Hi Ryan, What you'll want to do is:
1. Read up on the DOM and how to manipulate it. Most things are Nodes or Elements (Element being a subclass of Node), and you can add and remove Nodes and Elements at runtime via JavaScript using DOM manipulation functions. There's also a non-standard (e.g., not specified as part of the DOM by the W3C) property that is nonetheless widely-supported by modern browsers called "innerHTML" that allows you to set the contents of an existing element using a string of HTML; useful to know about that as well (although it can't be used for your specific thing -- see "gotcha" below). 2. Read through the Prototype API[1] from beginning to end, because Prototype makes manipulating the DOM a lot more straight-forward and irons out some inconsistencies from browser to browser for you. Reading through the API from beginning to end only takes an hour or two, and it will save you dramatically more time than that. [1] http://prototypejs.org/api There's a "gotcha" specifically with adding form fields I'll warn you about: You can add most elements (paragraphs, lists, images, etc.) to pages using the "innerHTML" property I mentioned earlier and writing them as HTML in a string (and it usually runs faster), but you *can't* reliably use that property to add fields to a form. It's just a quirk of how browsers handle that non-standard property. So to add fields, you must use the DOM manipulation methods (or Prototype's excellent wrappers for them), not the innerHTML property. Don't let the above put you off. It's actually really easy. Here's a quick and dirty example: http://pastie.org/354555 The "appendChild" function I'm using there is part of the DOM; the Element constructor is a Prototype thing that simplifies creating an element with a given tag name and setting attributes on it. HTH, -- T.J. Crowder tj / crowder software / com On Jan 7, 6:44 am, "ph...@ryangibbons.net" <ph...@ryangibbons.net> wrote: > Hey all, > > I am building a form and I would like the end user to be able to "add" > form fields as needed. I am doing a website for a scuba organization > one of the sections on the user registration form deals with a user's > various certifications. Obviously some users will have more > certifications than others so I was thinking that the best way to > handle this would be to display one set of options "Certifying Agency" > and "Certification Type" and then allow the user to add pairs of these > as necessary using an add button or text link. > > The posted data will then be inserted into a mysql db, any idea on how > should I handle the dynamic number of "certifications?" I am using a > relational database structure so any inserted certifications will be > entries of their own in a relational table linking the user id to the > certifying agency's id to the type id. > > Anyways I am a new user of anything ajax or js related, and I am just > beginning to learn some of the foundations... > > I am not looking for a full-on code write up, rather some suggestions > or if you know of any examples like this? > > Let me know if this doesn't make sense or if you need more details. > > As usual thank you for all the help, one day I hope that I might be > able to to constructively respond to some of the questions in this > group. > > Take care, > Ryan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Prototype & script.aculo.us" group. To post to this group, send email to prototype-scriptaculous@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to prototype-scriptaculous+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/prototype-scriptaculous?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
