> -----Original Message----- > From: Manuel Lemos [mailto:mlemos@xxxxxxx] > Sent: 11 June 2009 07:21 > To: Eddie Drapkin > Cc: PHP General Mailing List > Subject: Re: Form handling > > Hello, > > on 06/10/2009 03:10 PM Eddie Drapkin said the following: > > I've been charged with writing a class that handles forms, once they've > been > > POSTed to. The idea of the class is to handle the most common use-cases > of > > POST forms, and any special functionality can be handled with a child > class > > at a later date, but for our uses, we're going to have mostly pretty > typical > > POST forms. Follows is the list of cases I've determined that are the > most > > common, can anyone think of any that are omitted or that are never going > to > > be used? > > > > class form_handler { > > public /* bool */ function setRequiredFields(array $fields); //takes > a > > simple array that corresponds to a $_POST key, verifying that there is > data > > on required fields but not for optional fields, returns true or false on > > error > > public /* bool */ function setRequiredFieldTypes(array $fieldTypes); > > //array of field names => type a la ('username' => array(regex, > > '/a-zA-Z0-9\-_/')) > > //or 'phone_number' => (array('int', 'min_len' => 7, > > 'max_len' => 10)) etc, the exact spec is obviously nowhere near done but > > will probably just wrap a lot of filter_ functions, returns true or > false on > > error > > public /* string */ function validateAndCaptureError(); //returns > error > > or empty string > > public /* void */ function validateAndForwardTo($page); //forwards > to > > page on error, or not > > } > > > > each of the globule setters will have a corresponding appendRequired... > > method, so as not to require handling enormous data structures for > > conditional form building. > > ♦ > > As you can see, the class looks pretty barren, but I can't think of any > more > > functionality than would be required, although I am kickign the idea > around > > of having very specific validation type methods ie. > > form_handler::requireInt($field, array $options) or > > form_handler::requireRegex($field, $regex), etc. > > > > Thoughts? > > You may want consider not reinventing the wheel. > > I use this popular forms generation and validation class since about 10 > years now. It can deal with pretty much all you need now and probably > later. > > http://www.phpclasses.org/formsgeneration > > Here are some live examples of the class and its plug-ins. > > http://www.meta-language.net/forms-examples.html > > -- > > Regards, > Manuel Lemos Whilst Manuel's Forms Generation class / Zend Form et al are certainly quick and easy to integrate, if this is an in-house project, I don't see a problem with rolling your own Forms class designed to simply automate some of the common functionality your developers use. In a lot of cases, out-of-the-box classes come with bloat while being all things to all men, which is not a bad thing, per se, but needs to be weighed up when selecting a methodology. To answer your original question, though, our in-house framework has a base Form class, which is extended through child classes, as well as a base input class, which is extended with child classes such as TextInput, SelectInput etc. This allows each input to have its individual validate() methods, as well as creating a wrapper Form::validate() method which loops through the Input::validate() methods. Example $Form = new Form; $Form->fields['text'] = new TextInput; $Form->fields['select'] = new SelectInput; $Form->fields['select']->options = array('foo' => 'bar', 'wom' => 'bat'); With regard your setRequiredFields(), we use an Input::$mandatory property, which the Input::validate() method checks. The setRequiredFieldTypes() is dealt with by the actual File class. I would certainly separate out the required validation as mentioned with requireInt/Regex methods, which would allow combining of required conditions. We use a $validation bitwise property in the Input class combined with class constants, as well as minlength / maxlength properties for text / password fields. Other things to consider - Some method of storing user messages during validation which can be output later. - Creating an output method for the fields. Repopulating the fields with submitted values, using CSS to highlight missing or invalid fields or creating "custom" fields (such as a date input with a calendar / made up of Y/M/D select inputs) can lead to a mess if you are hardcoding the output. For example: $Form->fields['text']->add_css_class('missing_mandatory'); $Form->fields['text']->set_value('Foo'); $Form->fields['text']->output(); Something further to consider would be to have a $value property and use __set() overloading (http://us3.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.overloading.php) to validate Eg $Form->fields['select']->value = 'foo'; // Sets value to foo $Form->fields['select']->value = 'No such option'; // Does not set - A method / property to check whether the form has been submitted. If you have a Form::id property, you can pass this through in a hidden field and create a method which checks for the presence of this in the $_POST array. Example class Form { public $id; public $form_id_key = 'my_form_id'; public /* bool */ function has_been_submitted() { $submitted = false; if (array_key_exists($this->form_id_key,$_POST) && $_POST[$this->form_id_key] == $this->id) { $submitted = true; } return $submitted; } } $Form->id = 'myform'; if ($Form->has_been_submitted()) { // Process the form } [snip] <form method='post' action=''> <input type = 'hidden' name = '<?php echo $Form->form_id_key ?>' value= '<?php echo $Form->id ?>' /> </form> It would be worth thinking about how to handle cases where a Form id is null when checking for submission. Finally, if the class starts out looking barren, that's not a problem - there's always room to expand if more functionality is needed. Filling a class with functionality you might need, without where and when you'll need it, or how you expect to use it is a Bad Thing. Apologies all for the essay, but hopefully it's of some use. Dajve ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- for (thoughts, ramblings && doodles) { goto http://dajve.co.uk ; } -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
