Both "static" and "dynamic" fields in a form

[Steve Rippl]

Hi,

I have a form that has some "static" fields that are both inherited
from another form and then some more added via has_field in the
general declaration of the thing. I then have a bunch more very
repetitive fields I'd like to add dynamically as I could build the set
of fields and then loop through enough times just changing the names
as I go along. Is this possible? I've seen examples of adding to the
field list via process in the Controller, but I'd like to put this in
a sub within the Form.pm file so as not to clutter up the controller.

Just coming over to this from HTML::FormFu and it seems pretty
impressive just how much is in FormHandler!

Thanks,
Steve

[Gerda Shank]

Hi Steve:

There's quite a few ways to do this. The one that I'd try first is just
making a field_list sub in the form class. There's a couple of examples
in the documentation:

sub field_list {
return [
favorite_color => {
type => 'Select',
label_column => 'color_name',
active_column => 'is_active',
},
];
}

(Notice that it returns an arrayref in order to keep the order, but it's
actually a hashref.)

I'm not sure just how dynamic your extra fields are -- a role containing
the fields might work, possibly a parameterized role if you're changing
the names. But the field_list sub might be easier. Note that the
field_list fields are processed after the other fields, so if you need
them in a different order, you'll have to provide an explicit order on
the fields.

There are also examples in the t directory, in form_handler.t, errors.t,
etc. I recommend using the tests as examples, by the way :)

My new job uses FormFu, so I'm working on making it easier to make the
rendering/templates compatible. So if you have any suggestions in that
area, let me know.

One thing to point out is that FormHandler fields are built on new; you
don't add them after the form is constructed. But you can build in extra
fields and turn them on or off with 'active' and 'inactive'.

Gerda

[Rippl, Steve]

I ended up going with parameterized roles that I roll in with ->with_traits when creating the form.  I hadn't seen that that was possible with roles before, thanks for the great tip!

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Steve Rippl
Technology Director
Woodland Public Schools
360 841 2730