Class::DBI::AsForm(3pm) 				User Contributed Perl Documentation				   Class::DBI::AsForm(3pm)

NAME

       Class::DBI::AsForm - Produce HTML form elements for database columns

SYNOPSIS

	   package Music::CD;
	   use Class::DBI::AsForm;
	   use base 'Class::DBI';
	   use CGI;
	   ...

	   sub create_or_edit {
	       my $class = shift;
	       my %cgi_field = $class->to_cgi;
	       return start_form,
		      (map { "<b>$_</b>: ". $cgi_field{$_}->as_HTML." <br>" }
			   $class->Columns),
		      end_form;
	   }

	   # <form method="post"...>
	   # Title: <input type="text" name="Title" /> <br>
	   # Artist: <select name="Artist">
	   #	       <option value=1>Grateful Dead</option>
	   #	       ...
	   #	     </select>
	   # ...
	   # </form>

DESCRIPTION

       This module helps to generate HTML forms for creating new database rows or editing existing rows. It maps column names in a database table
       to HTML form elements which fit the schema. Large text fields are turned into textareas, and fields with a has-a relationship to other
       "Class::DBI" tables are turned into select drop-downs populated with objects from the joined class.

METHODS

       The module is a mix-in which adds two additional methods to your "Class::DBI"-derived class.

   to_cgi
       This returns a hash mapping all the column names of the class to HTML::Element objects representing form widgets.

   to_field($field [, $how])
       This maps an individual column to a form element. The "how" argument can be used to force the field type into one of "textfield",
       "textarea" or "select"; you can use this is you want to avoid the automatic detection of has-a relationships.

CHANGES

       Version 1.x of this module returned raw HTML instead of "HTML::Element" objects, which made it harder to manipulate the HTML before sending
       it out. If you depend on the old behaviour, set $Class::DBI::AsForm::OLD_STYLE to a true value.

MAINTAINER

       Tony Bowden

ORIGINAL AUTHOR

       Simon Cozens

BUGS and QUERIES
       Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to:
	 bug-Class-DBI-AsForm@rt.cpan.org

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright 2003-2004 by Simon Cozens / Tony Bowden

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

       Class::DBI, Class::DBI::FromCGI, HTML::Element.

perl v5.10.1							    2005-09-06						   Class::DBI::AsForm(3pm)