Using Form Builder: building html forms dynamically

Overview

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+Using Form Builder: building html forms dynamically

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Using Form Builder: building html forms dynamically

Overview

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OpenACS docs are written by the named authors, and may be edited by OpenACS documentation staff.

OpenACS has a form manager called ad_form. Ad_form has an adaptable UI. Error handling includes inline error reporting, and is customizable. However, ad_form can be tricky to use. In addition to this document, the ad_form api - documentation is helpful.

Multi-part Elements

Some elements have more than one choice, or can submit more than one value.

SELECT elements

Creating the form element. Populate a list of lists with values for the option list.
```
set foo_options [db_list_of_lists foo_option_list "
+ documentation is helpful.
```

Multi-part Elements

Some elements have more than one choice, or can submit more than one value.

SELECT elements

Creating the form element. Populate a list of lists with values for the option list.

set foo_options [db_list_of_lists foo_option_list "
     select foo,
            foo_id
       from foos
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
     other form elements, and resubmit the form. If you then include a
     block that extends the form, you'll have the opportunity to add in
     subcategories:
-    
    if {[exists_and_not_null pm_task_id]} {
+    
    if {[info exists pm_task_id] && $pm_task_id ne ""} {
     db_1row get_task_values { }
     ad_form -extend -name form_name -form { ... }
     
Note that you will get strange results when you try to set
@@ -44,12 +44,12 @@
     Asher):
 ns_log notice it's my page!
 set mypage [ns_getform]
-if {[string equal "" $mypage]} {
+if {$mypage eq ""} {
     ns_log notice no form was submitted on my page
 } else {
     ns_log notice the following form was submitted on my page
     ns_set print $mypage
 }

Tips for form widgets

Here are some tips for dealing with some of the form widgets:

Current widget

Common Errors

Here are some common errors and what to do when you - encounter them:

Error when selecting values

This generally happens when there is an error in your - query.

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View comments on this page at openacs.org + encounter them:

Error when selecting values

This generally happens when there is an error in your + query.

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