Right now i am dealing with a dynamic form builder that, before our requirements changed, was perfect. But now it is unflexible.
The biggest problem i have with automating and abstracting the form building process is that how many times does a clueless client (who puts food on your table) want your stick that thing there and put this message here -- but only for this particular case ... My uncle once told me that he likes brute force technology. You can understand it, it's simple ... it's just tedious and repetitious. My mentor likes to build a system that allows him to just make a couple of keystrokes when a change is needed ... but first you have to get him to agree that the change needs to be made because guess what? You just can't account for every single little detail up front. My boss and myself plan on taking this afore mentioned dynamic form builder and turn it into about 10 - 20 static pages. Sure, if a change requires all pages to be manually changed, then i have to roll up my sleaves and do it. My mentor would simply press a button, so to speak ... i have to do a lot more. But ... i don't have to worry about if my system can handle the change or not ... it's a trade off that i am still wrapping my noggin around. After all, we have to have something left to do if we still want to get paid. I am more interested in getting the project done right and on time than job security, but i do have bills to pay. In conclusion, if you are still reading, i am of the opinion of just using plain old HTML to create forms. Use TT to fill in the values, not control the layout. jeffa --- Bill Moseley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I still don't like writing forms. Anyone have a system they like? > I keep thinking there must be something better. > > CGI::FormBuilder seems popular but not quite right in TT: > > http://template-toolkit.org/pipermail/templates/2002-January/002353.html > > Any comments on CGI::FormBuilder? > > My goal is to quickly generate a very basic form that is easy for others > to edit. > > I like a plain simple HTML form with only a few TT tags that is processed > by HTML::FillInForm -- seems that's the easiest format for others to edit. > But I don't like generating that form in the fist place. > > Looking through various projects I've done many different things. For > example I see things like this: > > <table> > [% INCLUDE text_field label = "First Name" name = "first" %] > [% INCLUDE text_field label = "Last Name" name = "last" %] > [% INCLUDE check_box label = "Do you want spam?" name = "spam_me" %] > [% INCLUDE radio_options > name = 'This form is' > options = [ 'Too easy', 'Too hard', 'Just right'] > %] > </table> > > > And then have things like: > > [% BLOCK radio_options %] > [% INCLUDE check_and_warn_missing_field %] > <blockquote> > <table border="0"><tr> > [% FOR option = options %] > <td> > <input type="radio" name="[% name | html %]" value="[% option | > html %]" />[% option | h$ > </td> > [% END %] > </tr></table> > </blockquote> > [% END %] > > [% BLOCK check_missing %] > [% IF missing.$name %] > <br><font color="red">[% missing.$name %]</font><br> > [% END %] > [% END %] > > > I'm wondering if the best would be to use TT generate a TT source > file as plain old HTML form. Anyone doing that? > > So, any suggestions? > > Thanks, > > -- > Bill Moseley > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _______________________________________________ > templates mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.template-toolkit.org/mailman/listinfo/templates __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ templates mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.template-toolkit.org/mailman/listinfo/templates
