NAME

Mojolicious::Plugin::FormFields - Lightweight form builder with validation and filtering

SYNOPSIS

$self->plugin('FormFields');

# In your controller
sub edit
{
    my $self = shift;
    my $user = $self->users->find($self->param('id'));
    $self->stash(user => $user);
}

sub update
{
    my $self = shift;
    $self->field('user.name')->is_required;
    $self->field('user.password')->is_required->is_equal('user.confirm_password');

    if($self->valid) {
        $self->users->update($self->param('user'));
        $self->redirect_to('/profile');
        return;
    }
}

# In your view
field('user.name')->text
field('user.name')->error unless field('user.name')->valid

field('user.password')->password
field('user.age')->select([10,20,30])
field('user.password')->password
field('user.taste')->radio('me_gusta')
field('user.taste')->radio('estoy_harto_de')
field('user.orders.0.id')->hidden

# Fields for a collection
my $kinfolk = field('user.kinfolk');
for my $person (@$kinfolk) {
  $person->hidden('id')
  $person->text('name')
}

# Or, scope it to the 'user' param
my $user = fields('user')
$user->hidden('id')
$user->text('name')
$user->error('name') unless $user->valid('name')
$user->label('admin')
$user->checkbox('admin')
$user->password('password')
$user->select('age', [ [X => 10], [Dub => 20] ])
$user->file('avatar')
$user->textarea('bio', size => '10x50')

my $kinfolk = $user->fields('kinfolk')
for my $person (@$kinfolk) {
  $person->text('name')
  # ...
}

DESCRIPTION

Mojolicious::Plugin::FormFields allows you to bind objects and data structures to form fields. It also performs validation and filtering via Validate::Tiny.

CREATING FIELDS

Fields can be bound to a hash, an array, something blessed, or any combination of the three. They are created by calling the "field" helper with a path to the value you want to bind, and then calling the desired HTML input method

field('user.name')->text

Is the same as

text_field 'user.name', $user->name, id => 'user-name'

(though Mojolicious::Plugin::FormFields sets type="text").

Field names/paths are given in the form target.accessor1 [ .accessor2 [ .accessorN ] ] where target is an object or data structure and accessor is a method, hash key, or array index. The target must be in the stash under the key target or provided as an argument to "field".

Some examples:

field('users.0.name')->text

Is the same as

text_field 'users.0.name', $users->[0]->name, id => 'users-0-name'

And

field('item.orders.0.XAJ123.quantity')->text

Is equivalent to

text_field 'item.orders.0.XAJ123.quantity', $item->orders->[0]->{XAJ123}->quantity, id => 'item-orders-0-XAJ123-quantity'

As you can see DOM IDs are always created.

Here the target key book does not exist in the stash so the target is supplied

field('book.upc', $item)->text

If a value for the flattened representation exists (e.g., from a form submission) it will be used instead of the value pointed at by the field name (desired behavior?). This is the same as Mojolicious' Tag Helpers.

Options can also be provided

field('user.name')->text(class => 'input-text', 'data-name' => 'xxx')

See "SUPPORTED FIELDS" for the list of HTML input creation methods.

STRUCTURED REQUEST PARAMETERS

Structured request parameters for the bound object/data structure are available via Mojolicious::Controller's param method. They can not be accessed via Mojo::Message::Request.

A request with the parameters user.name=nameA&user.email=email&id=123 can be accessed in your action like

my $user = $self->param('user');
$user->{name};
$user->{email};

Other parameters can be accessed as usual

$id = $self->param('id');

The flattened parameter can also be used

$name = $self->param('user.name');

See Mojolicious::Plugin::ParamExpand for more info.

SCOPING

Fields can be scoped to a particular object/data structure via the "fields" helper

my $user = fields('user');
$user->text('name');
$user->hidden('id');

When using fields you must supply the field's name to the HTML input method, otherwise the calls are the same as they are with field.

COLLECTIONS

You can also create fields scoped to elements in a collection

my $addresses = field('user.addresses');
for my $addr (@$addresses) {
  # field('user.addresses.N.id')->hidden
  $addr->hidden('id');

  # field('user.addresses.N.street')->text
  $addr->text('street');

  # field('user.addresses.N.city')->select([qw|OAK PHL LAX|])
  $addr->select('city', [qw|OAK PHL LAX|]);
}

Or, for fields that are already scoped

my $user = fields('user')
$user->hidden('id');

my $addressess = $user->fields('addresses');
for my $addr (@$addresses) {
  $addr->hidden('id')
  # ...
}

You can also access the underlying object and its position within a collection via the object and index methods.

<% for my $addr (@$addresses) {  %>
  <div id="<%= dom_id($addr->object) %>">
    <h3>Address #<%= $addr->index + 1 %></h3>
    <%= $addr->hidden('id') %>
    ...
  </div>
<% } %>

VALIDATING & FILTERING

Validation rules are created by calling validation and/or filter methods on the field to be validated

# In your controller
my $self = shift;
$self->field('user.name')->is_required;
$self->field('user.name')->filter('trim');

These methods can be chained

$self->field('user.name')->is_required->filter('trim');

To perform validation on a field call its valid method

$field = $self->field('user.name');
$field->is_required;
$field->valid;
$field->error;

This will only validate and return the error for the user.name field. To validate all fields and retrieve all error messages call the controller's valid and errors methods

$self->field('user.name')->is_required;
$self->field('user.age')->is_like(qr/^\d+$/);
$self->valid;

my $errors = $self->errors;
$errors->{'user.name'}
# ...

Of course the error/errors and valid methods can be used in your view too

<% unless(valid()) { %>
  <p>Hey, fix the below errors</p>
<% } %>

<%= field('name')->text %>
<% unless(field('name')->valid) { %>
  <span class="error"><%= field('name')->error %></span>
<% } %>

AVAILABLE RULES & FILTERS

Mojolicious::Plugin::FormFields uses Validate::Tiny, see its docs for a list.

RENAMING THE VALIDATION METHODS

In the event that the valid and/or errors methods clash with exiting methods/helpers in your app you can rename them by specifying alternate names when loading the plugin

$self->plugin('FormFields', methods => { valid => 'form_valid', errors => 'form_errors' });
# ...

$self->field('user.name')->is_required;
$self->form_valid;
$self->form_errors;

Note that this only changes the methods on the controller and does not change the methods on the object returned by field.

METHODS

field

field($name)->text
field($name, $object)->text

Arguments

$name

The field's name, which can also be the path to its value in the stash. See "CREATING FIELDS".

$object

Optional. The object used to retrieve the value specified by $name. Must be a reference to a hash, an array, or something blessed. If not given the value will be retrieved from the stash or, for previously submitted forms, the request parameter $name.

Returns

An object than can be used to create HTML form fields, see "SUPPORTED FIELDS".

Errors

An error will be raised if:

• $name is not provided

• $name cannot be retrieved from $object

• $object cannot be found in the stash and no default was given

Collections

See "COLLECTIONS"

fields

$f = fields($name)
$f->text('address')

$f = fields($name, $object)
$f->text('address')

Create form fields scoped to a parameter.

For example

% $f = fields('user')
%= $f->select('age', [10,20,30])
%= $f->textarea('bio')

Is the same as

%= field('user.age')->select([10,20,30])
%= field('user.bio')->textarea

Arguments

Same as "field".

Returns

An object than can be used to create HTML form fields scoped to the $name argument, see "SUPPORTED FIELDS".

Errors

Same as "field".

Collections

See "COLLECTIONS"

SUPPORTED FIELDS

checkbox

field('user.admin')->checkbox(%options)
field('user.admin')->checkbox('yes', %options)

Creates

<input type="checkbox" name="user.admin" id="user-admin-1" value="1"/>
<input type="checkbox" name="user.admin" id="user-admin-yes" value="yes"/>

file

field('user.avatar')->file(%options);

Creates

<input id="user-avatar" name="user.avatar" type="file" />

hidden

field('user.id')->hidden(%options)

Creates

<input id="user-id" name="user.id" type="hidden" value="123123" />

input

field('user.phone')->input($type, %options)

For example

field('user.phone')->input('tel', pattern => '\d{3}-\d{4}')

Creates

<input id="user-phone" name="user.phone" type="tel" pattern="\d{3}-\d{4}" />

label

field('user.name')->label
field('user.name')->label('Nombre', for => "tu_nombre_hyna")

Creates

<label for="user-name">Name</label>
<label for="tu_nombre_hyna">Nombre</label>

password

field('user.password')->password(%options)

Creates

<input id="user-password" name="user.password" type="password" />

select

field('user.age')->select([10,20,30], %options)
field('user.age')->select([[Ten => 10], [Dub => 20], [Trenta => 30]], %options)

Creates

<select id="user-age" name="user.age">
  <option value="10">10</option>
  <option value="20">20</option>
  <option value="30">30</option>
</select>

<select id="user-age" name="user.age">
  <option value="10">Ten</option>
  <option value="20">Dub</option>
  <option value="30">Trenta</option>
</select>

radio

field('user.age')->radio('older_than_21', %options)

Creates

<input id="user-age-older_than_21" name="user.age" type="radio" value="older_than_21" />

text

field('user.name')->text(%options)
field('user.name')->text(size => 10, maxlength => 32)

Creates

<input id="user-name" name="user.name" value="sshaw" />
<input id="user-name" name="user.name" value="sshaw" size="10" maxlength="32" />

textarea

field('user.bio')->textarea(%options)
field('user.bio')->textarea(size => '10x50')

Creates

<textarea id="user-bio" name="user.bio">Proprietary and confidential</textarea>
<textarea cols="50" id="user-bio" name="user.bio" rows="10">Proprietary and confidential</textarea>

AUTHOR

Skye Shaw (sshaw AT gmail.com)

SEE ALSO

Mojolicious::Plugin::TagHelpers, Mojolicious::Plugin::ParamExpand, Validate::Tiny

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2012 Skye Shaw.

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