PHPDBFORM & PHPFORM MANUAL
==========================

Now phpdbform can be used without a database access, so creating any kind of forms is easier now!

First let's discuss PHPFORM, that's is the base of PHPDBFORM.

For use it at your scripts, you need to include this line at the begging:

include("phpdbform/phpdbform_form.php");

The we need to create a object of the kind phpform, using its constructor:

$form = new phpform( $name, $action );

Where $name is any name to your form, and it must be used mainly when using more than one phpform at the same script.
$action is an url for sending the results of the form, if empty, the same page will be the target.

After creating the form, we need to add fields:

$form->add_textbox( "name", "Name:", 20, 20 );
$form->add_password( "passwd", "Password:", 20, 20 );
$form->add_static_listbox( "option", "Option:", " ,car,airplane,bycicle,sp2" );

Every field is added into the form object, inside phpform, every field is a separate object using phpdbform_field as a base class. With this approach now is easier to add more feaatures into it and to control how it works, like adding a default value for a field:

$form->fields["name"]->value = "Paulo Assis";

The field name is used to distinguish every field of the form, and accessing the fields array is possible to do whatever you want with them.

If you wish, you can even set an onblur event for a field:
$form->fields["name"]->onblur = "alert(this.value);";

and/or add any other property for the filed using tag_extra:
$form->fields["name"]->tag_extra = "class=\"pretty\"";

Then we need to process the form and draw:

$form->process();
$form->draw();

The process() method return true if the form was processed, (it was posted), so you can decide to draw it or not.
The draw() method draws the form into your page without any formatting, just including a <br> after eache field, so if you want to take control over the form, just use the field's draw method instead of the form's one:

$form->fields["name"]->draw();
and so on...

Using the second approach makes easy to a cool desing for your forms with being stuck at phpform themes and so on. But then you need to insert <form></form> into your script or phpform will only draw the fields.


If the form was processed, you can access it's value using the value property of the fields:

echo $form->fields["name"]->value; // will print the value filled at the name field.

.


PHPDBFORM
=========

phpDBform extends phpform including database access, then every field from phpform works at phpdbform linked with a database field. Now the name of the field must be the same from the field at the table being acessed.

To use phpdbform you need to include these lines at the *very beggining* of your script:

include_once("phpdbform/phpdbform_mysql.php");
include_once("phpdbform/phpdbform_db.php");

You need to include them as the firsts lines of your script, because phpdbform uses sessions, and if any data was sent to the browser, phpdbform won't create its session.

$db = new phpdbform_db( "phpdbform", "localhost", "root", "" );
$db->connect();
$form = new phpdbform( $db, "contact", "cod", "name,email", "name" );

$form->add_textbox( "name", "Name:", 30 );
$form->add_textbox( "email", "E-mail:", 50 );
$form->add_static_listbox( "sex", "Male", "male,female" );

Now you need to create a database object to be used by phpdbform, connect it and create the form.

phpdbform_db( $database_name, $database_host, $user_name, $user_passwd );
phpdbform( $db, $table, $keys, $sel_fields, $sel_order )

the constructor for the database object is self-explanatory, but for phpdbform follows:

db - database object linking into the db server
table - table name
keys - fields separeted by comma that select an unique row
sel_fields - fields shown at the selection box
sel_order - order used to sort the list at the selection box

Then you will need to process it and draw:

$form->process();
$form->draw();

Note that you can draw your form using the draw methods of every field.


REFERENCE:

PHPFORM:
function add_textbox( $field, $title, $size, $maxlength=0 )
$field - name of the field to be used as the name property of the input tag, and for phpdbform, the name of the field that this field links to.
$title - Prints a title just above the field, set to none ("") to tell to phpdbform don't draw it.
$size - Size property for the input tag (width)
$maxlenght - Maximum number of characters accepted by this field, if not set, phpform will use the size value.

function add_textarea( $field, $title, $cols, $rows )
$cols and $rows - the same used by the textarea tag. (widht & height)

function add_password( $field, $title, $size, $maxlength=0 )
Works just like add_textbox, but will show * instead of the value. The value from the password field can be seen looking at the source html!! Take care when retrieving this value into phpform.

function add_static_listbox( $field, $title, $options )
$options: the values separated by commas. Every value will be a row for the select tag, if you want to use key value pairs instead of only values, separate them using ;, then options will look like: "B:Business,P:Personal".

function add_hidden( $field )
Just adds a hidden field for your form. Set its value using the value property of the field.

function add_checkbox( $field, $title, $checked_value, $unchecked_value )
$checked_value - value sent when the checkbox was selected.
$unchecked_value - value sent when the checkbox was not selected.

function add_listbox( $field, $title, $db, $table, $key, $value, $order )
Works like static_listbox, but the list is populated by the database.
$db - the database object (already connected) for listbox get its values
$table - the table where listbox will get its values
$key - the field from the table to be used as the value of the item
$value - the field from the table that will be used as the caption fo the item
$order - this will be prepended to an "ORDER BY" to sort the list.

function add_static_radiobox( $field, $title, $options )
Works like static_listbox, but instead of a select tag, several radio will be used, if you want to use key value pairs instead of only values, separate them using ;, then options will look like: "B:Business,P:Personal".

function add_date( $field, $title, $dateformat )
Used to work with date fields.
$dateformat - "fmtUS" - mm/dd/yyyy
            - "fmtEUR" - dd/mm/yyyy
            - "fmtSQL" - yyyy-mm-dd

function draw_submit( $button_text )
Draw the button for subimitting the form

I hope that you have the same fun that I had creating it.

Paulo Assis
paulo@phpdbform.com