Class::DBI::AsForm(3p)

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 AND LICENSE
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.