NAME

HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Rendering - how to render with FormHandler

VERSION

version 0.40001

SYNOPSIS

Rendering can be done in many different ways, from forms rendered entirely in templates with no information from FormHandler (except possibly the fill-in-the-form values) to forms that are completely rendered by FormHandler.

DESCRIPTION

For most situations, something in between hand-built and completely generated will probably be the best solution. For admin forms that don't need a lot of styling or special HTML, FormHandler's automatic rendering may be appropriate. FormHandler rendering may also be a good solution if you have enough forms that putting time into creating rendering widgets and themes is worthwhile.

The automatic rendering is also useful when developing a new form. You can get an idea of what it looks like, and then customize it.

Another situation in which FormHandler rendering may be useful is when the form is complex enough that working in Perl is a better idea than putting lots of logic into templates.

All of the rendering is designd to be easily replaced with elements of your own, or to be replaced entirely. You can create your own rendering 'widgets' and load them into the fields by designating the directory in the 'widget_name_space'. You could also create a completely separate renderer that's a separate object or class that takes a form object, or a role that is applied to your form.

Mostly templates

The names of your fields must match the names of your FormHandler fields. If you use compound fields, you must use the FormHandler naming convention.

Form used in examples:

package MyApp::Form::Example;
use HTML::FormHandler::Moose;
extends 'HTML::FormHandler';

has_field 'foo';
has_field 'bar';
has_field 'save' => ( type => 'Submit' );

If you have existing forms in templates or just prefer them, you can use the 'fill-in-form' values provided with the form's 'fif' function.

my $form = MyApp::Form::Example->new;
$form->process( params => $params );
$c->stash( fif => $form->fif );
...
<form id="myform" action="/edit/example" method="post">
<label>Foo</label>
<input id="foo" name="foo" value="[% fif.foo %]">
<label>Bar</label>
<input id="bar" name="bar" value="[% fif.bar %]">
</form>

Going a little bit farther in using FormHandler rendering, you can render each of the fields individually:

<form id="myform" action="/edit/example" method="post">
<fieldset><legend>My Foo</legend>
[% form.field('foo').render %]
</fieldset>
[% form.field('bar').render %]
</form>

If you don't want the wrappers, use a widget_wrapper of 'None'.

has '+widget_wrapper' => ( default => 'None' );

Then you can provide the HTML in which the form elements are embedded:

<div class="my_class">
[% form.field('foo').render %]
</div>
<div class="another_class">
[% form.field('bar').render %]
</div>

If you wish to loop through the fields yourself, use the 'sorted_fields' method, since it skips inactive fields and handles the 'order' attribute.

A set of Template Toolkit templates is also provided in the 'share' directory. There are individual templates for each 'widget', such as a checkbox, and there is also an all-in-one template that includes blocks for the various 'widgets'. If you want to use these templates you can just copy them to your template directory and specify the form template in your controller.

Automatic rendering

If you take all the defaults, you can simply render a form with $form->render.

[% form.render %]

This uses the HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Form::Simple role, which is applied to the form by default. You can use a different form rendering role by including it using 'with':

with 'HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Form::Table';
has '+widget_wrapper' => ( default => 'Table' );

For the 'Table' form widget, you will also need to set the matching Table widget_wrapper.

A widget role, providing the 'render' method, and a widget wrapper role, providing the 'wrap_field' method, are applied to each field when the form is built. Each field has a default widget, but you can change that by setting 'widget' to a different widget role:

has_field 'foxy' => ( widget => 'MyWidget' );

Default widget roles are found in the HTML::FormHandler::Widget directory. The name space used to look for the widget roles can be specified on a form or field basis by setting 'widget_name_space' to an arrayref of name spaces:

has '+widget_name_space' => ( default => sub { ['MyApp::Form::Widget' ]);

For the above widget ('MyWidget') and widget_name_space, you need to have a package named 'MyApp::Form::Widget::Field::MyWidget'.

The HTML::FormHandler::Widget name space is always searched as the last name space. This means that you can set up an application or form specific set of widgets. Widgets in a widget directory (specified in widget_name_space) are located in either a 'Field', 'Wrapper', or 'Form' subdirectory. (Blocks are in a 'Blocks' subdirectory.)

You can also create an 'all-in-one' type rendering role, using HTML::FormHandler::Render::Simple as a basis. It used the method name 'render_field' on the form ( $form->render_field('field_name') ) instead of the 'render' method on the field.

In addition to the 'Simple' wrapper, there is a 'Bootstrap' wrapper which creates html formatted to use the Twitter Bootstrap 2.0 CSS. There's also a sample "theme", HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Theme::Bootstrap, which is a role that sets the widget_wrapper to 'Bootstrap', and provides Bootstrap-type formatting of the form error message.

There are a lot of different settings that control the rendering. Some of them are attributes in the form or field, and some of them are set using the 'tags' hashref in the field or the 'form_tags' hashref in the form.

HTML attributes

Arbitrary HTML attributes on form elements (such as 'input' elements) can be specified with 'element_attr' on the field. You can also set attributes for the label with 'label_attr' and attributes for the wrapper with 'wrapper_attr'. The 'class' attributes are handled separately, and are arrayrefs (element_class, wrapper_class, label_class):

has_field 'foo' => ( wrapper_class => ['form', 'special' ] );

See the documentation in HTML::FormHandler::Field#Attributes_for_creating_HTML.

Form settings

widget_wrapper

The short name of the rendering wrapper widget to be applied to the fields. When the fields are constructed this is merged into fields that do not already set a widget wrapper.

do_form_wrapper

Flag set with 'sub build_do_form_wrapper{ 1 }'. Default is no form wrapper.

form_tags

Hashref of various tags used in rendering code. See the documentation for HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Form::Simple.

form_element_attr

Hashref of arbitrary HTML attributes to be included in the form element.

sub build_form_element_attr { [ ... ] }

form_element_class

Arrayref of classes to be included in the form element.

form_element_class => ['hfh', 'admin']
-- or in your class --
sub build_form_element_class { ['hfh', 'admin'] }

The above class would produce a form element:

<form id="myform" method="post" class="hfh admin">

form_wrapper_attr

Hashref of arbitrary HTML attributes to be included in the form wrapper

sub build_form_wrapper_attr { { name => 'formname' } }

Field settings

has_field 'foo' => ( widget => 'MyWidget', widget_wrapper => 'SpecialWrapper',
    element_attr => { placeholder => 'enter a foo' }, element_class => 'important',
    wrapper_class => ['label'], label_class => ['major'],
    tags => { widget_tag => 'fieldset' } );

widget: Short name of the rendering widget for this field.
widget_wrapper: Short name of the wrapping widget for this field.
do_wrapper: Flag that indicates whether or not the 'wrapper' should be rendered.
do_label: Flag that indicates whether or not a label should be rendered.
element_attr: Hashref of arbitrary HTML attributes to include in the element.
element_class: Arrayref of classes to include in the element.
wrapper_attr: Hashref of arbitrary HTML attributes to include in the wrapper.
wrapper_class: Arrayref of classes to include in the wrapper.
label_attr: Hashref of arbitrary HTML attributes to include in the label.
label_class: Arrayref of classes to include in the label.

Field tags

The 'tags' are settings and strings which may vary by the particular widget that implements them. The best place to look for documentation on them is in the field widget, field wrapper, and form widgets that you are using. The 'tags' allow customizing rendering behavior on a per-field basis. FormHandler has a number of flags/settings that it uses; you can add your own for your custom rendering code.

wrapper_tag    -- the tag to use in the wrapper, default 'div'
label_tag      -- tag to use for label (default 'label')
label_after    -- string to append to label, for example ': ' to append a colon

Tags can be used to switch the Simple wrapper from divs to using paragraphs instead, or to add a colon in label formatting:

has_field 'my_field' => (
    tags => {wrapper_tag => 'p', label_after => ': '  } );

Most of the tags are implemented by the 'wrapper' widget, so see that documentation for more details: HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Wrapper::Simple, HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Wrapper::Bootstrap.

Blocks

When rendering, FormHandler loops through the sorted fields in the form and executes the 'render' method on each field. Fields in FormHandler forms, particularly those that interface with a database, are usually structured in a way that matches the data structure. This doesn't always fit with the way that you want to display the form.

'Blocks' provide an alternative way of structuring the display. A 'block' is a fairly basic object that contains a 'render' method. The standard block class, HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Block, has Moose attributes to set the HTML tag, the label, the classes, etc, plus a 'render_list' which contains the names of a list of fields or other blocks to render.

Here is the definition of a fieldset block that contains two fields:

has_field 'foo';
has_field 'bar';
has_block 'first_fset' => ( tag => 'fieldset, label => 'Two Fields',
    render_list => ['foo', 'bar'] );

The 'first_fset' block will render like this:

<fieldset><legend>Two Fields</legend>
    <div>
       <label>Foo</label>
       <input type="text" name="foo" id="foo" value="" />
    <div>
    <div>
       <label>Bar</label>
       <input type="text" name="bar" id="bar" value="" />
    <div>
</fieldset>

In order to actually get this block to be used when you render with $form->render, you need to supply a 'render_list' on the the form level:

sub build_render_list { ['first_fset'] }

You could also render it with $form->block('first_fset')->render.

Blocks should be located in a widget name space, in a 'Block' directory, or else the name should be prefixed with a '+'.

has '+widget_name_space' => ( default => sub { ['MyApp::Form::Widget'] };
has_block 'first' => ( type => 'MyBlock', ... );

The 'MyBlock' above will be found in 'MyApp::Form::Widget::Block::MyBlock'.

has_block 'intro' => ( type => '+MyApp::Form::Component::Intro' );

A block can inherit from HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Block, but it doesn't have to. At a minimum it must provide 'new' and 'render' methods. If no 'type' is specified, the block is created from the HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Block package.

The following package provides a functional block:

package MyApp::Component::Section;
sub new {
    my ( $class, %args ) = @_;
    return bless \%args, $class;
}
sub form {
    my $self = shift;
    return $self->{form};
}
sub render {
    return
    '<div class="intro">
      <h3>Please enter the relevant details</h3>
    </div>';
}
1;

When a form is rendered, it will either loop through all of the sorted_fields OR loop through the fields and blocks listed in the 'render_list'. A render_list can contain a mix of fields and blocks.

Twitter Bootstrap 2.0 rendering

The main component of Bootstrap rendering is HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Wrapper::Bootstrap. It produces the standard Bootstrap-style HTML such as:

<div class="control-group">
  <label class="control-label" for="input01">Text input</label>
  <div class="controls">
    <input type="text" class="input-xlarge" id="input01" name="input01" value="" />
  </div>
</div>

These are the standard 'control' blocks for Bootstrap vertical and horizontal forms. You can apply this wrapper to all of your fields by setting the widget_wrapper in the form:

has '+widget_wrapper' => ( default => 'Bootstrap' );

There is also a sample "theme": HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Theme::Bootstrap. It sets the widget_wrapper for you and provides a 'render_form_messages' method to render a success/error messages section.

There are a couple of examples in the t/bootstrap directory of Bootstrap inline and search forms, which don't use exactly the same kind of control HTML.

You can always copy the existing wrapper and add your own features, with settings provided by the 'tags' hashref.

Rendering themes

Many of the flags and settings necessary for rendering can now be moved out into a role. Whether you want to do that or not is a matter of style and preference. The advantage is that it leaves the form class itself cleaner and easier to read. The disadvantage is that your settings come from more different places.

Here's an example of a form rendering 'theme', taken from the t/bootstrap/basic.t test:

package MyApp::Form::Basic::Theme;
use Moose::Role;

# make a wrapper around the form
sub build_do_form_wrapper {1}
# set the class for the form wrapper
sub build_form_wrapper_class { ['span9'] }
# set the class for the form element
sub build_form_element_class { ['well'] }
# set various rendering tags
sub build_form_tags {
    {   wrapper_tag => 'div',
        before => qq{<div class="row"><div class="span3"><p>With v2.0, we have
           lighter and smarter defaults for form styles. No extra markup, just
           form controls.</p></div>\n},
        after => '</div>',
    }
}

# the settings in 'build_update_subfields' are merged with the field
# definitions before they are constructed
sub build_update_subfields {{
   # all fields have a label but no wrapper
   all => { do_wrapper => 0, do_label => 1 },
   # set the element class, a placeholder in element_attr
   foo => { element_class => ['span3'],
       element_attr => { placeholder => 'Type something…' },
       tags => { after_element =>
          qq{\n<span class="help-inline">Associated help text!</span>} } },
   bar => { option_label => 'Check me out',
      label_class => ['checkbox'], do_label => 0 },
   submit_btn => { element_class => ['btn'] },
}}

Note that the value 'all' key in the update_subfields hashref will be merged into the attributes used when building the all of the fields.

Rendering fields

The default for most fields is a 'div' wrapper and a label. If you don't want the wrapper, set do_wrapper => 0. If you don't want the label, set do_label => 0.

Checkboxes are most complicated, in that the default is to have two labels. The outer label, the one that's in the same place as the label for other input elements, is set with label => '...'. The inner label, which is the equivalent of the label => '...' in the options array used for selects and checkbox groups, is set with option_label => '...'. There are a number of other 'tags' to control the presentation. See HTML::FormHandler::Widget::Field::Checkbox for more information, and t/render/checkbox.t for examples.

Some fields by default do not render a label: Button, Submit, Reset, ButtonTag. If you do want a label with these fields, you must set the 'do_label' flag to 1:

has_field 'foo' ( type => 'Button', do_label => 1 );

Rendering filter

The base field class has a 'render_filter' attribute which is a coderef used to clean the values used to fill in the form for Render::Simple and the Widgets, and for some of the labels.. The default filter changes quote, ampersand, <, and > to the equivalent html entities. If you wish to use some other sort of filtering, you can set use 'render_filter' method in your form, or set a coderef on individual field objects. A 'render_filter' function in your form will be used by all fields. Setting it for a field will just be for that field.

sub render_filter {
    my $string = shift;
    $string =~ s/my/MY/g; # perform some kind of transformation
    return $string;
}
-- or --
has_field 'foo' => ( render_filter => sub { ... } );

The filter is called in Render::Simple in the widgets with $self->html_filter( $fif ) or $field->html_filter( $fif ).

If you want to turn off the filter for a particular field, you can set it to a sub that just returns the value:

has_field 'bar' => ( render_filter => sub { shift } );

AUTHOR

FormHandler Contributors - see HTML::FormHandler

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

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cpanm

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perl -MCPAN -e shell
install HTML::FormHandler

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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