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COMPATIBILITY
FormBuilder 3.0 should be completely compatible with FormBuilder 2.x,
with the singular exception that you can no longer use the shortcut
autoload style of getting to fields:
$form->field(name => 'category', options => \@opt);
$form->category(options => \@opt); # WRONG
In order to allow the second form, you must specify the "fieldsubs"
option to "new()".
VERSION 3.0202
This is a bugfix release that patches the following problems:
- missing $form->name accessor
- $form->confirm displaying wrong value for radio groups
- $form->new(messages => $file) not reading file (tries to bless directly)
- added $form->field(delete => 1) option
- disabling field comment on static fields
- fixing $form->field(disabled => 0)
- redone messages joiner on array passing (internals thing)
The changed files are:
CGI/FormBuilder.pm
CGI/FormBuilder/Field.pm
CGI/FormBuilder/Messages.pm
All other sub-modules shipped are identical to the 3.02 versions; those
modules retain the same version and signature.
VERSION 3.02
Multi-Page Form Support
A new module, "CGI::FormBuilder::Multi", has been added to handle the
navigation and state of multi-page forms. A multi-page form is actually
composed of several individual forms, tied together with the special CGI
param "_page":
my $multi = CGI::FormBuilder::Multi->new(
# first args are hashrefs per-form
\%form1_opts,
\%form2_opts,
\%form3_opts,
# remaining options apply to all forms
header => 1,
method => 'POST',
);
my $form = $multi->form; # current form
if ($form->submitted && $form->validate) {
# you write this
do_data_update($form->fields);
# last page?
if ($multi->page == $multi->pages) {
print $form->confirm;
exit;
}
$multi->page++; # next page counter
$form = $multi->form; # fetch next page's form
}
print $form->render;
For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Multi.
External Source File
Inspired by Peter Eichman's "Text::FormBuilder", the new "source" option
has been added to "new()" which enables the use of an external config
file to initialize FormBuilder. This file takes the format:
# sample config file
method: POST
header: 1
submit: Update, Delete
fields:
fname:
label: First Name
size: 50
validate: NAME
lname:
label: Last Name
size: 40
validate: NAME
sex:
label: Gender
options: M=Male, F=Female
jsclick: javascript:alert("Change your mind??");
validate: M,F
required: ALL
messages:
form_invalid_text: Please correct the following fields:
form_required_text: Please fill in all <b>bold</b> fields.
You can even pre-parse this file, and generate a module from it which
you can then reuse in multiple scripts using the "write_module()"
function. For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Source::File.
"Other" Fields
The new "other" option has been added to "field()". If specified, a text
box will be added to the right of the field, and its value will be used
if the main field is not filled in. It will be subject to the same
required and validation checks as the main field:
$form->field(name => 'favorite_color',
options => [qw(Red Green Blue)],
validate => 'NAME',
other => 1); # allow "other"
This would create HTML something like this:
Favorite Color: []Red []Green []Blue []Other: [____________]
The text "Other:" is controlled by the message "form_other_default".
Growable Fields
Thanks to a patch from Peter Eichman, "field()" now also accepts a
"growable" option. This option enables some JavaScript hooks that add an
"Additional [label]" button on text and file fields:
Data File: [______________] [Additional Data File]
When you click on the "Additional Data File" button, another box will be
appended, allowing you to add more files. The values are then retrieved
in the usual fashion:
my @files = $form->field('data_file');
Like "other" fields, all elements are subject to validation checks. The
text "Additional %s" is controlled by the message "form_grow_default".
Support for "CGI::FastTemplate"
Thanks once again to Peter Eichman (busy guy), the module
"CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Fast" has been included. This adds the
template type "Fast" as an interface to "CGI::FastTemplate":
my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(
template => {
type => 'Fast',
define => {
form => 'form.tmpl',
field => 'field.tmpl',
}
}
See CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Fast for more details. Thanks again
Peter!
Subclassable Templates and tmpl_param()
The 2.x "tmpl_param()" method has been reimplemented finally. In
addition, the included template modules are now completely subclassable,
meaning that you can create an entire template engine with something
like this:
package My::HTML::Template;
use CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML;
use base 'CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML';
# new() is inherited
sub render {
my $self = shift;
my $form = shift; # complete form object
# do any special actions here
$self->SUPER::render;
}
For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Template.
Message Changes
All messages were reworded to make them shorter and easier to read. The
phrase "You must" was removed from all of them. To see the new messages,
cut-and-paste this code:
perl -MCGI::FormBuilder::Messages \
-e 'CGI::FormBuilder::Messages->messages'
In addition, the "form_submit_default" and "form_reset_default" messages
were not even being used, and field labels were not being properly
highlighted on error. These problems have been fixed.
Autoloaded Fields
The 2.x feature of "$form->$fieldname()" has been reimplemented, but
using it requires the "fieldsubs" option:
my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(fields => \@f, fieldsubs => 1);
Read the docs for some caveats.
Disabled Form
Similar to a static form, you can set "disabled => 1" in "new()" or
"render()" to display a form with grayed-out input boxes. You can also
set this on a per-field basis using "field()".
Verbatim HTML Options
If you want to include HTML in your field options, set "cleanopts" to 0
in "field()" (for one field) or "new()" (for all fields).
Compatibility Methods
For compatibility with other modules, FormBuilder now includes
"param()", "query_string()", "self_url()", and "script_name()".
VERSION 3.01
This was a bugfix release, including the following changes:
- fixed major problems with keepextras, including a reversed ismember test
- added debug messages to keepextras and changed a few other debugs
- added patch from Peter Eichman to fix scalar $field->tag and $field->tag_value
- converted most all XHTML generation methods to only returning scalars
- fixed the columns option which was totally broken for radio buttons
- added a feature to plop in {border => 0} in columns as well
- added the 2.x 'override' alias for field() 'force' which was missing
- also added a 'defaults' alias for field() 'value' for CGI.pm happiness
- more tests since there were way too many bugs
In addition there were many documentation updates and changes.
VERSION 3.00
Internals
The internals have been completely rewritten, nearly from the ground up.
All of the major functions have been split into methods, and objects
have been created for the form, fields, messages, CGI params, and so on.
Several new sub-modules have been created, including:
CGI::FormBuilder::Field
CGI::FormBuilder::Messages
CGI::FormBuilder::Template
CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML
CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Text
CGI::FormBuilder::Template::TT2
Many of these modules can be subclassed and overridden if desired. In
addition, the template engine has been rewritten to allow "plugging in"
of additional template modules, simply by specifying the name of the
module to the 'template' option in new().
For more details, see the man pages for the individual modules above.
Style Sheets
Stylesheets are now generated if the "stylesheet" option is specified to
FormBuilder. This can either be 1 to turn it on, or a full path to a
style sheet to include. When used, all tags are then output with a
"class" attribute, named "styleclass" plus the name of the tag:
my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(
fields => [qw/name email/],
styleclass => 'myFB', # default is "fb_"
stylesheet => 1, # turn on style
);
print $form->render;
# HTML will include
# <input class="myFBname" id="name" name="name" type="text" />
# <input class="myFBemail" id="email" name="email" type="text" />
Compliant XHTML
The output should be fully-compliant XHTML finally. Really. Maybe.
Attributes and Field Objects
Individual accessors have been added for every attribute that
FormBuilder maintains. For example, here's a snippet of code to
demonstrate:
if ($form->stylesheet) {
# loop thru fields, changing class
for ($form->fields) {
next if /_date$/; # skip fields named "XXX_date"
# each field is a stringifiable object with accessors
if ($_->options) {
# has options
$_->class('my_opt_style');
} else {
# plain text box
$_->class('my_text_style');
}
}
}
This code checks to see if the "stylesheet" property has been set on the
main $form. If so, then it loops thru all the fields, skipping those
named "XXX_date". Of the remaining fields, those that have options have
their "class" attribute changed to "my_opt_style", and those without
options have it set to "my_text_style".
In addition, you can individually render every part of the form
yourself. by calling the appropriate method. For example:
print $form->header; # just the header
print $form->script; # opening JavaScript
print $form->title; # form title
print $form->start; # opening <form> tag
for ($form->fields) {
print $_->label; # each field's human label
print $_->tag; # each field's <input> tag
}
print $form->end; # closing </form> tag
For a complete list of accessors, see the documentation for both
CGI::FormBuilder and CGI::FormBuilder::Field.
Messages
Many messages have been reworded, and several new messages were added to
make it easier to customize individual text. In addition, you can now
specify messages to individual fields:
$form->field(name => 'email',
message => 'Please enter a valid email address');
For more details, see "CGI::FormBuilder::Messages".
HTML::Entities encoding
HTML character encoding is now dispatched to "HTML::Entities", if
available. This can be downloaded as part of the "HTML::Parser" module
set on CPAN.
Documentation
Documentation has been updated and somewhat reorganized, which was long
overdue.
AUTHOR
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Nathan Wiger, Sun Microsystems <nate@sun.com>.
All Rights Reserved.
This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the
GNU General Public License, or the Artistic License, copies of which
should have accompanied your Perl kit.
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The goal of CGI::FormBuilder is to provide an easy way to generate and
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process CGI form-based applications. It is designed to be smart in that
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it figures a lot of stuff out for you. As a result, FormBuilder gives
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about a 4:1 ratio of the code it generates versus what you have to write.
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For example, if you have multiple values for a field, it sticks them
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in a radio, checkbox, or select group, depending on some factors. It
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will also automatically name fields for you in human-readable labels
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depending on the field names, and lay everything out in a nicely
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formatted table. It will even title the form based on the name of the
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script itself (order_form.cgi becomes "Order Form").
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Plus, FormBuilder provides you full-blown validation for your fields,
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including some useful builtin patterns. It will even generate
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JavaScript validation routines on the fly! And, of course, it
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maintains state ("stickiness") across submissions, with hooks provided
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for you to plugin your own sessionid module such as Apache::Session.
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And though it's smart, it allows you to customize it as well. For
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example, if you really want something to be a checkbox, you can make
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it a checkbox. And, if you really want something to be output a
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specific way, you can even specify the name of an HTML::Template or
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Template Toolkit (Template) compatible template which will be
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automatically filled in, statefully.
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