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HTML-Widget-1.05
River stage one • 6 direct dependents • 6 total dependents
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/ HTML::Widget

NAME

HTML::Widget - HTML Widget And Validation Framework

SYNOPSIS

    use HTML::Widget;

    # Create a widget
    my $w = HTML::Widget->new('widget')->method('get')->action('/');

    # Add some elements
    $w->element( 'Textfield', 'age' )->label('Age')->size(3);
    $w->element( 'Textfield', 'name' )->label('Name')->size(60);
    $w->element( 'Submit', 'ok' )->value('OK');

    # Add some constraints
    $w->constraint( 'Integer', 'age' )->message('No integer.');
    $w->constraint( 'Not_Integer', 'name' )->message('Integer.');
    $w->constraint( 'All', 'age', 'name' )->message('Missing value.');

    # Add some filters
    $w->filter('Whitespace');

    # Process
    my $result = $w->process;
    my $result = $w->process($query);


    # Check validation results
    my @valid_fields   = $result->valid;
    my $is_valid       = $result->valid('foo');
    my @invalid_fields = $result->have_errors;
    my $is_invalid     = $result->has_errors('foo');;

    # CGI.pm-compatible! (read-only)
    my $value  = $result->param('foo');
    my @params = $result->param;

    # Catalyst::Request-compatible
    my $value = $result->params->{foo};
    my @params = keys %{ $result->params };


    # Merge widgets (constraints and elements will be appended)
    $widget->merge($other_widget);


    # Embed widgets (as fieldset)
    $widget->embed($other_widget);


    # Get list of elements
    my @elements = $widget->get_elements;

    # Get list of constraints
    my @constraints = $widget->get_constraints;

    # Get list of filters
    my @filters = $widget->get_filters;


    # Complete xml result
    [% result %]
    [% result.as_xml %]


    # Iterate over elements
    <form action="/foo" method="get">
    [% FOREACH element = result.elements %]
        [% element.field_xml %]
        [% element.error_xml %]
    [% END %]
    </form>


    # Iterate over validation errors
    [% FOREACH element = result.have_errors %]
        <p>
        [% element %]:<br/>
        <ul>
        [% FOREACH error = result.errors(element) %]
            <li>
                [% error.name %]: [% error.message %] ([% error.type %])
            </li>
        [% END %]
        </ul>
        </p>
    [% END %]

    <p><ul>
    [% FOREACH element = result.have_errors %]
        [% IF result.error( element, 'Integer' ) %]
            <li>[% element %] has to be an integer.</li>
        [% END %]
    [% END %]
    </ul></p>

    [% FOREACH error = result.errors %]
        <li>[% error.name %]: [% error.message %] ([% error.type %])</li>
    [% END %]


    # XML output looks like this (easy to theme with css)
    <form action="/foo/bar" id="widget" method="post">
        <fieldset>
            <label for="widget_age" id="widget_age_label"
              class="labels_with_errors">
                Age
                <span class="label_comments" id="widget_age_comment">
                    (Required)
                </span>
                <span class="fields_with_errors">
                    <input id="widget_age" name="age" size="3" type="text"
                      value="24" class="Textfield" />
                </span>
            </label>
            <span class="error_messages" id="widget_age_errors">
                <span class="Regex_errors" id="widget_age_error_Regex">
                    Contains digit characters.
                </span>
            </span>
            <label for="widget_name" id="widget_name_label">
                Name
                <input id="widget_name" name="name" size="60" type="text"
                  value="sri" class="Textfield" />
                <span class="error_messages" id="widget_name_errors"></span>
            </label>
            <input id="widget_ok" name="ok" type="submit" value="OK" />
        </fieldset>
    </form>

DESCRIPTION

Create easy to maintain HTML widgets!

Everything is optional, use validation only or just generate forms, you can embed and merge them later.

The API was designed similar to other popular modules like Data::FormValidator and FormValidator::Simple, HTML::FillInForm is also built in (and much faster).

This Module is very powerful, don't misuse it as a template system!

METHODS

new( [$name] )

Create a new HTML::Widget object. The name parameter will be used as the id of the form created by the to_xml method.

$self->action($action)

Get/Set the action associated with the form.

$self->container($tag)

Get/Set the tag used to contain the XML output when as_xml is called on the HTML::Widget object. Defaults to form.

$self->elem( $type, $name )

$self->element( $type, $name )

Add a new element to the Widget. Each element must be given at least a type, and a name. The name is used for an id attribute on the field created for the element. An HTML::Widget::Element object is returned, which can be used to set further attributes, please see the individual element classes for the methods specific to each one.

The type can be one of the following:

HTML::Widget::Element::Checkbox
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Checkbox', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->checked('checked');
    $e->value('bar');

Add a standard checkbox element.

HTML::Widget::Element::Hidden
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Hidden', 'foo' );
    $e->value('bar');

Add a hidden field. This field is mainly used for passing previously gathered data between multiple page forms.

HTML::Widget::Element::Password
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Password', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->fill(1);
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->size(23);
    $e->value('bar');

Add a password field. This is a text field that will not show the user what they are typing, but show asterisks instead.

HTML::Widget::Element::Radio
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Radio', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->checked('checked');
    $e->value('bar');

Add a radio button to a group. Radio buttons with the same name will work as a group. That is, only one item in the group will be "on" at a time.

HTML::Widget::Element::RadioGroup
    my $e = $widget->element( 'RadioGroup', 'name', ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'] );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->checked('bar');
    $e->value('bar');

This is a shortcut to add multiple radio buttons with the same name at the same time. See above. (Note that the checked method has a different meaning here).

HTML::Widget::Element::Reset
    $e = $widget->element( 'Reset', 'foo' );
    $e->value('bar');

Create a reset button. The text on the button will default to "Submit", unless you call the value() method. This button resets the form to its original values.

HTML::Widget::Element::Select
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Select', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->size(23);
    $e->options( foo => 'Foo', bar => 'Bar' );
    $e->selected(qw/foo bar/);

Create a dropdown or multi-select list element with multiple options. Options are supplied in a key => value list, in which the keys are the actual selected IDs, and the values are the strings displayed in the dropdown.

HTML::Widget::Element::Span
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Span', 'foo' );
    $e->content('bar');

Create a simple span tag, containing the given content. Spans cannot be constrained as they are not entry fields.

HTML::Widget::Element::Submit
    $e = $widget->element( 'Submit', 'foo' );
    $e->value('bar');

Create a submit button. The text on the button will default to "Submit", unless you call the value() method.

HTML::Widget::Element::Textarea
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Textarea', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->cols(30);
    $e->rows(40);
    $e->value('bar');
    $e->wrap('wrap');

Create a textarea field. This is a multi-line input field for text.

HTML::Widget::Element::Textfield
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Textfield', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->size(23);
    $e->maxlength(42);
    $e->value('bar');

Create a single line text field.

HTML::Widget::Element::Upload
    my $e = $widget->element( 'Upload', 'foo' );
    $e->comment('(Required)');
    $e->label('Foo');
    $e->accept('text/html');
    $e->maxlength(1000);
    $e->size(23);

Create a field for uploading files. This will probably be rendered as a textfield, with a button for choosing a file.

Adding an Upload element automatically calls $widget-enctype('multipart/form-data')> for you.

$self->get_elements()

    my @elements = $self->get_elements;
    
    my @elements = $self->get_elements( type => 'Textfield' );
    
    my @elements = $self->get_elements( name => 'username' );

Returns a list of all elements added to the widget.

If a 'type' argument is given, only returns the elements of that type.

If a 'name' argument is given, only returns the elements with that name.

$self->const($tag)

$self->constraint( $type, @names )

Set up a constraint on one or more elements. When process() is called on the Widget object, with a $query object, the parameters of the query are checked against the specified constraints. The HTML::Widget::Constraint object is returned to allow setting of further attributes to be set. The string 'Not_' can be prepended to each type name to negate the effects. Thus checking for a non-integer becomes 'Not_Integer'.

Constraint checking is done after HTML::Widget::Filters have been applied.

@names should contain a list of element names that the constraint applies to. The type of constraint can be one of:

HTML::Widget::Constraint::All
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'All', 'foo', 'bar' );

The fields passed to the "All" constraint are those which are required fields in the form.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::AllOrNone
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'AllOrNone', 'foo', 'bar' );

If any of the fields passed to the "AllOrNone" constraint are filled in, then they all must be filled in.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::ASCII
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'ASCII', 'foo' );

The fields passed to this constraint will be checked to make sure their contents contain ASCII characters.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Any
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Any', 'foo', 'bar' );

At least one or more of the fields passed to this constraint must be filled.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Callback
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Callback', 'foo' )->callback(sub { 
        my $value=shift;
        return 1;
    });

This constraint allows you to provide your own callback sub for validation.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Date
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Date', 'year', 'month', 'day' );

This constraint ensures that the three fields passed in are a valid date. The Date::Calc module is required.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::DateTime
    my $c =
      $widget->constraint( 'DateTime', 'year', 'month', 'day', 'hour',
        'minute', 'second' );

This constraint ensures that the six fields passed in are a valid date and time. The Date::Calc module is required.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::DependOn
    my $c =
      $widget->constraint( 'DependOn', 'foo', 'bar' );

If the first field listed is filled in, all of the others are required.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Email
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Email', 'foo' );

Check that the field given contains a valid email address, according to RFC 2822, using the Email::Valid module.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Equal
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Equal', 'foo', 'bar' );

The fields passed to this constraint must contain the same information, or be empty.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::HTTP
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'HTTP', 'foo' );

This constraint checks that the field(s) passed in are valid URLs. The regex used to test this can be set manually using the ->regex method.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Integer
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Integer', 'foo' );

Check that the field contents are an integer.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Length
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Length', 'foo' );
    $c->min(23);
    $c->max(50);

Ensure that the contents of the field are at least $min long, and no longer than $max.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Maybe
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Maybe', 'foo', 'bar' );
HTML::Widget::Constraint::Printable
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Printable', 'foo' );

The contents of the given field must only be printable characters. The regex used to test this can be set manually using the ->regex method.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Range
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Range', 'foo' );
    $c->min(23);
    $c->max(30);

The contents of the field must be numerically within the given range.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Regex
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Regex', 'foo' );
    $c->regex(qr/^\w+$/);

Tests the contents of the given field(s) against a user supplied regex.

HTML::Widget::Constraint::String
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'String', 'foo' );

The field must only contain characters in \w. i.e. [a-zaZ0-9_]

HTML::Widget::Constraint::Time
    my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Time', 'hour', 'minute', 'second' );

The three fields passed to this constraint must constitute a valid time. The Date::Calc module is required.

$self->get_constraints()

    my @constraints = $self->get_constraints;
    
    my @constraints = $self->get_constraints( type => 'Integer' );

Returns a list of all constraints added to the widget.

If a 'type' argument is given, only returns the constraints of that type.

$self->embed(@widgets)

Insert the contents of another widget object into this one. Each embedded object will be represented as another set of fields (surrounded by a fieldset tag), inside the created form. No copy is made of the widgets to embed, thus calling as_xml on the resulting object will change data in the widget objects.

$self->empty_errors(1)

After validation, if errors are found, a span tag is created with the id "fields_with_errors". Set this value to cause the span tag to always be generated.

$self->enctype($enctype)

Set/Get the encoding type of the form. This can be either "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" which is the default, or "multipart/form-data". See http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#h-17.13.4.

If the widget contains an Upload element, the enctype is automatically set to 'multipart/form-data'.

$self->filter( $type, @names )

Add a filter. Like constraints, filters can be applied to one or more elements. These are applied to actually change the contents of the fields, supplied by the user before checking the constraints. It only makes sense to apply filters to fields that can contain text - Password, Textfield, Textarea, Upload.

There are currently two types of filter:

HTML::Widget::Filter::Whitespace
    my $f = $widget->filter( 'Whitespace', 'foo' );

Removes all whitespace from the given field(s).

HTML::Widget::Filter::TrimEdges
    my $f = $widget->filter( 'TrimEdges', 'foo' );

Removes whitespace from the beginning and end of the given field(s).

Returns a HTML::Widget::Filter object.

$self->get_filters()

    my @filters = $self->get_filters;
    
    my @filters = $self->get_filters( type => 'Integer' );

Returns a list of all filters added to the widget.

If a 'type' argument is given, only returns the filters of that type.

$self->id($id)

Contains the widget id.

$self->indi($indicator)

$self->indicator($indicator)

Set/Get a boolean field. This is a convenience method for the user, so they can keep track of which of many Widget objects were submitted. It is also used by Catalyst::Plugin::HTML::Wdget

$self->legend($legend)

Set/Get a legend for this widget. This tag is used to label the fieldset.

$self->merge(@widget)

Merge elements, constraints and filters from other widgets, into this one. The elements will be added to the end of the list of elements that have been set already.

$self->method($method)

Set/Get the method used to submit the form. an be set to either "post" or "get". The default is "post".

$self->result( $query, $uploads )

$self->process( $query, $uploads )

After finishing setting up the widget and all its elements, call either process() or result() to create an HTML::Widget::Result. If passed a $query it will run filters and validation on the parameters. The Result object can then be used to produce the HTML.

$self->query($query)

Set/Get the query object to use for validation input. The query object can also be passed to the process method directly.

$self->strict($strict)

Only consider parameters that pass at least one constraint valid.

$self->subcontainer($tag)

Set/Get the subcontainer tag to use. Defaults to fieldset.

$self->uploads($uploads)

Contains an arrayref of Apache2::Upload compatible objects.

SEE ALSO

Catalyst Catalyst::Plugin::HTML::Widget HTML::Element

AUTHOR

Sebastian Riedel, sri@oook.de

LICENSE

This library is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.