How do you write forms? - php

Question

in your framework are there any automation to build forms?
For example let's say you have this array of fields:
$fields = array('name'=>array('type'=>'input',otherparams)
'desc'=>array('type'=>'textarea',otherparams)
);
based on fields you should make HTML like this:
<form>
Name: <input name="name" type="text">
Description: <textarea name="desc"></textarea>
//>Submit
</form>
Do you build your html by-hand or is there some sort of automation?
Thanks

Answer 1

I work with the Yii framework. The php generates the html automatically. You write some html by hand but it's for the views. The views also have dynamic php variables that change. The actually full html document is put together by calling a controller with the web address, that controller deciding what models if any it needs to apply to the form and what view to put the model in. Then it generates the html.
SiteController.php
<?php
class SiteController extends Controller
{
/**
* Declares class-based actions.
*/
public function actions()
{
return array(
// captcha action renders the CAPTCHA image displayed on the contact page
'captcha'=>array(
'class'=>'CCaptchaAction',
'backColor'=>0xFFFFFF,
),
// page action renders "static" pages stored under 'protected/views/site/pages'
// They can be accessed via: index.php?r=site/page&view=FileName
'page'=>array(
'class'=>'CViewAction',
),
);
}
/**
* This is the default 'index' action that is invoked
* when an action is not explicitly requested by users.
*/
public function actionIndex()
{
// renders the view file 'protected/views/site/index.php'
// using the default layout 'protected/views/layouts/main.php'
$this->render('index');
}
/**
* This is the action to handle external exceptions.
*/
public function actionError()
{
if($error=Yii::app()->errorHandler->error)
{
if(Yii::app()->request->isAjaxRequest)
echo $error['message'];
else
$this->render('error', $error);
}
}
/**
* Displays the contact page
*/
public function actionContact()
{
$model=new ContactForm;
if(isset($_POST['ContactForm']))
{
$model->attributes=$_POST['ContactForm'];
if($model->validate())
{
$headers="From: {$model->email}\r\nReply-To: {$model->email}";
mail(Yii::app()->params['adminEmail'],$model->subject,$model->body,$headers);
Yii::app()->user->setFlash('contact','Thank you for contacting us. We will respond to you as soon as possible.');
$this->refresh();
}
}
$this->render('contact',array('model'=>$model));
}
/**
* Displays the login page
*/
public function actionLogin()
{
$model=new LoginForm;
// if it is ajax validation request
if(isset($_POST['ajax']) && $_POST['ajax']==='login-form')
{
echo CActiveForm::validate($model);
Yii::app()->end();
}
// collect user input data
if(isset($_POST['LoginForm']))
{
$model->attributes=$_POST['LoginForm'];
// validate user input and redirect to the previous page if valid
if($model->validate() && $model->login())
$this->redirect(Yii::app()->user->returnUrl);
}
// display the login form
$this->render('login',array('model'=>$model));
}
/**
* Logs out the current user and redirect to homepage.
*/
public function actionLogout()
{
Yii::app()->user->logout();
$this->redirect(Yii::app()->homeUrl);
}
}
ContactForm.php = This is the model.
<?php
/**
* ContactForm class.
* ContactForm is the data structure for keeping
* contact form data. It is used by the 'contact' action of 'SiteController'.
*/
class ContactForm extends CFormModel
{
public $name;
public $email;
public $subject;
public $body;
public $verifyCode;
/**
* Declares the validation rules.
*/
public function rules()
{
return array(
// name, email, subject and body are required
array('name, email, subject, body', 'required'),
// email has to be a valid email address
array('email', 'email'),
// verifyCode needs to be entered correctly
array('verifyCode', 'captcha', 'allowEmpty'=>!CCaptcha::checkRequirements()),
);
}
/**
* Declares customized attribute labels.
* If not declared here, an attribute would have a label that is
* the same as its name with the first letter in upper case.
*/
public function attributeLabels()
{
return array(
'verifyCode'=>'Verification Code',
);
}
}
This is the view:
contact.php
<?php
$this->pageTitle=Yii::app()->name . ' - Contact Us';
$this->breadcrumbs=array(
'Contact',
);
?>
<h1>Contact Us</h1>
<?php if(Yii::app()->user->hasFlash('contact')): ?>
<div class="flash-success">
<?php echo Yii::app()->user->getFlash('contact'); ?>
</div>
<?php else: ?>
<p>
If you have business inquiries or other questions, please fill out the following form to contact us. Thank you.
</p>
<div class="form">
<?php $form=$this->beginWidget('CActiveForm'); ?>
<p class="note">Fields with <span class="required">*</span> are required.</p>
<?php echo $form->errorSummary($model); ?>
<div class="row">
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'name'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'name'); ?>
</div>
<div class="row">
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'email'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'email'); ?>
</div>
<div class="row">
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'subject'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'subject',array('size'=>60,'maxlength'=>128)); ?>
</div>
<div class="row">
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'body'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textArea($model,'body',array('rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50)); ?>
</div>
<?php if(CCaptcha::checkRequirements()): ?>
<div class="row">
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'verifyCode'); ?>
<div>
<?php $this->widget('CCaptcha'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'verifyCode'); ?>
</div>
<div class="hint">Please enter the letters as they are shown in the image above.
<br/>Letters are not case-sensitive.</div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="row buttons">
<?php echo CHtml::submitButton('Submit'); ?>
</div>
<?php $this->endWidget(); ?>
</div><!-- form -->
<?php endif; ?>
Going to the page: http://yoursite/index.php/contact/ activates the actionContact method in the SiteController. That grabs the posted contact information, puts it into a model, and then renders a view.

Answer 2

CodeIgniter allows you to build forms using the Form Helper, although I prefer to write the HTML myself.

Answer 3

try this(not tested)
<?php
$fields = array('name'=>array('type'=>'input',name='fname')
'desciprtion'=>array('type'=>'textarea',name='desc')
);
?>
<form name="myform" action="" method="post">
<?php
foreach($fields as $key=>$value)
{
echo "<label>$key</label>";
echo " <$key['type'] name=\"$key['name']\" id=\"$key['id']>\">
}
?>