Silverstripe - populate fields depending on selected DataObject - php

Question

I want to display a members details on screen when I select their name from a Dropdown
More information: I have a form that submits a few fields. Amongst them I have a "Select User" Dropdown to link this person to the data being submitted
Problem is- client wants the user's details to show when they select a user(make sure its the right person etc)
How can i accomplish this? There are like 3 seperate input fields that will need to contain data. I know how to do it using raw PHP/javascript, but do not know how to implement this in a Silverstripe way

Answer 1

You don't have to use Ajax for this, when you setup the form on your controller you can use loadDataFrom (http://api.silverstripe.org/3.3/class-Form.html#_loadDataFrom) to load the member directly into the form.
An example implementation could be (I haven't tested this, but it should work):
class Page_Controller extends ContentController
{
public function index()
{
$member = Member::currentUser();
$this->customise(array(
"Form" => $this->Form()->loadDataFrom($member)
));
}
public function Form() {
return Form::create(
$this,
"Form",
$fields, // Add your own fields here
$actions // Add your own actions here
);
}
}

Answer 2

Got a solution based off of this: https://www.silverstripe.org/community/forums/form-questions/show/24628
The way I did it was like this:
SS template
$("table.myTable").on('change','select#Some_Form',function(){
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
data: {param:param},
url: window.location.href+"your_action_here",
success: function(result) {
var resArr = JSON.parse(result);
$('input#Some_Field').val(resArr['key']);
}
});
});
Controller
static $allowed_actions = array('your_action_here');
//parameter is a SS_HTTPRequest
public function your_action_here($request){
//assuming my parameter is an ID
$ID = $request['param'];
$dataObject = DataObject::get_by_id('Object',$ID);
$JSONArray = array('key'=>$dataObject->Field);
echo json_encode($JSONArray);
}
When the select changes, gets the DataObject and populates correctly :)