Zend2 Forms

PHP
1

Hi there,

I’m getting a little tied up with Zend forms. There seems to be a number of different ways to set up a form in zf2, and I can’t seem to get to the crux of what I’m trying to achieve.

I wan’t to set up a simple form with validation, so that when its processed I can check the isValid() method, and then handle the post data accordingly. Here’s what I’ve got so far:


<?php
namespace MyForm\\Form;

use Zend\\Form\\Form;

class MyForm extends Form{

	public function __construct($name = null){
		parent::__construct('MyForm');
		$this->setAttribute('method', 'post');
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'id',
				'type' => 'Hidden'
                                'validators' => array(
                                    'required' => true
                                )
			)
		);
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'name',
				'type' => 'Text',
				'attributes' => array(
					'placeholder' => 'Name'
				),
                                'validators' => array(
                                    'required' => true
                                )
			)
		);
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'email',
				'type' => 'Email',
				'attributes' => array(
					'placeholder' => 'Email'
				),
                                'validators' => array(
                                    'required' => true
                                )
			)
		);
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'submit',
				'type' => 'Submit',
				'attributes' => array(
					'value' => 'Go'
				)
			)
		);
	}
}

…and the controller


namespace MyForm\\Controller;

use Zend\\Mvc\\Controller\\AbstractActionController;
use Zend\\View\\Model\\ViewModel;
use Application\\Model\\Application;
use MyForm\\Form\\MyForm;

class MyFormController extends AbstractActionController
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
    	$form = new MyForm($status);

    	$request = $this->getRequest();
    	if($request->isPost()){

    		$form->setData($request->getPost());

       		if($form->isValid()){
       			echo "VALID";
       		} else {
       			echo "INVALID";
       		}
    	}

        return new ViewModel(array('form' => $form));
    }
}

…and finally the view


<h1>MyForm</h1>

<?php
echo $this->form()->openTag($form);
echo $this->formHidden($form->get('id'));
echo $this->formRow($form->get('name'));
echo $this->formRow($form->get('email'));
echo $this->formRow($form->get('submit'));
echo $this->form()->closeTag();
?>

Its rendering the form fine, but isValid() always returns false, and there are no error messages displayed on the form.

Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks in advance,
Mike

2

Hi Mike,

You’ve got a hidden field ‘id’ as part of your form, which is set as a required field, but I can’t see where the value of the field initially gets assigned?

3

It’s not.

Originally I wanted the form to fail. To test whether it passed, I just added a value to it client side.

Either way, there are no error messages displayed…

4

How are you getting the error messages to display? Are you calling $form->getMessages()?

5

Ah-ha!

Ok so $form->getMessages() returns an array of error messages, but in the Zend Getting Started guide (http://framework.zend.com/manual/2.2/en/user-guide/forms-and-actions.html), the error messages are printed on the form automatically.

I guess that has something to do with using the InputFilter method they use in the tutorial??

6

No I guess that’s because in the tutorial they use $this->formCollection($form); to output all the form elements, including errors etc. Check the explanation just before the ‘Editing an Album’ section.

7

Yep, I see…

So since I need to have a bit more control over the layout of my form, I’ll have to get the error messages manually, or I guess write a new class to handle that.

Thanks for your help fretburner.

8

So I just thought I’d update this thread a little after I’ve gained a little more understanding.

Firstly, you can’t add validators to the Form::add() method. I guess since it takes an array, it just ignores any keys that aren’t relevant to the method.

In order to add validators, you need to create a new class which extends Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter, and then add all the validators to that like so:


<?php
namespace MyForm\\Form;

use Zend\\InputFilter\\InputFilter;

class MyFormFilter extends InputFilter
{
	public function __construct()
	{
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'id',
				'required' => true,
			)
		);
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'name',
				'required' => true,
			)
		);
		$this->add(
			array(
				'name' => 'email',
				'required' => true,
			)
		);
	}
}

Then bind it to the form in the controller script:


namespace MyForm\\Controller; 

use Zend\\Mvc\\Controller\\AbstractActionController; 
use Zend\\View\\Model\\ViewModel; 
use Application\\Model\\Application; 
use MyForm\\Form\\MyForm;
use MyForm\\Form\\MyFormFilter //import the new class here

class MyFormController extends AbstractActionController 
{ 
    public function indexAction() 
    { 
        $form = new MyForm($status); 

        $request = $this->getRequest(); 
        if($request->isPost()){ 
            $form->setInputFilter(new MyFormFilter()); //bind the filter here
            $form->setData($request->getPost()); 

               if($form->isValid()){ 
                   echo "VALID"; 
               } else { 
                   echo "INVALID"; 
               } 
        } 

        return new ViewModel(array('form' => $form)); 
    } 
}

As for outputting the error messages, in the view file, the getRow() method, will render any error message, as long as you prepare the form first:


<h1>MyForm</h1> 

<?php 
$form->prepare(); //prepare the form here
echo $this->form()->openTag($form); 
echo $this->formHidden($form->get('id')); 
echo $this->formRow($form->get('name')); 
echo $this->formRow($form->get('email')); 
echo $this->formRow($form->get('submit')); 
echo $this->form()->closeTag(); 
?>

I hope that helps anyone in the same boat.

M