Changes - Changes in FormBuilder 3.0, please also see the README
FormBuilder 3.0 should be completely compatible with FormBuilder 2.x, with the singular exception that you can no longer use the shortcut autoload style of getting to fields:
$form->field(name => 'category', options => \@opt); $form->category(options => \@opt); # WRONG
In order to allow the second form, you must specify the fieldsubs option to new().
fieldsubs
new()
A new module, CGI::FormBuilder::Multi, has been added to handle the navigation and state of multi-page forms. A multi-page form is actually composed of several individual forms, tied together with the special CGI param _page:
CGI::FormBuilder::Multi
_page
my $multi = CGI::FormBuilder::Multi->new( # first args are hashrefs per-form \%form1_opts, \%form2_opts, \%form3_opts, # remaining options apply to all forms header => 1, method => 'POST', ); my $form = $multi->form; # current form if ($form->submitted && $form->validate) { # you write this do_data_update($form->fields); # last page? if ($multi->page == $multi->pages) { print $form->confirm; exit; } $multi->page++; # next page counter $form = $multi->form; # fetch next page's form } print $form->render;
For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Multi.
Inspired by Peter Eichman's Text::FormBuilder, the new source option has been added to new() which enables the use of an external config file to initialize FormBuilder. This file takes the format:
Text::FormBuilder
source
# sample config file method: POST header: 1 submit: Update, Delete fields: fname: label: First Name size: 50 validate: NAME lname: label: Last Name size: 40 validate: NAME sex: label: Gender options: M=Male, F=Female jsclick: javascript:alert("Change your mind??"); validate: M,F required: ALL messages: form_invalid_text: Please correct the following fields: form_required_text: Please fill in all <b>bold</b> fields.
You can even pre-parse this file, and generate a module from it which you can then reuse in multiple scripts using the write_module() function. For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Source::File.
write_module()
The new other option has been added to field(). If specified, a text box will be added to the right of the field, and its value will be used if the main field is not filled in. It will be subject to the same required and validation checks as the main field:
other
field()
$form->field(name => 'favorite_color', options => [qw(Red Green Blue)], validate => 'NAME', other => 1); # allow "other"
This would create HTML something like this:
Favorite Color: []Red []Green []Blue []Other: [____________]
The text "Other:" is controlled by the message form_other_default.
form_other_default
Thanks to a patch from Peter Eichman, field() now also accepts a growable option. This option enables some JavaScript hooks that add an "Additional [label]" button on text and file fields:
growable
Data File: [______________] [Additional Data File]
When you click on the "Additional Data File" button, another box will be appended, allowing you to add more files. The values are then retrieved in the usual fashion:
my @files = $form->field('data_file');
Like "other" fields, all elements are subject to validation checks. The text "Additional %s" is controlled by the message form_grow_default.
form_grow_default
CGI::FastTemplate
Thanks once again to Peter Eichman (busy guy), the module CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Fast has been included. This adds the template type Fast as an interface to CGI::FastTemplate:
CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Fast
Fast
my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new( template => { type => 'Fast', define => { form => 'form.tmpl', field => 'field.tmpl', } }
See CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Fast for more details. Thanks again Peter!
The 2.x tmpl_param() method has been reimplemented finally. In addition, the included template modules are now completely subclassable, meaning that you can create an entire template engine with something like this:
tmpl_param()
package My::HTML::Template; use CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML; use base 'CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML'; # new() is inherited sub render { my $self = shift; my $form = shift; # complete form object # do any special actions here $self->SUPER::render; }
For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Template.
All messages were reworded to make them shorter and easier to read. The phrase "You must" was removed from all of them. To see the new messages, cut-and-paste this code:
perl -MCGI::FormBuilder::Messages \ -e 'CGI::FormBuilder::Messages->messages'
In addition, the form_submit_default and form_reset_default messages were not even being used, and field labels were not being properly highlighted on error. These problems have been fixed.
form_submit_default
form_reset_default
The 2.x feature of $form->$fieldname() has been reimplemented, but using it requires the fieldsubs option:
$form->$fieldname()
my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(fields => \@f, fieldsubs => 1);
Read the docs for some caveats.
Similar to a static form, you can set disabled => 1 in new() or render() to display a form with grayed-out input boxes. You can also set this on a per-field basis using field().
disabled => 1
render()
If you want to include HTML in your field options, set cleanopts to 0 in field() (for one field) or new() (for all fields).
cleanopts
For compatibility with other modules, FormBuilder now includes param(), query_string(), self_url(), and script_name().
param()
query_string()
self_url()
script_name()
This was a bugfix release, including the following changes:
- fixed major problems with keepextras, including a reversed ismember test - added debug messages to keepextras and changed a few other debugs - added patch from Peter Eichman to fix scalar $field->tag and $field->tag_value - converted most all XHTML generation methods to only returning scalars - fixed the columns option which was totally broken for radio buttons - added a feature to plop in {border => 0} in columns as well - added the 2.x 'override' alias for field() 'force' which was missing - also added a 'defaults' alias for field() 'value' for CGI.pm happiness - more tests since there were way too many bugs
In addition there were many documentation updates and changes.
The internals have been completely rewritten, nearly from the ground up. All of the major functions have been split into methods, and objects have been created for the form, fields, messages, CGI params, and so on. Several new sub-modules have been created, including:
CGI::FormBuilder::Field CGI::FormBuilder::Messages CGI::FormBuilder::Template CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML CGI::FormBuilder::Template::Text CGI::FormBuilder::Template::TT2
Many of these modules can be subclassed and overridden if desired. In addition, the template engine has been rewritten to allow "plugging in" of additional template modules, simply by specifying the name of the module to the 'template' option in new().
For more details, see the man pages for the individual modules above.
Stylesheets are now generated if the stylesheet option is specified to FormBuilder. This can either be 1 to turn it on, or a full path to a style sheet to include. When used, all tags are then output with a class attribute, named styleclass plus the name of the tag:
stylesheet
1
class
styleclass
my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new( fields => [qw/name email/], styleclass => 'myFB', # default is "fb_" stylesheet => 1, # turn on style ); print $form->render; # HTML will include # <input class="myFBname" id="name" name="name" type="text" /> # <input class="myFBemail" id="email" name="email" type="text" />
The output should be fully-compliant XHTML finally. Really. Maybe.
Individual accessors have been added for every attribute that FormBuilder maintains. For example, here's a snippet of code to demonstrate:
if ($form->stylesheet) { # loop thru fields, changing class for ($form->fields) { next if /_date$/; # skip fields named "XXX_date" # each field is a stringifiable object with accessors if ($_->options) { # has options $_->class('my_opt_style'); } else { # plain text box $_->class('my_text_style'); } } }
This code checks to see if the stylesheet property has been set on the main $form. If so, then it loops thru all the fields, skipping those named XXX_date. Of the remaining fields, those that have options have their class attribute changed to my_opt_style, and those without options have it set to my_text_style.
$form
XXX_date
my_opt_style
my_text_style
In addition, you can individually render every part of the form yourself. by calling the appropriate method. For example:
print $form->header; # just the header print $form->script; # opening JavaScript print $form->title; # form title print $form->start; # opening <form> tag for ($form->fields) { print $_->label; # each field's human label print $_->tag; # each field's <input> tag } print $form->end; # closing </form> tag
For a complete list of accessors, see the documentation for both CGI::FormBuilder and CGI::FormBuilder::Field.
Many messages have been reworded, and several new messages were added to make it easier to customize individual text. In addition, you can now specify messages to individual fields:
$form->field(name => 'email', message => 'Please enter a valid email address');
For more details, see CGI::FormBuilder::Messages.
CGI::FormBuilder::Messages
HTML character encoding is now dispatched to HTML::Entities, if available. This can be downloaded as part of the HTML::Parser module set on CPAN.
HTML::Entities
HTML::Parser
Documentation has been updated and somewhat reorganized, which was long overdue.
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Nathan Wiger, Sun Microsystems <nate@sun.com>. All Rights Reserved.
This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or the Artistic License, copies of which should have accompanied your Perl kit.
To install CGI::FormBuilder, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm CGI::FormBuilder
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install CGI::FormBuilder
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.