Practical application of HTML::FillInForm, used in conjunction with my favorite templating module, HTML::Template, is not well documented anywhere that I could find. Here's my take.
My biggest use of HTML::FillInForm will be for re-populating, selecting, or checking all the input types in my forms when returning the form for the user to correct a validation error, or when calling up a DB record to be edited. The associate function in H::T only "remembers" text-type input, so to avoid lots of convoluted javascript and Perl, I found the ideal tool in HTML::FillInForm. I did consider using CGI's very own popup_menu feature, but I am trying to keep my HTML completely separate from my Perl.
Anyway, here are some methods I've discovered in experimenting with the two modules:
PERL:
my $q = new CGI;
my $fvalues = $q -> Vars; #get all the value pairs from the submitted
+ form
my $name = "Mr.". $q->param('name'); #alter one of them
$fvalues->{name} = $name;
my $template = HTML::Template->new( filename => "../form.tmpl");
my $html = $template->output;
my $form = new HTML::FillInForm;
my $page = $form->fill(scalarref => \$html,
fdat => $fvalues);
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print $page;
HTML:
<form action="./fill.pl" method="post">
<input type="text" name="name" size="30" value="<tmpl_var name>" />
+<br />
<input type="text" name="address" size="30" /><br />
<select name="choices">
<option value="">Select...</option>
<option value="1">Ciara</option>
<option value="2">Lauren</option>
<option value="3">Brian</option>
</select><br />
<input type="submit">
</form>
Note: a value passed in the hash ref to fdat trumps assigning a value to a <tmpl_var> of the same name . So, this will not work:
my $fvalues = $q -> Vars;
my $name = "Mr.". $q->param('name'); #alter one of them
my $template = HTML::Template->new( filename => "../form.tmpl");
$template->param( name = $name );
my $html = $template->output;
However, this will:
my $fvalues = { address => '123 Main Street', choice => '2' };
#BTW, if the form tag is select with multiple attribute, use a referen
+ce to an array of the values:
#my @choices = (1, 3);
#$fifvalues->{'choices'} = \@choices;
my $name = "Mr.". $q->param('name'); #alter one of them
my $template = HTML::Template->new( filename => "../form.tmpl");
$template->param( name = $name );
my $html = $template->output;
The above example can be used to populate a new form, e.g., when pulling up a DB record for editing.
—Brad
"The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." George Eliot
-
Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
-
Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
<code> <a> <b> <big>
<blockquote> <br /> <dd>
<dl> <dt> <em> <font>
<h1> <h2> <h3> <h4>
<h5> <h6> <hr /> <i>
<li> <nbsp> <ol> <p>
<small> <strike> <strong>
<sub> <sup> <table>
<td> <th> <tr> <tt>
<u> <ul>
-
Snippets of code should be wrapped in
<code> tags not
<pre> tags. In fact, <pre>
tags should generally be avoided. If they must
be used, extreme care should be
taken to ensure that their contents do not
have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent
horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor
intervention).
-
Want more info? How to link
or How to display code and escape characters
are good places to start.