How does Fuel combine saved data into admin forms?

Gumster

Hi again!

In a Codeigniter build a while back, I modified Form_builder to be used with it, and to repopulate a form, I came up with a method of either reading in POST data, or retrieving existing db data and applying it to a form array of fields, such that "value" was given appropriate content for each form input (eg empty, POSTed data, saved data).

There must be a similar method in Fuel, which I'd like to use outside of the admin, in a user environment (eg a user profile page). I can't seem to find that process though, and I'm sure it's better than my kludge (which didn't account for every field type). Could it be repurposed?

admin

Hmm... it sounds like Form_builder would be what you may want to use. In .93 there is a contact controller that shows how to make a contact form and send an email using Form_builder. Is that what you are wanting?

Gumster

I took a look at the contact code on github you mentioned.. not quite. Here's what I used in the Codeigniter project I mentioned (it goes on a bit, sorry):

/* * Use Form_builder class to provide HTML * form for given controller / table (from forms config) * Requires db table result object "item" for edits * Stores form in inherited property "form_data['fields']" * * If POST present, submitted value is used */ function _build_form($item = NULL, $readonly = FALSE) { $mode = (is_object($item) && !$readonly) ? 'update' : 'insert'; $mode = ($readonly) ? NULL : $mode; foreach ($this->form_data['fields'] as $key => $val) { $default = (isset($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['default'])) ? $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['default'] : ''; $input = $this->input->post($key); /* * Determine element value */ if (is_object($item)) { // existing data if ($input === FALSE) { // use data or predefined value $value = isset($item->$key) ? $item->$key : $default; } else // if $input present, use it $value = $input; } else { // insert, either predefined or input $value = !empty($input) ? $input : $default; } $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['value'] = $value; // multiple fields (select, radio) with options if (isset($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['options']) && isset($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['type'])) if (is_array($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['options'])) { foreach ($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['options'] as $okey => $oval) { if ($okey == $value) { $status = in_array($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['type'], array('select', 'enum')) ? 'selected' : 'checked'; $this->form_data['fields'][$key][$status] = TRUE; } } } // checkbox if(isset($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['type'])) { if($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['type'] == 'checkbox') { if($mode == 'update' && $value == $default) $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['checked'] = TRUE; else { if(isset($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['checked'])) { // look for explicit 'insert' keyword if($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['checked'] == 'insert') $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['checked'] = TRUE; } else { $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['checked'] = FALSE;} } } } if (isset($this->form_data['fields'][$key]['after_html'])) $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['after_html'] .= form_error($key); else $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['after_html'] = form_error($key); if ($readonly) $this->form_data['fields'][$key]['readonly'] = TRUE; } }

It covers the basic fields, but not all the types in Fuel (but my project was pretty simple on that front). So it inherits field data from a parent class, loops over them by type, and assigns POST or supplied db data (from $item) or the default value if neither. Error messages get appended using after_html.

It's OK for the purpose of the project (maybe it should have been called populate_form()), I just felt it would be lacking in a Fuel environment, and in any case, the admin must use something similar in anyway?

Gumster

Ah, now I've read through the form_builder docs again, set_field_values() kinda covers this.

I've only been using a third of what Form_builder and MY_Model can do, if that! Regarding validation, I can see in the blog module means of adding rules, but how would one set them in one object or array?