Zend Framework: Working with Form elements in array notation - zend-framework

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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'));

Answer 3

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 :)

Answer 4

For the newer versions of ZF you should use https://framework.zend.com/manual/2.1/en/modules/zend.form.elements.html#multicheckbox