perl Catalyst Forms with Formhandler and Thickbox:
You know you dont always need a template.tt2 file... this is useful with
ajax (especially with thickbox) so you can pass a scalar as template, so you
end up with:
$c->stash( template => $form->render, current_view => 'Ajax', );
1. You could create an Ajax view.
2. Or you can set body content directly.
This way you skip creating TT files for forms and render them directly into
the $c->res->body or $c->stash( template => \'foo baz')
If you use something like thickbox, you can render any $form directly into a
modal.
Its very handy!
For example:
__PACKAGE__->config(
action => {
edit => { Chained => 'base', Args => 1, },
},
);
sub base : Chained('/') PathPart('foobar') CaptureArgs(0) {}
sub edit :Action {
my ( $self, $c, $foobar_id ) = @_;
my $form = HTML::FormHandler->new(
schema => 'DBSchema::Foo',
params => $c->req->params,
field_list => $self->form_fields($c),
);
if( $c->req->method eq 'POST' && $form->process() ) {
...
} else {
#OPTION 1 (create an Ajax View and create a wrapper for it. Then render
the form into stash template var):
$c->stash(
template => \$form->render,
current_view => 'Ajax',
);
#OPTION 2 (set your content type and charset and render the form into the
body, needs no view/TT files):
$c->res->content_type('text/html charset=utf-8');
$c->res->body($form->render);
}
}
sub form_fields {
return [
field_one => {
type => 'Text',
label => '...',
css_class => '...',
maxlength => 160,
required => 1,
required_message => 'Required Text',
},
submit => {
type => 'Submit',
value => 'Save',
css_class => '...',
},
];
}
and DRY on edit & update unless necessary...
1. If there is an argument its "update?"
2. Else, when it has no args then its "edit/new" ?
use your foregin_key_id and $form('foregin_key_id')->value = '...' to set it
, then formhandler will know whether to update or create a new entry.
Take care,
hernan
On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 6:48 PM, E R <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am curious what everyone thinks as being the best practices for
> handling forms in Catalyst. Are there any Catalyst applications you
> have run across which are good examples of how to use Catalyst's
> features to handle forms?
>
> To illustrate what I am getting at, below is typical Rails (v2)
> controller code which implements updating the attributes of an object:
>
> def edit
> @book = Book.find(params[:id])
> @subjects = Subject.find(:all)
> end
> def update
> @book = Book.find(params[:id])
> if @book.update_attributes(params[:book])
> flash[:notice] = 'Book successfully updated.'
> redirect_to :action => 'show', :id => @book
> else
> @subjects = Subject.find(:all)
> render :action => 'edit'
> end
> end
>
> In Catalyst, this would be appear something like (and please correct
> me if I have made any errors here):
>
> sub edit :Args(1) {
> my ($self, $c, $id) = @_;
> ... set up $c->stash for template 'edit' ...
> # no need to set $c->stash->{template} - will be set from the current
> action
> }
>
> sub update :Args(1) {
> my ($self, $c, $id) = @_;
> ...process form...
> if (form is valid) {
> ...perform updates...
> $c->flash->{notice} = 'Book successfully updated.';
> $c->res->redirect('show', $id);
> } else {
> ... set up $c->stash for 'edit' template ...
> $c->stash->{template} = 'edit';
> }
> }
>
> Any comments on this architecture? Is there a better way? My main problems
> are:
>
> 1. The code ... set up $c->stash for 'edit' template ... is duplicated
> in both edit and update (which is also true for the Rails code).
>
> 2. Having the template name defaulted from the current action is nice,
> but that means we have to explicitly set it in the update method. Is
> it better to always explicitly set the template name in a controller
> method? Then update could perform a $c->detach('edit', $id) or would
> you use $c->go('edit', $id)?
>
> Thanks,
> ER
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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