NAME
Class::DBI::AsForm - Produce HTML form elements for database columns
SYNOPSIS
package Music::CD;
use Class::DBI::AsForm;
use base 'Class::DBI';
use CGI;
...
sub create_or_edit {
my $class = shift;
my %cgi_field = $class->to_cgi;
return start_form,
(map { "<b>$_</b>: ". $cgi_field{$_}->as_HTML." <br>" }
$class->Columns),
end_form;
}
# <form method="post"...>
# Title: <input type="text" name="Title" /> <br>
# Artist: <select name="Artist">
# <option value=1>Grateful Dead</option>
# ...
# </select>
# ...
# </form>DESCRIPTION
This module helps to generate HTML forms for creating new database rows or editing existing rows. It maps column names in a database table to HTML form elements which fit the schema. Large text fields are turned into textareas, and fields with a has-a relationship to other Class::DBI tables are turned into select drop-downs populated with objects from the joined class.
METHODS
The module is a mix-in which adds two additional methods to your Class::DBI-derived class.
to_cgi
This returns a hash mapping all the column names of the class to HTML::Element objects representing form widgets.
to_field($field [, $how])
This maps an individual column to a form element. The how argument can be used to force the field type into one of textfield, textarea or select; you can use this is you want to avoid the automatic detection of has-a relationships.
CHANGES
Version 1.x of this module returned raw HTML instead of HTML::Element objects, which made it harder to manipulate the HTML before sending it out. If you depend on the old behaviour, set $Class::DBI::AsForm::OLD_STYLE to a true value.
MAINTAINER
Tony Bowden
ORIGINAL AUTHOR
Simon Cozens
BUGS and QUERIES
Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to: bug-Class-DBI-AsForm@rt.cpan.org
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2003-2004 by Simon Cozens / Tony Bowden
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.