Form.rst

Form

General

Important

Primary key: QFQ expect that each table, which will be loaded into a form, contains a primary key called id. That one should be autoincrement. It's not necessary to create a FormElement id in a form.

• Forms will be created by using the Form Editor on the Typo3 frontend (HTML form).

• The Form editor itself consist of two predefined QFQ forms: form and formElement - these forms are regular updated during installation of newer QFQ versions.

• Every form consist of a) a Form record and b) multiple FormElement records.

• A form is assigned to a table. Such a table is called the primary table for this form.

• Forms can roughly categorized into:

  • Simple form: the form acts on one record, stored in one table.
    • The form will create necessary SQL commands for insert, update and delete (only primary record) automatically.
  • Advanced form: the form acts on multiple records, stored in more than one table.
    • Fields of the primary table acts like a simple form, all other fields have to be specified with action/afterSave records.
  • Multi form: (multi-form) the form acts simultaneously on more than one record. All records use the same FormElements.
    • The FormElements are defined as a regular simple / or advanced form, plus an SQL Query, which selects and iterates over all records. Those records will be loaded at the same time.
  • Delete form: any form can be used as a form to :ref:`delete-record`.

• Form mode: The parameter 'r' (given via URL or via SIP) decide if the form is in mode:

  • New:

    • Missing parameter 'r' or 'r=0'
    • On form load, no record is displayed.
    • Saving the form creates a new primary record.
    • E.g.: http://example.com/index.php?id=home&form=Person or http://example.com/index.php?id=home&form=Person&r=0

  • Edit:

    • Parameter 'r>0'
    • On form load, the specified record (<tablename>.id= <r>) will be loaded and displayed.
    • Saving the form will update the existing record.
    • E.g.: http://example.com/index.php?id=home&form=Person&r=123

  • Providing additional parameter:

    Often, it is necessary to store additional, for the user not visible, parameter in a record. See :ref:`form-magic`.

• Display a form:

  • Create a QFQ tt_content record on a Typo 3 page.
  • Inside the QFQ record: form = <formname>. E.g.:
    • Static: form = Person
    • Dynamic 1: form = {{form:SE}} (the left form is a keyword for QFQ, the right form is a variable name)
    • Dynamic 2: form = {{SELECT f.name FROM Form AS f WHERE f.id=...}} (the left form is a keyword for QFQ, the right form is a variable name)
  • With the Dynamic option, it's easily possible to use one Typo3 page and display different forms on that specific page.

• If a form is edited using the JSON form editor then a backup of the previous version is saved. See :ref:`formAsFile`.

Form process order

Depending on form load / save or record delete, different tasks are performed. Processing is divided into:

• Native FormElements like: input, select list, checkbox, radio, ....
  • upload elements are categorized as native FormElement, but will be processed later.
  • pill, fieldset and subrecord elements are only processed during form load, they do not impact save or delete.
• Action FormElement like before..., after..., sendmail ...

Each FormElement has an order.

Native FormElements which 'name':

• corresponds to a column in the form primary table: are grouped together in one insert or update query.
• do not correspond to a column in the primary table: needs an explicit defined Action FormElement to be handled.

FormElement processing order:

Record locking

Forms and 'record delete'-function support basic record locking. A user opens a form: starting with the first change of content, a record lock will be acquired in the background. If the lock is denied (e.g. another user already owns a lock on the record) an alert is shown. By default the record lock mode is 'exclusive' and the default timeout is 15 minutes. Both can be configured per form. The general timeout can also be configured in :ref:`configuration` (will be copied to the form during creating the form).

The lock timeout counts from the first change, not from the last modification on the form.

If a timeout expires, the lock becomes invalid. During the next change in a form, the lock is acquired again.

A lock is assigned to a record of a table. Multiple forms, with the same primary table, uses the same lock for a given record.

If a Form acts on further records (e.g. via FE action), those further records are not protected by this basic record locking.

If a user tries to delete a record and another user already owns a lock on that record, the delete action is denied.

If there are different locking modes in multiple forms, the most restricting mode applies for the current lock.

Exclusive

An existing lock on a record forbids any write action on that record.

Advisory

An existing lock on a record informs the user that another user is currently working on that record. Nevertheless, writing is allowed.

None

No locking at all.

Comment- and space-character

The following applies to the fields Form.parameter and FormElement.parameter:

• Lines will be trimmed - leading and trailing spaces will be removed.
• If a leading and/or trailing space is needed, escape it: \ hello world \ > ' hello world '.
• Lines starting with a '#' are treated as a comment and will not be parsed. Such lines are treated as 'empty lines'.
• The comment sign can be escaped with \ .

Form Settings

Name	Description
Name	Unique and speaking name of the Form. Form will be identified by this name. Use only '[a-zA-Z0-9._+-]'. form-name
Title	Title, shown on/above the form. form-title
Note	Personal editor notes. form-note
Table	Primary table of the form. form-tablename
Primary Key	Primary key of the indicated table. Only needed if != 'id'. form-primary-key
Required Parameter NEW	Name of required SIP parameter to create a new record (r=0), separated by comma. '#' as comment delimiter. See :ref:`form-requiredParameter`
Required Parameter EDIT	Name of required SIP parameter to edit an existing record (r>0), separated by comma. '#' as comment delimiter. See :ref:`form-requiredParameter`
Permit New	'sip, logged_in, logged_out, always, never' (Default: sip): See :ref:`form-permitNewEdit`
Permit Edit	'sip, logged_in, logged_out, always, never' (Default: sip): See :ref:`form-permitNewEdit`
Permit REST	See :ref:`restApi`
Escape Type Default	See :ref:`variable-escape`.
Show button	'new, delete, close, save' (Default: 'new,delete,close,save'): Shown named buttons in the upper right corner of the form. See :ref:`form-showButton`
Forward Mode	'auto | close | no | url | url-skip-history | url-sip | url-sip-skip-history' (Default: auto): See :ref:`form-forward`.
Forward (Mode) Page	URL / Typo3 page slug or b) Forward Mode (via '{{...}}') or combination of a) & b). See :ref:`form-forward`.
labelAlign	Label align (default/left/center/right)/ Default: 'default' (defined by Config). form-label-align
Parameter	Misc additional parameters. See :ref:`form-parameter`.
BS Label Columns	The bootstrap grid system is based on 12 columns. The sum of bsLabelColumns, bsInputColumns and bsNoteColumns should be 12. These values here are the base values for all FormElements. Exceptions per FormElement can be specified per FormElement. Default: label=col-md-3, input=col-md-6, note=col-md-3. See :ref:`form-layout`.
BS Input Columns
BS Note Columns
multiMode	NOT IMPLEMENTED - 'none, horizontal, vertical' (Default 'none')
multiSql	NOT IMPLEMENTED - Optional. SQL Query which selects all records to edit.
multiDetailForm	NOT IMPLEMENTED - Optional. Form to open, if a record is selected to edit (double click on record line)
multiDetailFormParameter	NOT IMPLEMENTED - Optional. Translated Parameter submitted to detailform (like subrecord parameter)

permitNew & permitEdit

Depending on r, the following access permission will be taken:

• r=0 - permitNew
• r>0 - permitEdit

Option	Description
sip	The parameter 'form' and 'r' must be supplied via SIP or hard coded in the QFQ tt_content record.
logged_in	The form will only be shown if the current User is logged in as a FE User
logged_out	The form will only be shown if the current User is not logged in as a FE User
always	No access restriction, the form will always be shown
never	The form will never be shown

• sip
  • is always the preferred way. With 'sip' it's not necessary to differ between logged in or not, cause the SIP only exist and is only valid, if it's created via QFQ/report earlier. This means 'creating' the SIP implies 'access granted'. The grant will be revoked when the QFQ session is destroyed - this happens when a user loggs out or the web browser is closed.
• logged_in / logged_out: for forms which might be displayed without a SIP, but maybe on a protected or even unprotected page. The option is probably not often used.
• always: such a form is always allowed to be loaded.
  • permitNew=always: Public accessible forms (e.g. for registration) will allow users to fill and save the form.
  • permitEdit=always: Public accessible forms will allow users to update existing data. This is dangerous, cause the URL parameter (recordId) 'r' might be changed by the user (URL manipulating) and therefore the user might see and/or change data from other users. The option is probably not often used.
• never: such a form is not allowed to be loaded.
  • permitNew=never: Public accessible forms. It's not possible to create new records.
  • permitEdit=none: Public accessible forms. It's not possible to update records.

Required Parameter New|Edit

Comma separated list of variable names. On form load, an error message will be shown in case of missing parameters. The parameters must be given by SIP.

The list of required parameter has to be defined for New (r=0, create a new record) and for Edit (r>0, edit existing record).

Optional a comment might be attached after the parameter definition.

E.g.:

New: grId, pId # Always specify a person, grId2
Edit: pId

showButton

Display or hide the button new, delete, close, save.

• new: Creates a new record. If the form needs any special parameter via SIP or Client (=browser), hide this 'new' button - the necessary parameter are not provided.
• delete: This either deletes the current record only, or (if defined via action FormElement 'beforeDelete' ) any specified subrecords.
• close: Close the current form. If there are changes, a popup opens and ask to save / close / cancel. The last page from the history will be shown.
• save: Save the form.
• Default: show all buttons.

Forward: Save / Close

Forward (=forwardMode)

After the user presses Save, Close, Delete or New, different actions are possible where the browser redirects to.

• auto (default) - the QFQ browser Javascript logic, decides to stay on the page or to force a redirection to a previous page. The decision depends on:
  • Close goes back (feels like close) to the previous page. Note: if there is no history, QFQ won't close the tab, instead a message is shown.
  • Save stays on the current page.
• close - goes back (feels like close) to the previous page. Note: if there is no history, QFQ won't close the tab, instead a message is shown.
• no - no change, the browser remains on the current side. Close does not close the page. It just triggers a save if there are modified data.
• url - the browser redirects to the URL or T3 page named in Forward URL / Page. Independent if the user presses save or close.
• url-skip-history - same as url, but the current location won't saved in the browser history.
• url-sip - like url, but any given parameter will be SIP encoded. Only useful if url points to current web instance.
• url-sip-skip-history - like url-sip, but skips the Browser history.

Only with Forward == url | url-skip-history, the definition of Forward URL / Page becomes active.

Forward URL / Page (=forwardPage)

Format: [<url>] or [<mode>|<url>]

• <url>:
  • http://www.example.com/index.html?a=123#bottom
  • website.html?a=123#bottom
  • <T3 page slug>&a=123#bottom, ?id=<T3 page id>&a=123#bottom
  • {{SELECT ...}}
  • <mode>|<url>
• <mode> - Valid keywords are as above: auto|close|no|url|url-skip-history|url-sip|url-sip-skip-history

Specifying the mode in forwardPage overwrites formMode (but only if formMode is url...).

Also regular QFQ statements like {{var}} or {{SELECT ...}} are possible in forwardPage. This is useful to dynamically redirect to different targets, depending on user input or any other dependencies.

If a forwardMode 'url...' is specified and there is no forwardPage, QFQ falls down to auto mode.

On a form, the user might click 'save' or 'save,close' or 'close' (with modified data this leads to 'save,close'). The CLIENT submit_reason shows the user action:

• {{submit_reason:CE:alnumx}} = save or save,close

Example forwardPage

• {{SELECT IF('{{formModeGlobal:S}}'='requiredOff', 'no', 'auto') }}
• {{SELECT IF('{{submit_reason:CE:alnumx}}'='save', 'no', 'url'), '|http://example.com' }}

Type: combined dynamic mode & URL/page

Syntax: forwardPage=<mode>|<page>

• forwardPage={{SELECT IF(a.url='','no','url'), '|', a.url FROM Address AS a }}

Form.parameter

• The following parameter are optional.
• Each parameter has to be on a single line.
• If a parameter is defined multiple time, the last one is the final one.
• Comment lines have to start with #.

Name	Type	Description
dbIndex	int	Database credential index, given via :ref:`config-qfq-php` to let the current Form operate on the database.
bsColumns	string	Wrap the whole form in '<div class="col-md-.. col-lg-..">. See :ref:`bs-custom-field-width`.
maxVisiblePill	int	Show pills upto <maxVisiblePill> as button, all further in a drop-down menu. Eg.: maxVisiblePill=3.
class	string	HTML div with given class, surrounding the whole form. Eg.: class=container-fluid.
classTitle	string	CSS class inside of the title div. Default 'qfq-form-title'.
classPill	string	HTML div with given class, surrounding the pill title line.
classBody	string	HTML div with given class, surrounding all FormElement.
extraDeleteForm	string	Name of a form which specifies how to delete the primary record and optional slave records.
data-pattern-error	string	Pattern violation: Text for error message used for all FormElements of current form.
data-required-error	string	Required violation: Text for error message used for all FormElements of current form.
data-match-error	string	Match violation: Text for error message used for all FormElements of current form.
data-error	string	If none specific is defined: Text for error message used for all FormElements of current form.
buttonOnChangeClass	string	Color for save button after user modified some content or current form. E.g.: 'btn-info alert-info'.
ldapServer	string	FQDN Ldap Server. E.g.: directory.example.com.
ldapBaseDn	string	E.g.: ou=Addressbook,dc=example,dc=com.
ldapAttributes	string	List of attributes to fill STORE_LDAP with. E.g.: cn, email.
ldapSearch	string	E.g.: (mail={{email::alnumx:l}})
ldapTimeLimit	int	Maximum time to wait for an answer of the LDAP Server.
typeAheadLdap		Enable LDAP as 'Typeahead' data source.
typeAheadLdapSearch	string	Regular LDAP search expression. E.g.: (|(cn=*?*)(mail=*?*))
typeAheadLdapValuePrintf	string	Value formatting of LDAP result, per entry. E.g.: '%s / %s / %s', mail, roomnumber, telephonenumber
typeAheadLdapIdPrintf	string	Key formatting of LDAP result, per entry. E.g.: '%s', mail
typeAheadLdapSearchPerToken		Split search value in token and OR-combine every search with the individual tokens.
typeAheadLimit	int	Maximum number of entries. The limit is applied to the server (LDAP or SQL) and the Client.
typeAheadMinLength	int	Minimum number of characters which have to typed to start the search.
mode	string	The value readonly will activate a global readonly mode of the form - the user can't change any data. See :ref:`form-mode-global`
activateFirstRequiredTab	digit	0: off, 1: (default) - with formModeGlobal=requiredOffButMark bring pill to front on save. See :ref:`form-mode-global`
enterAsSubmit	digit	0: off, 1: Pressing enter in a form means save and close. Takes default from :ref:`configuration`.
submitButtonText	string	Show a save button at the bottom of the form, with <submitButtonText> . See :ref:`submitButtonText`.
saveButtonActive		0: off, 1: Make the 'save'-button active on Form load (instead of waiting for the first user change). The save button is still 'gray' (record not dirty), but the user can click 'save'.
saveButtonText	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
saveButtonTooltip	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
saveButtonClass	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
saveButtonGlyphIcon	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
closeButtonText	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
closeButtonTooltip	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
closeButtonClass	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
closeButtonGlyphIcon	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
deleteButtonText	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
deleteButtonTooltip	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
deleteButtonClass	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
deleteButtonGlyphIcon	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
newButtonText	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
newButtonTooltip	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
newButtonClass	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
newButtonGlyphIcon	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
extraButtonInfoClass	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
extraButtonInfoMinWidth	string	See :ref:`extraButtonInfo`
fillStoreVar	string	Fill the STORE_VAR with custom values. See :ref:`STORE_VARS`.
showIdInFormTitle	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
formSubmitLogMode	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
sessionTimeoutSeconds	int	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`. See :ref:`sessionTimeoutSeconds`.
maxFileSize	int	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`
requiredPosition	int	See :ref:`requiredPosition`
clearMe	0 / 1	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`. Show a small 'x' in every input or textarea to clear field.
rememberLastPill	0 / 1	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`. On form load, bring last used pill to front
doNotLogColumn	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`. Comma separated list of Form-Element names.
fieldsetClass	string	Overwrite default from :ref:`configuration`.

• Example in field Form.parameter:

  maxVisiblePill = 5
  class = container-fluid
  classBody = qfq-form-right

submitButtonText

If specified and non empty, display a regular submit button at the bottom of the page with the given text. This gives the form a ordinary HTML-form look'n' feel. With this option, the standard buttons on the top right border should be hidden to not confuse the user.

• Optional.
• Default: Empty

class