Ferreteria/v2/usage/forms

About

Forms in Ferreteria consist of several sets of classes that work together:

• control classes render editable (and eventually non-editable) data fields
• field classes handle translating values between internal storage and on-disk storage (database)

Forms are in the process of being rewritten (version 2). The rest of this page applies to version 1.

Rules

• Every control (clsCtrl) belongs to a control row (clsCtrls).
• Control rows can be indexed in order to allow for multi-row editing.
• clsCtrls should eventually be renamed clsCtrlRow.
• I haven't decided if there needs to be a clsForm class for containing multiple control rows.
  • Indexing is optional if you're only editing one row at a time.

Pages

• changes/1: change to Save() parameters

Files Template:Ferreteria/code clsFields clsField clsFieldTime clsFieldNum clsFieldBool clsFieldBool_Int clsCtrls (abstract) clsCtrl (abstract) clsCtrlHTML clsCtrlHTML_CheckBox clsCtrlHTML_DropDown clsCtrlHTML_Hidden clsCtrlHTML_Fixed clsCtrlHTML_ReadOnly clsCtrlHTML_Rating Template:Ferreteria/code clsCtrls clsForm_recs clsForm_recs_indexed

Classes The way this is organized is a little messed up; the descendants of clsCtrls handle database interaction -- but shouldn't it be the descendants of clsFields? It works reasonably well as is, but some rethinking might be a good idea, once everything is all mapped out. collections clsCtrls (abstract): a collection of clsCtrl form controls -- often referred to in code as a "form object" clsForm_recs: form object that knows how to interact with a database table clsForm_recs_indexed: form object that knows how to interact with a keyed database table (allowing for additional functionality) clsFields: a collection of clsField objects unitary objects clsField: a generic (unspecialized) field, suitable for plain text clsFieldTime: field for storing date/time clsFieldNum: field for storing numeric (int or float) data clsFieldBool: field for storing a BIT-type boolean field (which, oddly, is returned as a single character instead of numeric) should be renamed clsFieldBool_bit, or maybe this class should be abstract and clsFieldBool_bit should descend from it clsFieldBool_Int: field for storing a boolean value stored as an integer clsCtrl (abstract): a generic UI control clsCtrlHTML: a control for an HTML form, suitable for single-line text entry clsCtrlHTML_TextArea: HTML multiline text entry control clsCtrlHTML_CheckBox: HTML checkbox control clsCtrlHTML_DropDown: HTML single-choice drop-down control clsCtrlHTML_Hidden: HTML invisible control, for returning calculated data clsCtrlHTML_Fixed: HTML control for displaying pre-set data; useful for creating new records clsCtrlHTML_ReadOnly: HTML control for non-editable data clsCtrlHTML_Rating: HTML control for entering a rating (integer with fixed range and intervals)

Significant Functions

• clsCtrls (abstract)
  • function Ctrl(<name>) → clsCtrl
  • function FieldsObject() → clsForm_recs_indexed
• clsCtrl (abstract)
  • function Field() → clsField
  • function RowObject() → clsCtrls
• clsFields
  • function DefaultValues() → array of mixed
• clsField
  • function ValStore() → mixed
  • function ValShow() → string

• clsCtrls → clsCtrl array
• clsCtrl →