oracular (3) Class::DBI::AsForm.3pm.gz

Provided by: libclass-dbi-asform-perl_2.42-8_all bug

NAME
       Class::DBI::AsForm - Produce HTML form elements for database columns


SYNOPSIS
           package Music::CD;
           use Class::DBI::AsForm;
           use base 'Class::DBI';
           use CGI;
           ...

           sub create_or_edit {
               my $class = shift;
               my %cgi_field = $class->to_cgi;
               return start_form,
                      (map { "<b>$_</b>: ". $cgi_field{$_}->as_HTML." <br>" }
                           $class->Columns),
                      end_form;
           }

           # <form method="post"...>
           # Title: <input type="text" name="Title" /> <br>
           # Artist: <select name="Artist">
           #           <option value=1>Grateful Dead</option>
           #           ...
           #         </select>
           # ...
           # </form>


DESCRIPTION
       This module helps to generate HTML forms for creating new database rows or editing existing rows. It maps
       column names in a database table to HTML form elements which fit the schema. Large text fields are turned
       into textareas, and fields with a has-a relationship to other "Class::DBI" tables are turned into select
       drop-downs populated with objects from the joined class.


METHODS
       The module is a mix-in which adds two additional methods to your "Class::DBI"-derived class.

   to_cgi
       This returns a hash mapping all the column names of the class to HTML::Element objects representing form
       widgets.

   to_field($field [, $how])
       This maps an individual column to a form element. The "how" argument can be used to force the field type
       into one of "textfield", "textarea" or "select"; you can use this is you want to avoid the automatic
       detection of has-a relationships.


CHANGES
       Version 1.x of this module returned raw HTML instead of "HTML::Element" objects, which made it harder to
       manipulate the HTML before sending it out. If you depend on the old behaviour, set
       $Class::DBI::AsForm::OLD_STYLE to a true value.


MAINTAINER
       Tony Bowden


ORIGINAL AUTHOR
       Simon Cozens


BUGS and QUERIES
       Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to:
         bug-Class-DBI-AsForm@rt.cpan.org


       Copyright 2003-2004 by Simon Cozens / Tony Bowden

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
       itself.


SEE ALSO
       Class::DBI, Class::DBI::FromCGI, HTML::Element.