HTML::Widget - HTML Widget And Validation Framework
the HTML::Widget manpage is no longer under active development and the current maintainers are instead pursuing an intended replacement (see the mailing-list for details).
Volunteer maintainers / developers for the HTML::Widget manpage, please contact the mailing-list.
use HTML::Widget;
# Create a widget my $w = HTML::Widget->new('widget')->method('get')->action('/');
# Add a fieldset to contain the elements my $fs = $w->element( 'Fieldset', 'user' )->legend('User Details');
# Add some elements $fs->element( 'Textfield', 'age' )->label('Age')->size(3); $fs->element( 'Textfield', 'name' )->label('Name')->size(60); $fs->element( 'Submit', 'ok' )->value('OK');
# Add some constraints $w->constraint( 'Integer', 'age' )->message('No integer.'); $w->constraint( 'Not_Integer', 'name' )->message('Integer.'); $w->constraint( 'All', 'age', 'name' )->message('Missing value.');
# Add some filters $w->filter('Whitespace');
# Process my $result = $w->process; my $result = $w->process($query);
# Check validation results my @valid_fields = $result->valid; my $is_valid = $result->valid('foo'); my @invalid_fields = $result->have_errors; my $is_invalid = $result->has_errors('foo');;
# CGI.pm-compatible! (read-only) my $value = $result->param('foo'); my @params = $result->param;
# Catalyst::Request-compatible my $value = $result->params->{foo}; my @params = keys %{ $result->params };
# Merge widgets (constraints and elements will be appended) $widget->merge($other_widget);
# Embed widgets (as fieldset) $widget->embed($other_widget);
# Get list of elements my @elements = $widget->get_elements;
# Get list of constraints my @constraints = $widget->get_constraints;
# Get list of filters my @filters = $widget->get_filters;
# Complete xml result [% result %] [% result.as_xml %]
# Iterate over elements <form action="/foo" method="get"> [% FOREACH element = result.elements %] [% element.field_xml %] [% element.error_xml %] [% END %] </form>
# Iterate over validation errors [% FOREACH element = result.have_errors %] <p> [% element %]:<br/> <ul> [% FOREACH error = result.errors(element) %] <li> [% error.name %]: [% error.message %] ([% error.type %]) </li> [% END %] </ul> </p> [% END %]
<p><ul> [% FOREACH element = result.have_errors %] [% IF result.error( element, 'Integer' ) %] <li>[% element %] has to be an integer.</li> [% END %] [% END %] </ul></p>
[% FOREACH error = result.errors %] <li>[% error.name %]: [% error.message %] ([% error.type %])</li> [% END %]
# XML output looks like this (easy to theme with css) <form action="/foo/bar" id="widget" method="post"> <fieldset> <label for="widget_age" id="widget_age_label" class="labels_with_errors"> Age <span class="label_comments" id="widget_age_comment"> (Required) </span> <span class="fields_with_errors"> <input id="widget_age" name="age" size="3" type="text" value="24" class="Textfield" /> </span> </label> <span class="error_messages" id="widget_age_errors"> <span class="Regex_errors" id="widget_age_error_Regex"> Contains digit characters. </span> </span> <label for="widget_name" id="widget_name_label"> Name <input id="widget_name" name="name" size="60" type="text" value="sri" class="Textfield" /> <span class="error_messages" id="widget_name_errors"></span> </label> <input id="widget_ok" name="ok" type="submit" value="OK" /> </fieldset> </form>
Create easy to maintain HTML widgets!
Everything is optional, use validation only or just generate forms, you can embed and merge them later.
The API was designed similar to other popular modules like the Data::FormValidator manpage and the FormValidator::Simple manpage, the HTML::FillInForm manpage is also built in (and much faster).
This Module is very powerful, don't misuse it as a template system!
Arguments: $name, \%attributes
Return Value: $widget
Create a new HTML::Widget object. The name parameter will be used as the id of the form created by the to_xml method.
The attributes
argument is equivalent to using the attributes
method.
Arguments: $uri
Return Value: $uri
Get/Set the action associated with the form. The default is no action, which causes most browsers to submit to the current URI.
Arguments: %attributes
Arguments: \%attributes
Return Value: $widget
Arguments: none
Return Value: \%attributes
Accepts either a list of key/value pairs, or a hash-ref.
$w->attributes( $key => $value ); $w->attributes( { $key => $value } );
Returns the $widget
object, to allow method chaining.
As of v1.10, passing a hash-ref no longer deletes current attributes, instead the attributes are added to the current attributes hash.
This means the attributes hash-ref can no longer be emptied using
$w->attributes( { } );
. Instead, you may use
%{ $w->attributes } = ();
.
As a special case, if no arguments are passed, the return value is a hash-ref of attributes instead of the object reference. This provides backwards compatability to support:
$w->attributes->{key} = $value;
attrs is an alias for attributes.
Arguments: $tag
Return Value: $tag
Get/Set the tag used to contain the XML output when as_xml is called on the
HTML::Widget object.
Defaults to form
.
Arguments: $class_name
Return Value: $class_name
Get/Set the container_class override for all elements in this widget. If set to
non-zero value, process will call $element->container_class($class_name)
for
each element. Defaults to not set.
See container_class in the HTML::Widget::Element manpage.
Arguments: $type, $name, \%attributes
Return Value: $element
Add a new element to the Widget. Each element must be given at least a type. The name is used to generate an id attribute on the tag created for the element, and for form-specific elements is used as the name attribute. The returned element object can be used to set further attributes, please see the individual element classes for the methods specific to each one.
The attributes
argument is equivalent to using the
attributes method.
If the element starts with a name other than HTML::Widget::Element::
,
you can fully qualify the name by using a unary plus:
$self->element( "+Fully::Qualified::Name", $name );
The type can be one of the following:
my $e = $widget->element('Block');
Add a Block element, which by default will be rendered as a DIV
.
my $e = $widget->element('Block'); $e->type('img');
my $e = $widget->element( 'Button', 'foo' ); $e->value('bar');
Add a button element.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Button', 'foo' ); $e->value('bar'); $e->content('<b>arbitrary markup</b>'); $e->type('submit');
Add a button element which uses a button
html tag rather than an
input
tag. The value of content
is not html-escaped, so may contain
html markup.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Checkbox', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); $e->checked('checked'); $e->value('bar');
Add a standard checkbox element.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Fieldset', 'foo' ); $e->legend('Personal details'); $e->element('Textfield', 'name'); $e->element('Textarea', 'address');
Adds a nested fieldset element, which can contain further elements.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Hidden', 'foo' ); $e->value('bar');
Add a hidden field. This field is mainly used for passing previously gathered data between multiple page forms.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Password', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->fill(1); $e->label('Foo'); $e->size(23); $e->value('bar');
Add a password field. This is a text field that will not show the user what they are typing, but show asterisks instead.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Radio', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); $e->checked('checked'); $e->value('bar');
Add a radio button to a group. Radio buttons with the same name will work as a group. That is, only one item in the group will be "on" at a time.
my $e = $widget->element( 'RadioGroup', 'name' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); # Label for whole radio group $e->value('bar'); # Currently selected value $e->labels([qw/Fu Bur Garch/]); # default to ucfirst of values
This is a shortcut to add multiple radio buttons with the same name at the same time. See above.
$e = $widget->element( 'Reset', 'foo' ); $e->value('bar');
Create a reset button. The text on the button will default to "Reset", unless
you call the value()
method. This button resets the form to its original
values.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Select', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); $e->size(23); $e->options( foo => 'Foo', bar => 'Bar' ); $e->selected(qw/foo bar/);
Create a dropdown or multi-select list element with multiple options. Options are supplied in a key => value list, in which the keys are the actual selected IDs, and the values are the strings displayed in the dropdown.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Span' ); $e->content('bar');
Create a simple span tag, containing the given content. Spans cannot be constrained as they are not entry fields.
The content may be a string, an HTML::Element object, or an array-ref of HTML::Element objects.
$e = $widget->element( 'Submit', 'foo' ); $e->value('bar');
Create a submit button. The text on the button will default to "Submit", unless
you call the value()
method.
$e = $widget->element( 'Submit', 'foo' ); $e->value('bar'); $e->src('image.png'); $e->width(100); $e->height(35);
Create an image submit button. The button will be displayed as an image,
using the file at url src
.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Textarea', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); $e->cols(30); $e->rows(40); $e->value('bar'); $e->wrap('wrap');
Create a textarea field. This is a multi-line input field for text.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Textfield', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); $e->size(23); $e->maxlength(42); $e->value('bar');
Create a single line text field.
my $e = $widget->element( 'Upload', 'foo' ); $e->comment('(Required)'); $e->label('Foo'); $e->accept('text/html'); $e->maxlength(1000); $e->size(23);
Create a field for uploading files. This will probably be rendered as a textfield, with a button for choosing a file.
Adding an Upload element automatically calls
$widget->enctype('multipart/form-data')
for you.
Arguments: $name
Return Value: $name
Get or set the widget id.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: @elements
my @elements = $self->get_elements; my @elements = $self->get_elements( type => 'Textfield' ); my @elements = $self->get_elements( name => 'username' );
Returns a list of all elements added to the widget.
If a 'type' argument is given, only returns the elements of that type.
If a 'name' argument is given, only returns the elements with that name.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: \@elements
Accepts the same arguments as get_elements, but returns an arrayref of results instead of a list.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: $element
my $element = $self->get_element; my $element = $self->get_element( type => 'Textfield' ); my $element = $self->get_element( name => 'username' );
Similar to get_elements(), but only returns the first element in the list.
Accepts the same arguments as get_elements().
Arguments: %options
Return Value: @elements
Similar to get_elements, and accepts the same arguments, but performs a recursive search through block-level elements.
Arguments: $type, @field_names
Return Value: $constraint
Set up a constraint on one or more elements. When process()
is called on the
Widget object, with a $query object, the parameters of the query are checked
against the specified constraints. The the HTML::Widget::Constraint manpage object is
returned to allow setting of further attributes to be set. The string 'Not_'
can be prepended to each type name to negate the effects. Thus checking for a
non-integer becomes 'Not_Integer'.
If the constraint package name starts with something other than
HTML::Widget::Constraint::
, you can fully qualify the name by using a
unary plus:
$self->constraint( "+Fully::Qualified::Name", @names );
Constraint checking is done after all the HTML::Widget::Filter manpage have been applied.
@names should contain a list of element names that the constraint applies to. The type of constraint can be one of:
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'All', 'foo', 'bar' );
The fields passed to the "All" constraint are those which are required fields in the form.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'AllOrNone', 'foo', 'bar' );
If any of the fields passed to the "AllOrNone" constraint are filled in, then they all must be filled in.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Any', 'foo', 'bar' );
At least one or more of the fields passed to this constraint must be filled.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'ASCII', 'foo' );
The fields passed to this constraint will be checked to make sure their contents contain ASCII characters.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Bool', 'foo' );
The fields passed to this constraint will be checked to make sure their
contents contain a 1
or 0
.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Callback', 'foo' )->callback(sub { my $value=shift; return 1; });
This constraint allows you to provide your own callback sub for validation. The callback sub is called once for each submitted value of each named field.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'CallbackOnce', 'foo' )->callback(sub { my $value=shift; return 1; });
This constraint allows you to provide your own callback sub for validation. The callback sub is called once per call of process.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Date', 'year', 'month', 'day' );
This constraint ensures that the three fields passed in are a valid date.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'DateTime', 'year', 'month', 'day', 'hour', 'minute', 'second' );
This constraint ensures that the six fields passed in are a valid date and time.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'DependOn', 'foo', 'bar' );
If the first field listed is filled in, all of the others are required.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Email', 'foo' );
Check that the field given contains a valid email address, according to RFC 2822, using the the Email::Valid manpage module.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Equal', 'foo', 'bar' ); $c->render_errors( 'foo' );
The fields passed to this constraint must contain the same information, or be empty.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'HTTP', 'foo' );
This constraint checks that the field(s)
passed in are valid URLs. The regex
used to test this can be set manually using the ->regex method.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'In', 'foo' ); $c->in( 'possible', 'values' );
Check that a value is one of a specified set.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Integer', 'foo' );
Check that the field contents are an integer.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Length', 'foo' ); $c->min(23); $c->max(50);
Ensure that the contents of the field are at least $min long, and no longer than $max.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Number', 'foo' );
Ensure that the content of the field is a number.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Printable', 'foo' );
The contents of the given field must only be printable characters. The regex used to test this can be set manually using the ->regex method.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Range', 'foo' ); $c->min(23); $c->max(30);
The contents of the field must be numerically within the given range.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Regex', 'foo' ); $c->regex(qr/^\w+$/);
Tests the contents of the given field(s)
against a user supplied regex.
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'String', 'foo' );
The field must only contain characters in \w. i.e. [a-zaZ0-9_]
my $c = $widget->constraint( 'Time', 'hour', 'minute', 'second' );
The three fields passed to this constraint must constitute a valid time.
Arguments: @constraint_types
Return Value: @constraints
$w->element( Textfield => 'name' ); $w->element( Textfield => 'password' ); $w->constraint_all( 'All' );
For each named type, add a constraint to all elements currently defined.
Does not add a constraint for elements which return false for allow_constraint in the HTML::Widget::Element manpage; this includes the HTML::Widget::Element::Span manpage and any element that inherits from the HTML::Widget::Element::Block manpage.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: @constraints
my @constraints = $self->get_constraints; my @constraints = $self->get_constraints( type => 'Integer' );
Returns a list of all constraints added to the widget.
If a 'type' argument is given, only returns the constraints of that type.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: \@constraints
Accepts the same arguments as get_constraints, but returns an arrayref of results instead of a list.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: $constraint
my $constraint = $self->get_constraint; my $constraint = $self->get_constraint( type => 'Integer' );
Similar to get_constraints, but only returns the first constraint in the list.
Accepts the same arguments as get_constraints.
Arguments: @widgets
Arguments: $element, @widgets
Insert the contents of another widget object into this one. Each embedded object will be represented as another set of fields (surrounded by a fieldset tag), inside the created form. No copy is made of the widgets to embed, thus calling as_xml on the resulting object will change data in the widget objects.
With an element argument, the widgets are embedded into the provided element. No checks are made on whether the provided element belongs to $self.
Note that without an element argument, embed embeds into the top level of the widget, and NOT into any subcontainer (whether created by you or implicitly created). If this is not what you need, you can choose one of:
# while building $self: $in_here = $self->element('Fieldset', 'my_fieldset'); # later: $self->embed($in_here, @widgets);
# these are equivalent: $self->embed(($self->find_elements)[0], @widgets); $self->embed_into_first(@widgets); # but this is faster!
If you are just building a widget and do not need to import constraints and filters from another widget, do not use embed at all, simply assemble using the methods provided by the HTML::Widget::Element::Fieldset manpage.
Arguments: @widgets
As for embed, but embed into the first subcontainer (fieldset) rather than into the top level form.
Arguments: $bool
Return Value: $bool
After validation, if errors are found, a span tag is created with the id "fields_with_errors". Set this value to cause the span tag to always be generated.
Arguments: $enctype
Return Value: $enctype
Set/Get the encoding type of the form. This can be either "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" which is the default, or "multipart/form-data". See http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#h-17.13.4.
If the widget contains an Upload element, the enctype is automatically set to 'multipart/form-data'.
Argument: $bool
Return Value: $bool
When true; elements, fieldsets and blocks will not be given DOM id's, unless explicitly set with attributes.
$w->element( 'Textfield', 'foo', {id => 'my_id'} )
The form itself will always be given an id, which is widget
by default.
Arguments: $type, @field_names
Return Value: $filter
Add a filter. Like constraints, filters can be applied to one or more elements. These are applied to actually change the contents of the fields, supplied by the user before checking the constraints. It only makes sense to apply filters to fields that can contain text - Password, Textfield, Textarea, Upload.
If the filter starts with a name other than HTML::Widget::Filter::
,
you can fully qualify the name by using a unary plus:
$self->filter( "+Fully::Qualified::Name", @names );
There are currently two types of filter:
my $f = $widget->filter( 'Callback', 'foo' ); $f->callback( \&my_callback );
Filter given field(s)
using a user-defined subroutine.
my $f = $widget->filter( 'HTMLEscape', 'foo' );
Escapes HTML entities in the given field(s).
my $f = $widget->filter( 'HTMLStrip', 'foo' );
Strips HTML tags from the given field(s).
my $f = $widget->filter( 'HTMLStrip', 'foo' ); $f->allow( 'p', 'br' );
Specify a list of HTML tags which shouldn't be stripped.
my $f = $widget->filter( 'LowerCase', 'foo' );
Make given field(s)
all lowercase.
my $f = $widget->filter( 'TrimEdges', 'foo' );
Removes whitespace from the beginning and end of the given field(s).
my $f = $widget->filter( 'UpperCase', 'foo' );
Make given field(s)
all uppercase.
my $f = $widget->filter( 'Whitespace', 'foo' );
Removes all whitespace from the given field(s).
Arguments: @filter_types
Return Value: @filters
$w->element( Textfield => 'name' ); $w->element( Textfield => 'age' ); $w->filter_all( 'Whitespace' );
For each named type, add a filter to all elements currently defined.
Does not add a filter for elements which return false for
HTML::Widget::Element/allow_filter
; this includes
the HTML::Widget::Element::Span manpage and any element that inherits from
the HTML::Widget::Element::Block manpage.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: @filters
my @filters = $self->get_filters; my @filters = $self->get_filters( type => 'Integer' );
Returns a list of all filters added to the widget.
If a 'type' argument is given, only returns the filters of that type.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: \@filters
Accepts the same arguments as get_filters, but returns an arrayref of results instead of a list.
Arguments: %options
Return Value: $filter
my @filters = $self->get_filter; my @filters = $self->get_filter( type => 'Integer' );
Similar to get_filters, but only returns the first filter in the list.
Accepts the same arguments as get_filters.
Arguments: $field_name
Return Value: $field_name
Set/Get a boolean field. This is a convenience method for the user, so they can keep track of which of many Widget objects were submitted. It is also used by the Catalyst::Plugin::HTML::Widget manpage
Arguments: $legend
Return Value: $legend
Set/Get a legend for this widget. This tag is used to label the fieldset.
Arguments: @widgets
Arguments: $element, @widgets
Merge elements, constraints and filters from other widgets, into this one. The elements will be added to the end of the list of elements that have been set already.
Without an element argument, and with standard widgets, the contents of the first top-level element of each widget will be merged into the first top-level element of this widget. This emulates the previous behaviour.
With an element argument, the widgets are merged into the named element. No checks are made on whether the provided element belongs to $self.
Arguments: $method
Return Value: $method
Set/Get the method used to submit the form. Can be set to either "post" or "get". The default is "post".
Arguments: $query, \@uploads
Return Value: $result
After finishing setting up the widget and all its elements, call to create
an the HTML::Widget::Result manpage. If passed a $query
it will run filters and
validation on the parameters. The Result object can
then be used to produce the HTML.
result is an alias for process.
Arguments: $query
Return Value: $query
Set/Get the query object to use for validation input. The query object can also be passed to the process method directly.
Arguments: $bool
Return Value: $bool
Only consider parameters that pass at least one constraint valid.
Arguments: $tag
Return Value: $tag
Set/Get the subcontainer tag to use.
Defaults to fieldset
.
Arguments: \@uploads
Return Value: \@uploads
Contains an arrayref of the Apache2::Upload manpage compatible objects.
Arguments: $bool
Return Value: $bool
When true
, it is an error to have any element at the top-level of the
widget which is not derived from the HTML::Widget::Element::Block manpage.
Currently, the only valid element supplied is the
the HTML::Widget::Element::Fieldset manpage.
When true
, the top-level widget may not have a L/legend>.
$widget->attributes( onsubmit => $javascript );
See attributes in the HTML::Widget manpage.
$element->attributes( onchange => $javascript );
See attributes in the HTML::Widget::Element manpage.
You can add any arbitrary attributes with attributes in the HTML::Widget::Element manpage.
You can either create your own element module files, and use them as you would a standard element, or alternatively...
You can call type on a the HTML::Widget::Element::Block manpage element to change the rendered tag.
$w->element('Block')->type('br'); # will render as <br />
my $ul = $w->element('Block')->type('ul'); $ul->element('Block')->type('li') ->element( Textfield => foo' ); $ul->element('Block')->type('li') ->element( Textfield => 'bar' ); # will render as <ul> <li> <input class="textfield" id="widget_foo" name="foo" type="text" /> </li> <li> <input class="textfield" id="widget_bar" name="bar" type="text" /> </li> </ul>
Mailing list:
http://lists.rawmode.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/html-widget
The publicly viewable subversion code repository is at http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/HTML-Widget/.
the Catalyst manpage the Catalyst::Plugin::HTML::Widget manpage the HTML::Element manpage
Sebastian Riedel, sri@oook.de
This library is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.