A simple library that helps in form rendering and validation.
The library consists of two files - Form.php and FormBackend.php, first one is for rendering the form in the frontend and second one is for validating the form in the backend.
The frontend uses bootstrap to display forms. So, it is necessary to include bootstrap (4+ recommended) in your <head> section.
Include the Form.php file in your project and initialize an object of the Form class. The constructor of the Form class has the following arguments: -
public function __construct(
string $name,
string $action,
string $method,
array $descriptor,
string $title = '',
bool $hidden = true,
bool $submitButton = true
) -
string $name: represents the name of the form. It is used to identify the form uniquely. It is also used to fetch the form's flash sessions. Moreover, theformtag is given this value as itsnameandidattributes during rendering. -
string $action: This is the URL where the form should be redirected to after submit button is pressed. -
string $method: The method to be used to submit the form. Example - 'GET', 'POST'. -
array $descriptor: This is an array of array which describes the various inputs inside the form. Each input is described by its own array. It follows a specific format for various kinds of input tags: --
For inputs made of 'input' tags: -
[ 'kind' => 'input' 'name' => ... // name attribute for the input tag 'label' => ... // label to be assigned to the input tag 'description' => ... // description for the input tag 'placeholder' => ... // placeholder for the input tag 'type' => ... // 'text', 'number', 'password', etc... ]For example: -
[ 'kind' => 'input', 'name' => 'name', 'label' => 'user\'s name', 'description' => 'Write the username for your account.', 'placeholder' => 'username', 'type' => 'text' ], -
For input made of 'select' tags: -
[ 'kind' => 'select', 'name' => ... // name attribute for the input tag 'label' => ... // label to be assigned to the input tag 'description' => ... // description for the input tag 'options' => [...] // array of string depicting options to be displayed 'optionVals' => [...] // values for the options. ],For example: -
[ 'kind' => 'select', 'name' => 'gender', 'label' => 'Gender', 'description' => 'Select your gender.', 'options' => ['Male', 'Female', 'Other'], 'optionVals' => [0, 1, 2] ],
Currently, supports only these two kinds of inputs, will add more later
Thus, an example of descriptor array would be: -
[ [ 'kind' => 'input', 'name' => 'name', 'label' => 'user\'s name', 'description' => 'Write the username for your account.', 'placeholder' => 'username', 'type' => 'text' ], [ 'kind' => 'input', 'name' => 'password', 'label' => 'user\'s password', 'description' => 'Write the password for your account.', 'placeholder' => '********', 'type' => 'password' ], [ 'kind' => 'select', 'name' => 'gender', 'label' => 'Gender', 'description' => 'Select your gender.', 'options' => ['Male', 'Female', 'Other'], 'optionVals' => [0, 1, 2] ], ]Note that the inputs would be rendered from top to bottom order of the array.
-
-
string $title = '': Depicts the title of the form which is displayed above the form -
bool $hidden = true: Whether to hide form or not. By default, form has a class of "d-none". Which isdisplay:nonestyle in bootstrap. Note: If form has an error, or message to display, it will be automatically be unhidden. -
bool $submitButton = true: Whether to add submit button or not.
After initializing a Form class instance. You can display the form in the frontend using the render() method.
The backend is just a class FormBackend which has following constructor signature: -
public function __construct(
string $name,
array $descriptor,
string $method,
string $originUrl,
bool $validateEmpty = true
)$name,$descriptor, and$method: must be the same as the frontend form.string $originUrl: It is the URL where the form's frontend resides. It is used to redirect to the form in case of errors or messages.bool $validateEmpty = true: If set to true, it automatically validates and returns error for empty input values.
After initializing new instance for the FormBackend class, you can call the following methods: -
addError(string $input, string $error): Add an error message to display below the input in the form frontend. It stores the error messages and waits for a redirect command to the form's frontend page.setErrorMessage(string $msg): Sets atext-warningmessage to be displayed above the form as warning. Waits for a redirect command.redirectWithMessage(string $msg): Sets atext-infomessage and redirects to the form's frontend.addValidator(string $input, callable $validator): Adds a validator function to a input. The particular input's value would be validated against the function. The$validatorfunction must have a signature -($input, $value). The$inputwould be the name of the$inputand$valuewould be its value. This method does not automatically validate the input, it just adds the validator in the list of validators.redirectIfAnythingWrong(): Redirects if any validators have failed or any error has been discovered. Generally, no need to call this explicitly.validate(): Validates the inputs against the list of validator functions defined for the inputs. If any validator fails, theaddErrormethod is called and the error for that input is stored, finallyredirectIfAnythingWrongmethod is called.getValues(): get the values of inputs in an associative array in the following format -['name of input' => value, ...].