// --------------------------------------------------------
// This file shows how to use the AutoForm function.
//
// It is a function that builds an HTML form based on a
// DESCRIBE of a table. It saves lots of time for web
// based applications.
//
// AutoForm is compact and easy to use once you understand
// its context. There are more comments than actual code
// in this file. The entire form you see in this file is
// generated by one function call.
//
// We will first explain the MySQL table it is
// building a form from for this particular example.
// --------------------------------------------------------
// MySQL Notes:
//
// We will assume that we have created a table
//
// create table eg_table (
// eg_id integer default 0 not null auto_increment,
// first_name varchar(255) not null,
// initial varchar(50) not null,
// last_name varchar(255) not null,
// birth_date date not null,
// gender enum('M', 'F'),
// notes text null,
// some_other_id integer default 0 not null,
// last_updated timestamp(14) not null,
// primary key eg_key(eg_id)
// )
//
// Such that:
//
// mysql> desc eg_table;
//
// +---------------+---------------+------+-----+------------+----------------+
// | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
// +---------------+---------------+------+-----+------------+----------------+
// | eg_id | int(11) | | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
// | first_name | varchar(255) | | | | |
// | initial | varchar(50) | | | | |
// | last_name | varchar(255) | | | | |
// | birth_date | date | | | 0000-00-00 | |
// | gender | enum('M','F') | YES | | NULL | |
// | notes | text | YES | | NULL | |
// | some_other_id | int(11) | | | 0 | |
// | last_updated | timestamp(14) | YES | | NULL | |
// +---------------+---------------+------+-----+------------+----------------+
// 9 rows in set (0.01 sec)
//
// mysql>
//
// We will now make a connection to this DB and use the autoform
// to generate an HTML form for the above.
// --------------------------------------------------------
$db = mysql_connect();
global $db;
mysql_select_db('eg_autoform', $db);
// --------------------------------------------------------
// Example begins here:
// --------------------------------------------------------
include "forms.php";
include "auto_forms.php";
// Define up to 8 variables:
// 1) Input
$input = $_POST; // default values (and more to be set later)
$input['next_action'] = "Save Changes"; // need to define 'next_action' for button
// 2) Table name
$table = 'eg_table'; // table we're doing a DESC of
// 3) By default HTML SelectFields AKA "pull-downs" are used.
// You can set it to radio buttons if you like
$radio = true;
// The rest of the fields are optional, I use them in this example to show
// you what AutoForm can do.
// 4) Action e.g. ""
$action = $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'];
// 5) Explicit Form labels
// if you don't like defualt: ucwords(str_replace("_", " ", $field_name))
$explicit_label = array('notes' => 'Special Notes'); // make notes have "Special"
// 6) Hidden Fields, i.e. fields that are in the desc that you want to hide
$hidden_fields = array('last_name'); // note that last name won't appear
// 7) Hidden Variables that you want to set to type hidden in the form (to pass along)
// e.g. ""
$hidden_vars = array('hidden_field1' => 'foo',
'hidden_field2' => 'bar',
);
// 8) Rename the options for the fields with an assoc array of assoc arrays
// note: that I'm spelling out the options for 'gender' and adding a new option
$choice_fields = array(
'gender' => array(
'M' => 'Male',
'F' => 'Female',
'O' => 'Other'
)
);
// $choice_fields = array();
// Call function
$form = AutoForm($input,
$table,
$radio,
$action,
$explicit_label,
$hidden_fields,
$hidden_vars,
$choice_fields
);
print eval($form); // need to eval the output
// Note that $form is actually PHP code. We need to eval it
// if we want to see the form.
// --------------------------------------------------------
// The autoform can also show you what intermediate functions
// it called from functions.php so that it can be used as a
// starting point for other forms (incase the autoform is too
// rigid).
// --------------------------------------------------------
print "\n";
print "AutoForm's output as a code generator for forms.php: \n";
print "\n";
// we simply don't eval it if we want to show the code:
print "