[ This message contains John Lawton's response to my post which appeared directed at the list, and my response below. -mark ]
John Lawton wrote: > > On Saturday, March 2, 2002, at 08:43 AM, Mark Stosberg wrote: > > > On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, John Lawton wrote: > > > >> While this may be peripheral to CGI::Application, I'd like to get some > >> feedback on what others are using for form validation. I am > >> particularly > >> interested in documented (tested) packages, as opposed to homegrown, ad > >> hoc solutions. (With all due respect to the hackers out there) > >> > >> I have taken a look at Data::FormValidator. This module makes it > >> possible to describe the required/optional parameters, dependencies, > >> filters, and constraints in a separate file (metafile). I like the > >> approach this module takes, from my experience as a programmer, it > >> seems > >> like this module is comprehensive. However, I am still wondering if > >> CGI::Application people are using any other interesting modules for > >> this > >> purpose? > > > > I also use D:FV, but then again, I'm also the module maintainer. :) One > > annoyance I have with it lately is that it doesn't validate that the > > syntax of your profile is acceptable, the way HTML::Template does for > > your tmpl_ tokens. For example, if you mean to type "constraints" but > > type "contraints" instead, your constraints will fail silently. On my > > TOD DO list is to add a lot of checks of this variety so you might get a > > message back like "ERROR: unrecognized parameter name: 'contraints'". > > > > This wouldn't involve in API changes, just better internal validation. > > That would be cool, IMO typos in hashtables are one of the gotchas in > Perl. > > Have you considered a DTD for an XML spec for the profile file? I think > this would be nice because you could use the XML parser to validate the > document, and you would also have the option of using XML editors and > XML viewers to edit and display the profiles. Would others be interested > in a frontend to the D:FV profiles? I hadn't thought of that, but it sounds like a reasonable idea. I thought of a different kind of front-end to D:FV: a generic web-based "create a profile" CGI::App mini-app. A cool bonus feature to this system would allow to you point this at a database table as a starting point. At least in many of my own apps, the forms come close to mirroring database tables. This would give you a nice UI like: "Validate as: [ email | phone | postal code ]", where that last bit is my humble representation of an HTML drop down menu. With such a system, I think I'd be likely to develop more thorough and stricter validation schemes. -mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Stosberg Principal Developer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Summersault, LLC 765-939-9301 ext 223 website development . . . . . http://www.summersault.com/ . . . . . . . --------------------------------------------------------------------- Web Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
