i need help with my dynamically extensible zend form.
I have form with subform, which contains two elements:
<form>
<fieldset class="itemGroup">
<label>
Question
<input type="text" name="items[questions][]" value="">
</label>
<label>
Answer
<input type="text" name="items[answers][]" value="">
</label>
</fieldset>
</form>
I obtained it with following procedure:
$itemsSubform = new Zend_Form_SubForm();
$form->addSubForm($itemsSubform, 'items');
$itemsSubform->setElementsBelongTo('items');
$itemQuestion = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('questions', array(
'label' => 'Question',
'isArray' => true,
'filters' => array(
'stringTrim',
),
'validators' => array(
array('stringLength', array('max' => 255)),
),
));
$itemAnswer = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('answers', array(
'label' => 'Answer',
'isArray' => true,
'filters' => array(
'stringTrim',
),
'validators' => array(
array('stringLength', array('max' => 255)),
),
));
$itemsSubform->addDisplayGroup(array($itemQuestion, $itemAnswer), 'itemGroup');
If is needed, i just copy all fieldset for extend form by javascript.
All is working correct, until i submit form. During validation is no element validated, and during rendering form, populated by such data, i get error message from class Zend_View_Abstract that escaping value is array instead of string (this method is called during rendering element for escape its value).
For compltion, if i call $form->getValues(); after validation, (by javascript another fieldset is added) i get this:
Array
(
[items] => Array
(
[questions] => Array
(
[0] => lorem
[1] => dolor
)
[answers] => Array
(
[0] => ipsum
[1] => sit
)
)
)
Could someone advise me how to behave to form? The ideal solution would be when form themselves validate each value separately and find how many times should he render fieldset (displayGroup).
First your elements fail to validate because you set isArray => TRUE and the validator you chose evaluates strings.
Next you issue with populating the form I believe is likely due to the fact that you need to supply the data to populate in the same multidimensional array as the form produces (the arrays should map one to one).
The link below is to an example of how to build a form dynamically, you should be able to use it as a template to produce one to fill your needs.
Example of generating form elements with loop
Related
How can i add a new personalized attribute with zend From, exemple <input type='text' **ref='name**' name='id_commande' id='commande'/>
Use setAttrib on element for single, or setAttribs for multiple attributes you want to add
This should make a job:
$id_commande = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('id_commande');
$id_commande->setAttribs([
'ref' => 'name',
'class' => 'your_class',
'style' => 'width: 150px'
]);
Let's say I have a Zend_Form form that has a few text fields, e.g:
$form = new Zend_Form();
$form->addElement('text', 'name', array(
'required' => true,
'isArray' => true,
'filters' => array( /* ... */ ),
'validators' => array( /* ... */ ),
));
$form->addElement('text', 'surname', array(
'required' => true,
'isArray' => true,
'filters' => array( /* ... */ ),
'validators' => array( /* ... */ ),
));
After rendering it I have following HTML markup (simplified):
<div id="people">
<div class="person">
<input type="text" name="name[]" />
<input type="text" name="surname[]" />
</div>
</div>
Now I want to have the ability to add as many people as I want. I create a "+" button that in Javascript appends next div.person to the container. Before I submit the form, I have for example 5 names and 5 surnames, posted to the server as arrays. Everything is fine unless somebody puts the value in the field that does not validate. Then the whole form validation fails and when I want to display the form again (with errors) I see the PHP Warning:
htmlspecialchars() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given
Which is more or less described in ticket: http://framework.zend.com/issues/browse/ZF-8112
However, I came up with a not-very-elegant solution. What I wanted to achieve:
have all fields and values rendered again in the view
have error messages only next to the fields that contained bad values
Here is my solution (view script):
<div id="people">
<?php
$names = $form->name->getValue(); // will have an array here if the form were submitted
$surnames= $form->surname->getValue();
// only if the form were submitted we need to validate fields' values
// and display errors next to them; otherwise when user enter the page
// and render the form for the first time - he would see Required validator
// errors
$needsValidation = is_array($names) || is_array($surnames);
// print empty fields when the form is displayed the first time
if(!is_array($names))$names= array('');
if(!is_array($surnames))$surnames= array('');
// display all fields!
foreach($names as $index => $name):
$surname = $surnames[$index];
// validate value if needed
if($needsValidation){
$form->name->isValid($name);
$form->surname->isValid($surname);
}
?>
<div class="person">
<?=$form->name->setValue($name); // display field with error if did not pass the validation ?>
<?=$form->surname->setValue($surname);?>
</div>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
The code work, but I want to know if there is an appropriate, more comfortable way to do this? I often hit this problem when there is a need for a more dynamic - multivalue forms and have not find better solution for a long time.
Having no better idea, I have created a view helper that handles the logic presented above. It can be found here.
If the helper is available in the view, it can be used in the following way (with the form from the question):
<?=
$this->formArrayElements(
array($form->name, $form->surname),
'partials/name_surname.phtml'
);
?>
The contents of the application/views/partials/name_surname.phtml partial view are:
<div class="person">
<?= $this->name ?>
<?= $this->surname ?>
</div>
The fields are rendered according to the posted form and validation messages are shown only next to the values that failed validation.
The helper's code is far from perfect (I just rewrote the idea from the question) but is easy to use and can be considered as good starting point.
I would like to be able to add a hidden form field using array notation to my form. I can do this with HTML like this:
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="123" />
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="456" />
When the form gets submitted, the $_POST array will contain the hidden element values grouped as an array:
array(
'contacts' => array(
0 => '123'
1 => '456'
)
)
I can add a hidden element to my form, and specify array notation like this:
$form->addElement('hidden', 'contacts', array('isArray' => true));
Now if I populate that element with an array, I expect that it should store the values as an array, and render the elements as the HTML shown above:
$form->populate($_POST);
However, this does not work. There may be a bug in the version of Zend Framework that I am using. Am I doing this right? What should I do differently? How can I achieve the outcome above? I am willing to create a custom form element if I have to. Just let me know what I need to do.
You have to use subforms to get the result you seek. The documentation was quite a ride but you can find it here
Using what I found there I constructed the following formL
<?php
class Form_Test extends Zend_Form {
public function init() {
$this->setMethod('post');
$this->setIsArray(true);
$this->setSubFormDecorators(array(
'FormElements',
'Fieldset'
));
$subForm = new Zend_Form(array('disableLoadDefaultDecorators' => true));
$subForm->setDecorators(array(
'FormElements',
));
$subForm->addElement('hidden', 'contacts', array(
'isArray' => true,
'value' => '237',
'decorators' => Array(
'ViewHelper',
),
));
$subForm2 = new Zend_Form(array('disableLoadDefaultDecorators' => true));
$subForm2->setDecorators(array(
'FormElements',
));
$subForm2->addElement('hidden', 'contacts', array(
'isArray' => true,
'value' => '456', 'decorators' => Array(
'ViewHelper',
),
));
$this->addSubForm($subForm, 'subform');
$this->addSubForm($subForm2, 'subform2');
$submit = new Zend_Form_Element_Submit('submit');
$submit->setValue('Submit');
$this->addElement('submit', 'submit');
}
}
Wich outputs this html:
<form enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" method="post" action=""><dl class="zend_form">
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="237" id="contacts">
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="456" id="contacts">
<dt id="submit-label"> </dt><dd id="submit-element">
<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="submit"></dd></dl></form>
And when submited the post looks like:
array(2) {
["contacts"] => array(2) {
[0] => string(3) "237"
[1] => string(3) "456"
}
["submit"] => string(6) "submit"
}
So thats how you can create the kind of forms you seek. Hope this helps! if you have a question post a comment!
Its quite hackish if you ask me. You basically create subforms but disable there form decorators so just the element gets output. Since the identical contacts[] elements are in different form object zend does'nt overwrite them and it works. But yeah..
Edit: changed it a bit to remove labels and garbage arount the hidden inputs.
To use array notation, you need to specify that the element "belongs to" a parent array:
$form->addElement('hidden', 'contact123', array('belongsTo' => 'contacts', 'value' => '123'));
$form->addElement('hidden', 'contact456', array('belongsTo' => 'contacts', 'value' => '456'));
This indeed seems to be a bug in Zend Framework - the value attribute for an element is properly set to array, but it's ignored when the element renders - it just uses$this->view->escape($value) to output element's html.
I've solved this by implementing a custom helper for such elements:
class My_View_Helper_HiddenArray extends Zend_View_Helper_FormHidden
{
public function hiddenArray($name, $value = null, array $attribs = null)
{
if (is_array($value)) {
$elementXHTML = '';
// do not give element an id due to the possibility of multiple values
if (isset($attribs) && is_array($attribs) && array_key_exists('id', $attribs)) {
unset($attribs['id']);
}
foreach ($value as $item) {
$elementXHTML .= $this->_hidden($name, $item, $attribs);
}
return $elementXHTML;
} else {
return $this->formHidden($name, $value, $attribs);
}
}
}
Which, when used the next way:
$contacts = $form->createElement('hidden', 'contacts')
->setIsArray(true)
->setDecorators(array(
array('ViewHelper', array('helper' => 'HiddenArray')),
));
$form->addElement($contacts);
generates the needed output.
The reason to extend Zend_View_Helper_FormHidden here is just to be able to call the default behaviour if no array value is set ( return parent::formHidden($name, $value, $attribs) ).
Hope this helps someone :)
For the newer versions of ZF you should use https://framework.zend.com/manual/2.1/en/modules/zend.form.elements.html#multicheckbox
I would like to be able to add a hidden form field using array notation to my form. I can do this with HTML like this:
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="123" />
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="456" />
When the form gets submitted, the $_POST array will contain the hidden element values grouped as an array:
array(
'contacts' => array(
0 => '123'
1 => '456'
)
)
I can add a hidden element to my form, and specify array notation like this:
$form->addElement('hidden', 'contacts', array('isArray' => true));
Now if I populate that element with an array, I expect that it should store the values as an array, and render the elements as the HTML shown above:
$form->populate($_POST);
However, this does not work. There may be a bug in the version of Zend Framework that I am using. Am I doing this right? What should I do differently? How can I achieve the outcome above? I am willing to create a custom form element if I have to. Just let me know what I need to do.
You have to use subforms to get the result you seek. The documentation was quite a ride but you can find it here
Using what I found there I constructed the following formL
<?php
class Form_Test extends Zend_Form {
public function init() {
$this->setMethod('post');
$this->setIsArray(true);
$this->setSubFormDecorators(array(
'FormElements',
'Fieldset'
));
$subForm = new Zend_Form(array('disableLoadDefaultDecorators' => true));
$subForm->setDecorators(array(
'FormElements',
));
$subForm->addElement('hidden', 'contacts', array(
'isArray' => true,
'value' => '237',
'decorators' => Array(
'ViewHelper',
),
));
$subForm2 = new Zend_Form(array('disableLoadDefaultDecorators' => true));
$subForm2->setDecorators(array(
'FormElements',
));
$subForm2->addElement('hidden', 'contacts', array(
'isArray' => true,
'value' => '456', 'decorators' => Array(
'ViewHelper',
),
));
$this->addSubForm($subForm, 'subform');
$this->addSubForm($subForm2, 'subform2');
$submit = new Zend_Form_Element_Submit('submit');
$submit->setValue('Submit');
$this->addElement('submit', 'submit');
}
}
Wich outputs this html:
<form enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" method="post" action=""><dl class="zend_form">
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="237" id="contacts">
<input type="hidden" name="contacts[]" value="456" id="contacts">
<dt id="submit-label"> </dt><dd id="submit-element">
<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="submit"></dd></dl></form>
And when submited the post looks like:
array(2) {
["contacts"] => array(2) {
[0] => string(3) "237"
[1] => string(3) "456"
}
["submit"] => string(6) "submit"
}
So thats how you can create the kind of forms you seek. Hope this helps! if you have a question post a comment!
Its quite hackish if you ask me. You basically create subforms but disable there form decorators so just the element gets output. Since the identical contacts[] elements are in different form object zend does'nt overwrite them and it works. But yeah..
Edit: changed it a bit to remove labels and garbage arount the hidden inputs.
To use array notation, you need to specify that the element "belongs to" a parent array:
$form->addElement('hidden', 'contact123', array('belongsTo' => 'contacts', 'value' => '123'));
$form->addElement('hidden', 'contact456', array('belongsTo' => 'contacts', 'value' => '456'));
This indeed seems to be a bug in Zend Framework - the value attribute for an element is properly set to array, but it's ignored when the element renders - it just uses$this->view->escape($value) to output element's html.
I've solved this by implementing a custom helper for such elements:
class My_View_Helper_HiddenArray extends Zend_View_Helper_FormHidden
{
public function hiddenArray($name, $value = null, array $attribs = null)
{
if (is_array($value)) {
$elementXHTML = '';
// do not give element an id due to the possibility of multiple values
if (isset($attribs) && is_array($attribs) && array_key_exists('id', $attribs)) {
unset($attribs['id']);
}
foreach ($value as $item) {
$elementXHTML .= $this->_hidden($name, $item, $attribs);
}
return $elementXHTML;
} else {
return $this->formHidden($name, $value, $attribs);
}
}
}
Which, when used the next way:
$contacts = $form->createElement('hidden', 'contacts')
->setIsArray(true)
->setDecorators(array(
array('ViewHelper', array('helper' => 'HiddenArray')),
));
$form->addElement($contacts);
generates the needed output.
The reason to extend Zend_View_Helper_FormHidden here is just to be able to call the default behaviour if no array value is set ( return parent::formHidden($name, $value, $attribs) ).
Hope this helps someone :)
For the newer versions of ZF you should use https://framework.zend.com/manual/2.1/en/modules/zend.form.elements.html#multicheckbox
How do I achieve the following with form decorators for form elements:
<dt>
<ul>
<li>The errors</li>
<li>The errors</li>
</ul>
<label>The label</label>
</dt>
<dd>
<input type="text" value="The input field">
</dd>
In other words, in stead of Errors appended after the input field, I want them prepended before the Label. I do however want to keep the <dt> and <dd> tags as illustrated above.
Alright, I found out how to do it. Gradually the decorators are starting to make sense to me:
$decorators = array(
'Label',
array( 'Errors', array( 'placement' => 'prepend' ) ),
array( array( 'dt' => 'HtmlTag' ), array( 'tag' => 'dt' ) ),
array( array( 'ddOpen' => 'HtmlTag' ), array( 'tag' => 'dd', 'openOnly' => true, 'placement' => 'append' ) ),
array( 'ViewHelper' ),
array( array( 'ddClose' => 'HtmlTag' ), array( 'tag' => 'dd', 'closeOnly' => true, 'placement' => 'append' ) )
);
What this does is the following:
First render the Label
Then prepend (default = append) the Errors
Wrap (default) all previous content in a HtmlTag (dt)
Next, append (default = wrap) a opening HtmlTag (dd)
Then append (default) the ViewHelper
Next, append (default = wrap) a closing HtmlTag (dd)
Then set the decorators:
// be sure to only set them, after you have added the relevant elements to the form
$this->setElementDecorators( $decorators );
PS:
Be aware though that my particular example produces invaliid html. ;-) I only found out later that <ul> elements are not allowed in <dt> elements with DOCTYPE HTML 4.01 strict
In your form class, try this:
$this->setElementDecorators(array(
'Errors',
'ViewHelper',
'Label',
));