>

I left out that we are also including :

        $this->setDecorators(array(
            'FormElements',
            array('HtmlTag', array('tag' => 'dl', 'class' => 'zend_form')),
            array('Description', array('placement' => 'prepend')),
            'Form'
        ));

in the __construct, but moving this all to the init() doesnt seem to load the decorators in time.

Matthew Weier O'Phinney-3 wrote:

> 2)  I want to be able to add elements dynamically to the form depending on a
> result set of data from the db.
>
> Say a person has 4 children, I want to dynamically add four text elements to
> the form, one for each record retrieved from the db.
>
> How can I do this with my setup?

Yes. Create an element for each child, and attach each with a different
form element name:

    foreach ($children as $key => $child) {
        $form->addElement('text', 'child' . $key, array('value' => $child'));
    }

I was pretty much doing the same things, but included
foreach($children as $key=>$val){
$field.$key = $this->addElement('text', 'fieldname'.$key, etc....)

$group[]='fieldname'.$key;
}

        $this->addDisplayGroup(
            $number_group, 'groupname' ....)


and ended up getting error of:

'No valid elements specified for display group'


So once I got rid of the '$field.$key ='   it all worked correctly.


Do you have any other updated resources for best practices or structure of a large site using this framework?

thanks.

[weierophinney]

-- maxarbos <maxarbos@...> wrote
(on Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 10:10 AM -0700):

>
>
>
> Matthew Weier O'Phinney-3 wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> The TestingForm.php is built as such:
> >> TestForm extends Zend_Form {
> >>    public function __construct($options=null) {
> >>           parent::__construct($options);
> >>
> >>      $this->setAttrib('accept-charset', 'UTF-8');
> >> }
> >
> > I'd place the above in setAttrib() call as the first call in your init()
> > method below, and get rid of __construct() entirely.
> >
> >>    public function init() {
> >>      $name = $this->addElement('text', 'name', array().....);
> >> }
> >>
> >> }
> >>
> >>
> >
>
> I left out that we are also including :
>
>         $this->setDecorators(array(
>             'FormElements',
>             array('HtmlTag', array('tag' => 'dl', 'class' => 'zend_form')),
>             array('Description', array('placement' => 'prepend')),
>             'Form'
>         ));
>
> in the __construct, but moving this all to the init() doesnt seem to load
> the decorators in time.

It _should_ work... there's a test for exactly that situation in the
testbed. If it's not working, post the simplest possible use case where
it fails to the tracker so I can try and verify.

> Matthew Weier O'Phinney-3 wrote:
> >
> >> 2)  I want to be able to add elements dynamically to the form depending
> >> on a
> >> result set of data from the db.
> >>
> >> Say a person has 4 children, I want to dynamically add four text elements
> >> to
> >> the form, one for each record retrieved from the db.
> >>
> >> How can I do this with my setup?
> >
> > Yes. Create an element for each child, and attach each with a different
> > form element name:
> >
> >     foreach ($children as $key => $child) {
> >         $form->addElement('text', 'child' . $key, array('value' =>
> > $child'));
> >     }
> >
> >
>
> I was pretty much doing the same things, but included
> foreach($children as $key=>$val){
> $field.$key = $this->addElement('text', 'fieldname'.$key, etc....)
>
> $group[]='fieldname'.$key;
> }
>
>         $this->addDisplayGroup(
>             $number_group, 'groupname' ....)
>
>
> and ended up getting error of:
>
> 'No valid elements specified for display group'
>
>
> So once I got rid of the '$field.$key ='   it all worked correctly.
>
>
> Do you have any other updated resources for best practices or structure of a
> large site using this framework?
>
> thanks.
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Zend_Form-%3A-Subforms%2C-dynamic-element-creation-and-best-practices-tp18203896p18220883.html
> Sent from the Zend Framework mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

--
Matthew Weier O'Phinney
Software Architect       | matthew@...
Zend Framework           | http://framework.zend.com/

[maxarbos]

Matthew Weier O'Phinney-3 wrote:

> Matthew Weier O'Phinney-3 wrote:
> >
> > Yes. Create an element for each child, and attach each with a different
> > form element name:
> >
> >     foreach ($children as $key => $child) {
> >         $form->addElement('text', 'child' . $key, array('value' =>
> > $child'));
> >     }
> >
> >

So since all of my elements are being created in the init() method and that seems to run even before the __construct , how to I get the value to $children ?

If i call $renderform = new TestForm() from my Controller, the form is already built by the time I try to set the $children by $renderform->children = array('aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc');

I have been following the tutorials at: http://blog.astrumfutura.com/archives/360-Example-Zend-Framework-Blog-Application-Tutorial-Part-6-Introduction-to-Zend_Form-and-Authentication-with-Zend_Auth.html

Is this still the recommended way to create a form with my needs?