NAME
Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder::MultiForm - Multiple forms per
template with Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder
SYNOPSIS
In your controller:
use base 'Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder::MultiForm';
sub foo : Local Form {
my ($self, $c) = @_;
# Get a local copy of the "foo" form
my $foo_form = $self->formbuilder;
# Forward to the "bar" action to include the "bar" form, and get a copy of it
my $bar_form = $c->forward('bar');
# Do stuff with the "foo" or "bar" form results
# ...
}
sub bar : Local Form {
my ($self, $c) = @_;
return $self->formbuilder;
}
In your "foo.fb" FormBuilder configuration file:
name: my_foo_form
In your "bar.fb" FormBuilder configuration file:
name: my_bar_form
In your template for the "foo" action (Template Toolkit):
<!-- Display the "foo" form -->
[% forms.my_foo_form.FormBuilder.render %]
<!-- Display the "bar" form -->
[% forms.my_bar_form.FormBuilder.render %]
DESCRIPTION
This module allows you to access multiple FormBuilder objects per
template when using Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder (see
Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder for more information).
By default, Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder provides a set of
variables in the stash that you can use to access your form (default:
"$c->stash->{FormBuilder}" and "$c->stash->{formbuilder}").
If you forward to another ":Form" action, that action's FormBuilder
object will replace the FormBuilder object in your calling action. This
allows you to forward to other actions for building form details yet
keep your form handling in the calling action, and is quite handy.
However, it prevents you from forwarding to other ":Form" actions for
the purpose of building multiple FormBuilder objects for use in a single
page.
This module allows you to keep a copy of the FormBuilder object for each
":Form" action you forward to in the stash, so that you can access
multiple forms inside one template. Each form is kept in a stash
variable (default: "$c->{forms}") and can be accessed by the name of the
form (as set in your form configuration).
For example, if you named your form "foo_edit" in your form
configuration, you could access this form by name with the following
stash variables:
# Access the formbuilder object for the "foo_edit" form
$c->stash->{forms}->{foo_edit}->{FormBuilder}
# Access the formbuilder data for the "foo_edit" form
$c->stash->{forms}->{foo_edit}->{formbuilder}
If you wish to use the default behavior, just use the regular
FormBuilder stash values:
$c->stash->{FormBuilder}
$c->stash->{formbuilder}
Since you can use both behaviors, it is safe to use this module as your
base controller without having to modify your existing single form
FormBuilder code and templates. Just don't access the form by name, and
you won't get the multiform behavior.
TEMPLATES
For a description of templating systems supported, see "TEMPLATES" in
Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder.
Template::Toolkit
Template::Toolkit and HTML::Mason are pretty straightforward, and work
as described above by just accessing the stash.
Example of rendering a form named "foo" in Template::Toolkit:
[% forms.foo.FormBuilder.render %]
HTML::Mason
Example of rendering a form named "foo" in HTML::Mason:
<% $forms->{foo}->{FormBuilder}->render %>
HTML::Template
If you wish to access a form by name with HTML::Template, you can do so
by prefixing the usual FormBuilder HTML::Template variables with the
name of your form, like "[form name]-[formbuilder template variable]".
See CGI::FormBuilder::Template::HTML for information about FormBuilder
template variables in HTML::Template..
Example of rendering a form named "foo" in HTML::Template:
<tmpl_var foo-form-start>
<tmpl_var foo-form-statetags>
<tmpl_var foo-label-username> <tmpl_var foo-field-username>
<tmpl_var foo-label-password> <tmpl_var foo-field-password>
<tmpl_var foo-form-submit>
<tmpl_var foo-form-end>
CONFIGURATION
For a details on how to set configuration options for FormBuilder, see
"CONFIGURATION" in Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder.
If you wish to set any of the configuration options specific to
MultiForm, you would do so as follows:
MyApp->config
(
# Define config options specific to MultiForm
'Controller::FormBuilder::MultiForm' =>
{
stash_name => 'lots_of_forms_in_here',
template_type => 'TT',
}
# Define any regular FormBuilder config options
'Controller::FormBuilder' =>
{
# ..
}
);
The following configuration options are available for MultiForm:
"stash_name"
Defines the name of the stash variable to use for holding all of
your forms.
Not applicable for HTML::Template view.
Please note that this option does not effect FormBuilder's
stash_name option in any way. You are safe to set each option as you
please in the appropriate configuration section.
Default: "forms"
"template_type"
Defines the Catalyst View that the stash will be prepared for.
Possible values are: "HTML::Template", "Mason" or "TT".
Default: "TT"
CAVEATS
Form Name is Required
You must provide a form name in your form configuration for this to
work. If your form is not named, then it will not be included in the
list of forms.
Form Name Uniqueness
Each form name must be unique. If you forward to more than one form with
the same name, the form data will be overwritten.
Field Name Uniqueness
Be careful with field names when using the module. Clashing field names
will result in data from one form bleeding in to an other. This is just
the nature of POST / GET.
To get around this, FormBuilder itself would have to prefix the form
name on each field id natively in its rendering methods, which it
currently does not.
Multiple Form on the Fly
It would be handy to be able to generate multiple forms on the fly with
this module. For example, you could make an AJAX call to generate a
series of "create" forms on the fly.
However, because CGI::FormBuilder does not yet support unique field
names on the fly, this functionality will not be available in MultiForm.
SEE ALSO
Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder, CGI::FormBuilder, Catalyst::Manual
AUTHOR
Danny Warren <perl@dannywarren.com>
CREDITS
Thanks to Juan Camacho for his help with this, and for his great
Catalyst::Controller::FormBuilder module.
LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2007 Danny Warren. All rights reserved.
This library is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.