Zend 2 - Form on every page - forms

Question

I am new to Zend Framework 2
I want to add a form to every page (a login box for example) that functions as it does when in its own module ie. so it validates and there is no need to redirect back from the module after the action.
I have looked at various things such as view helpers and action helpers, I have not posted any code as it may just add confusion
I am looking for a guide on how to achieve this as I currently am confused as to how this would be best implemented

Answer 1

This is certainly a use case for a view helper. This provides a piece of logic reusable in multiple views across different modules.
Take for example the login form,. you might want to return a Zend\Form\Form instance when you call the helper. So first, create the helper:
namespace MyLogin\View\Helper;
use Zend\View\Helper\AbstractHelper;
use Zend\Form\Form;
class LoginForm extends AbstractHelper
{
public function __invoke()
{
$form = new Form;
$url = $this->getView()->url('user/login');
$form->setAttribute('action', $url);
$form->add([
'name' => 'username',
]);
$form->add([
'type' => 'password',
'name' => 'password',
]);
return $form;
}
}
Then you register this view helper under the name "loginForm" in your config:
'view_helpers' => [
'invokables' => [
'loginForm' => 'MyLogin\View\Helper\LoginForm',
],
],
Now you can use the helper in your views:
<?php $form = $this->loginForm() ?>
<?= $this->form()->openTag($form)?>
<?= $this->formRow($form->get('username'))?>
<?= $this->formRow($form->get('password'))?>
<button type="submit" value="Login">
<?= $this->form()->closeTag()?>
Of course you can apply any login in your form, whatever you need to be reusable:
Return a form instance so your view can render the form
Return a rendered view already in the helper so your view does not need to render
Set all kind of options to the form
Etc