HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Fields(3p)

NAME
HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Fields - brief documentation of available fields

VERSION
version 0.40068

SYNOPSIS
Manual Index

See also HTML::FormHandler::Field for a description of the base field attributes.

The inheritance hierarchy of HTML::FormHandler Fields

   Text
      Money
      Password
      Hidden
      Integer
         PosInteger
      Float
      Date
         DateMDY
      Email
      TextCSV
   TextArea
   Select
      Multiple
      SelectCSV
      BoolSelect
      IntRange
         Hour
         Minute
         MonthDay
         Month
         Second
         Year
      MonthName
      Weekday
   Checkbox
      Boolean
   Compound
      Repeatable
      Duration
      DateTime
   NoValue
      Submit
      Reset
      Button
      Display
      AddElement
      RmElement
      NonEditable
   PrimaryKey
   Upload
   File

DESCRIPTION
A form's fields are created from the 'has_field' and 'field_list' definitions. FormHandler processes the field lists and creates an array of HTML::FormHandler::Field objects. The "type" of a field determines which field class to use. The field class determines which attributes are valid for a particular field. A number of field classes are provided by FormHandler. You can customize the validation in your form on a per field basis, but validation that will be used for more than one field might be more easily handled in a custom field class.

Fields are accessed with "form->field('name')". Field errors are in "$field->errors".

If the 'field_name_space' is not set, fields will be loaded from the HTML::FormHandler::Field name space. If you provide a 'field_name_space' it will be searched before FormHandler. If you want to explicitly list the field's package, prefix it with a plus sign. The field_name_space plus the default name spaces 'HTML::FormHandler::Field' and 'HTML::FormHandlerX::Field' will be searched for fields.

    has '+field_name_space' => ( default => 'MyApp::Form::Field' );
    has_field 'name' => ( type => 'Text' ); # HTML::FormHandler::Field::Text
    has_field 'name' => ( type => '+My::FieldType' ); # My::Fieldtype
    has_field 'foo'  => ( type => '+Foo' );  # MyApp::Form::Field::Foo
      or
    has_field 'foo'  => ( type => 'Foo' );  # MyApp::Form::Field::Foo

The most basic type is "Text", which is usually a 'text' HTML element and a string data type. (If the type of a field is not specified, it will be set to 'Text'.) A "Select" field type is a HTML select element, and validates against the list of values provided in the 'options'. A "Multiple" type is like "Select" but it allows selecting more than one value at a time.

Many field classes contain only a list of constraints and transformations to apply. Some use the 'validate' method, which is called after the actions are applied. Some build a custom select list using 'build_options'.

There are two rough categories of Field classes: those that do extra processing and those that are simple validators. The 'Compound', 'Repeatable', and 'Select' fields are fields that are functional.

Field names
The standard way to use FormHandler is with field names that match your database accessors. If you want to prepend the HTML field names with a name plus dot, you can set the form 'name' and use the 'html_prefix' flag. "$name." will be stripped from the beginning of the HTML fields before processing by HFH, and will be added back in 'fif'. The field's 'html_name' convenience attribute will return this name for use in templates.

If you want the FormHandler field name to be different than the database accessor, set 'accessor' on your fields. (It defaults to the field name.) You could then use any name that you want for your field.

There are a number of name-related field attributes. The 'name' is the name used to identify this particular field in this fields array. The 'full_name' includes the names of all parents of this field, like 'address.street.streetname'. The 'html_name' is the same as the 'full_name' unless you have set the 'html_prefix' flag, in which case it includes the form name: 'myform.address.street.streetname'.

To retrieve a field by name, you can use either the full_name or a chain: "$form->field('address')->field('street')->field('streetname')" or: "$form->field('address.street.streetname')".

Creating custom fields
Subclass a custom field from HTML::FormHandler::Field, or one of the existing subclasses. Almost everything that is done in a custom field class can also be done in a form. The advantage of a field class is that it can simplify declaration of often-repeated sets of attributes.

The simplest subclasses contain only a 'validate' routine or an 'apply' attribute, which is called by the base Field class from 'process'. Look at HTML::FormHandler::Field::Email, for example.

If the field's value will be an object instead of a simple scalar, such as a DateTime, and you want to use the transformed value to fill in the form, then you will also need a deflation or field class 'deflate' method to reformat the object into a form suitable for an HTML form field. See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::InflationDeflation for more info.

Some custom fields might only require setting certain attributes to defaults, such as the HTML::FormHandler::Field::Hour field, which set 'range_start' to 0 and 'range_end' to 23. A 'select' field might override the 'build_options' builder for the 'options' array, like HTML::FormHandler::Field::IntRange. A field may add additional attributes, such as 'label_format' in HTML::FormHandler::Field::IntRange, or set the 'required' message.

An alternative to new field classes for many field validations might be roles with collections of validations.

Other field packages
Some custom fields are supplied as CPAN packages, in the HTML::FormHandlerX name space.

reCAPTCHA

DateTimeNatural

URI::HTTP

Fields supplied by FormHandler

  Basic Fields
Although there are a lot of fields provided (probably too many) a lot of them are "convenience" fields or "name" fields, where the main benefit is that the field type is a name that gives the main purpose of the field. Most of these fields could be replaced by a basic field with a bit of validation or some select options. A few of the fields are special purpose fields that won't be used very often.

The fields in this section are the basic fields, the commonly used fields that will be most often used in a form.

Text

A string data type that will be formatted as an HTML text field. Has 'minlength' and 'maxlength' attributes.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Text

Select

A field formatted as a select element.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Select

Checkbox

A field formatted as a checkbox. If not in params, will be forced to 'false' value by 'input_without_param' attribute (0 by default).

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Checkbox

Hidden

A hidden field.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Hidden

Password

A password field. The value is not re-displayed.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Password

TextArea

A textarea field. Has 'cols' and 'rows' attributes.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::TextArea

Upload

A file upload field that takes a filehandle or a Catalyst upload object (an object with a 'size' method).

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Upload

Submit

A submit field.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Submit

Reset

A reset field.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Reset

  Complex Fields (Compound and Repeatable)
These fields are complex fields which contain a fair amount of special code. They do not map to a single HTML element; they contain multiple subfields.

Compound

A compound field is a field that has sub-fields. Compound fields can be created in two ways: 1) using a field class, 2) by declaration.

To create a compound field class, you must extend HTML::FormHandler::Field::Compound and use HTML::FormHandler::Moose to allow declaring fields:

  package MyApp::Field::Duration;

  use HTML::FormHandler::Moose;
  extends 'HTML::FormHandler::Field::Compound';

  has_field 'month' => (type => 'Integer');
  has_field 'day' => ( type => 'Integer' );
  has_field 'minutes' => ( type => 'Integer' );

Then in the form:

  has_field 'my_duration' => ( type => '+Duration' );

To create a compound field by declaration, declare the containing compound field and subfields, prefixing the subfield names with the name of the containing compound field plus a dot:

   package MyApp::Form;

   use HTML::FormHandler::Moose;
   extends 'HTML::FormHandler';

   has_field 'duration' => ( type => 'Compound' );
   has_field 'duration.month' => ( type => 'Integer' );
   has_field 'duration.day' => ( type => 'Integer' );
   has_field 'duration.year' => ( type => 'Integer' );

In an HTML form the name of the field must be the complete name with dots. The 'html_name' field attribute can be used to get this name, "$field->html_name".

A compound field can be used for a database relation that will have only one row (belongs_to or has_one). If the relation has a compound primary key, you may need to provide the primary key columns, either through hidden fields or by setting them in the "$form->value" hash before 'update_model' is called.

See also HTML::FormHandler::Field::Compound.

Repeatable

Repeatable fields are used for arrays of compound fields.

   has_field 'addresses' => ( type => 'Repeatable' );
   has_field 'addresses.address_id' => ( type => 'PrimaryKey' );
   has_field 'addresses.street';
   has_field 'addresses.city';
   has_field 'addresses.country' => ( type => 'Select' );

The arrays will be built from arrays passed in the params, or from related ('has_many') rows in the database.

It is also used for arrays of single fields using the 'contains' keyword:

  has_field 'tags' => ( type => 'Repeatable' );
  has_field 'tags.contains' => ( type => '+Tag' );

See HTML::FormHandler::Field::Repeatable for more information.

  Text Fields
Fields subclassed from the Text field.

Text

Text field.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Text

Money

Positive or negative real value, formatted to two decimal places.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Money

Date

Date field that can be used by jQuery datepicker plugin.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Date

DateMDY

A subclass of 'Date' with the "%m/%d/%Y" format.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::DateMDY

Email

Uses Email::Valid for validation.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Email

Integer

Positive and negative integers. Can use range_start and range_end.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Integer

PosInteger

A positive integer field.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::PosInteger

Float

Float field that allows you to set size, precision, decimal_symbol, and decimal_symbol_for_db.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Float

TextCSV

A text field that takes multiple values from a database and converts them to comma-separated values. This is intended for javascript fields that require that, such as 'select2'. This is the only 'multiple' text field. This text field would be a select-type field for the user.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::TextCSV

  Compound Fields
Fields subclassed from 'Compound'.

Compound

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Compound

Repeatable

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Repeatable

Duration

Compound field with possible subfields: years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, nanoseconds.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Duration

DateTime

A compound field that requires you to provide the subfields that you want. (month/day/year/hour/minutes)

HTML::FormHandler::Field::DateTime

  Checkbox Fields
Fields that inherit from 'Checkbox'.

Checkbox

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Checkbox

Boolean

Checkbox that return 1 or 0.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Boolean

  Select Fields
Fields that inherit from 'Select'.

Select

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Select

Multiple

Multiple select. Also sorts the selected options to the top of the select list.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Multiple

  SelectCSV
A multiple select field for comma-separated values in the database. It expects database values like: '1,5,7'. The string will be inflated into an arrayref for validation and form filling, and will be deflated into a comma-separated string in the output value.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::SelectCSV

BoolSelect

A field with three possible values: empty/0/1.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::BoolSelect

Hour

Integer select range field from 0-23.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Hour

Second

Select field with range from 0-59.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Second

IntRange

An integer select field. Can set label format with 'label_format'.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::IntRange

Month

Select field with range from 1 - 12.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Month

MonthDay

Select field with range from 1 - 31.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::MonthDay

MonthName

Select field with month name labels, value 1-12.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::MonthName

Minute

Select field with range from 0-59.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Minute

Weekday

A select field where the labels are the names of the week, and the values are 0-6.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Weekday

Year

Select field providing year list 5 years back and 10 years forward.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Year

  NoValue fields
Fields that inherit from 'NoValue'. None of these fields will provide a 'value' in the "$form->value" hashref.

NoValue

Base class for fields that don't produce a 'value'.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::NoValue

Submit

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Submit

Reset

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Reset

Button

Button field that is rendered by the Button widget.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Button

Display

Non-data field used for inserting HTML into the form. Probably now better handled by a Block or a rendering tag.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Display

AddElement

Example field for adding a repeatable element.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::AddElement

RmElement

Example field for removing a repeatable element

HTML::FormHandler::Field::RmElement

NonEditable

For Bootstrap-style non-editable fields.

  TextArea fields
Fields that inherit from 'TextArea'.

TextArea

HTML::FormHandler::Field::TextArea

  Password fields
Password

Password field. Sets 'noupdate' flag if empty and not required.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Password

PasswordConf

Password confirmation field.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::PasswordConf

  Other fields
These fields inherit just from 'Field'.

File

A file field that does no processing. Most people probably want to use 'Upload' instead.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::File

PrimaryKey

Hidden field that provides the primary key for Repeatable fields.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::PrimaryKey

Captcha

A Captcha field using GD::SecurityImage. Requires the use of the HTML::FormHandler::TraitFor::Captcha role, or similar code.

HTML::FormHandler::Field::Captcha

AUTHOR
FormHandler Contributors - see HTML::FormHandler

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2017 by Gerda Shank.

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