web2py: customizing form.vars to pass inputs id - forms

Question

I'm building a web app using web2py for attending employees.
this is the db in the model
db.define_table(
'employee',
Field('name'),
format = '%(name)s'
)
db.define_table(
'attendance',
Field('employee_id',db.employee),
Field('attend','boolean'),
Field('comments','text')
)
This is the controller:
employeeIDS=db(db.employee).select(db.employee.ALL)
table=[]
for eid in employeeIDS:
table.append([eid.name,INPUT(_type="checkbox",_name=eid.id,_id=eid.id),INPUT(_type="text",_name="comments",_id=eid.id)])
form=FORM( TABLE(TR("employee name","attended?","comments"),*[TR(*rows) for rows in table]),INPUT(_type="submit",_value="SUBMIT"))
if form.accepts(request,session):
response.flash="form accepted"
print(request.vars)
elif form.errors:
response.flash="form is invalid"
else:
response.flash="please fill the form"
return dict(form=form,vars=form.vars)
My question is this:
How can I access the id of the attend and comments fields in each row to associate these fields with the related employee. So, when I insert the form.vars to the attendance table, I guarantee that each employee recorded as attendance or absence and the related comments will inserted too.
Thanx

Answer 1

Instead of giving each comments input the same name, make the names unique, including the record ID as part of the name:
INPUT(_type="text", _name="comments_%s" % eid.id)
Then you will have form.vars.comments_1, form.vars.comments_2, etc.
As an aside, note that HTML id attributes should be unique, but you are using the value eid.id as the id attribute of both the checkbox input and the comments input.

Answer 2

I think a better choice is to use SQLFROM instead of FORM.
There you can customize the resulting form in the view right the layout you want to, even with HTML helper for tables, you have already used.
Please have a look at the signature of the SQLFORM - it offers a lot options as labels or showid (following the link just scroll down a little).
To exclude a field of being changed or even displayed in the SQLFORM use:
db.my_table.a_field.writable = False
db.my_table.a_field.readable = False
as described here - it's the same for SQLFORMS.