With this package you can:

• Generate forms using a fluent interface
• Present data from other models as choice fields like select lists, radio buttons or checkboxes.
• Render a whole form at once or render just one element in your view script.
• Use it in conjunction with the [Crud package] (http://github.com/boyhagemann/Crud) for full admin power!

Use [Composer] (http://getcomposer.org) to install the package into your application

require {
    "boyhagemann/form": "dev-master"
}

Then add the following line in app/config/app.php:

...
"Boyhagemann\Form\FormServiceProvider"
...

<?php

use Boyhagemann\Crud\FormBuilder;


$fb = App::make('FormBuilder');

$fb->text('title')->label('Title')->rules('required|alpha');
$fb->textarea('body')->label('Body');
$fb->radio('online')->choices(array('no', 'yes'))->label('Show online?');
        
// You can use a fluent typing style
$fb->modelSelect('category_id')
   ->model('Category')
   ->label('Choose a category')
   ->query(function($q) {
     $q->orderBy('title');
   });
   
// Change an element
$fb->get('title')->label('What is the title?');
   

The formbuilder is set up to be a flexible system that can hold many custom elements. The only condition for an element is to follow the Boyhagemann\Form\Contract\HtmlElement interface. To register a new element to the formbuilder, do the following:

// Register the custom element to the FormBuilder instance.
// Please add elements in your service provider or in the application bootstrap.
$fb->register('myElement', 'The\Custom\Element\Class'); 

// We can now call the element and use it throughout your application
$fb->myElement('name');

To make good use of autocompletion in your IDE, do the following. You can extend the formbuilder class and make a base form for your application. Then add methods for your custom elements like this:

use Boyhagemann\Form\Formbuilder;

class MyBaseForm extends FormBuilder
{
    /**
     *
     * @param string $name
     * @return The\Custom\Element\Class
     */
    public function myElement($name)
    {
        return $this->element('myElement', $name, 'The\Custom\Element\Class');
    }
}

The FormBuilder can be exported as an array with the toArray method. This array can be stored as a config file.

// Get the form as a config and store it in a file or session
$config = $fb->toArray();

// Then import it back again later to get the exact form
$fb->fromArray($config);

There are several events triggered while building the form:

formbuilder.build.form.pre Allows you to alter anything on the formbuilder just before the build process is starting.

formbuilder.build.form.post After building the form you can hook into the formbuilder to perform other things. Or you can interact with the generated form html.

formbuilder.build.element.pre Just before an element is build, you can alter the formbuilder instance or the element object itself.

formbuilder.build.element.post After the element is build you can do things with the formbuilder instance or with the created element html.

Subscribers are a combination of events and solve common problems or help with user scenarios. They are added to your application with a single line of code. Preferably, you should have a events.php file next to your filters.php and routes.php files. Here are the included subscribers:

When this subscribers is registered, you can read the possible errors from the session. To use it, simply add the following line to your application.

Event::register('Boyhagemann\Form\Subscriber\FillFormWithErrorsFromSession');

When you make multipage forms, or you want to go a different page and then back to your form, you should probably store the form values in a session. This subscriber does it for you. Add this line to your application:

Event::register('Boyhagemann\Form\Subscriber\SaveFormStateInSession');