Create a Model and Database Table | Zend Framework Quick Start Programmer's Reference Guide | Congratulations!

# Create A Form

For our guestbook to be useful, we need a form for submitting new entries.

Our first order of business is to create the actual form class. To create the empty form class, execute:

1. % zf create form Guestbook
2. Creating a form at application/forms/Guestbook.php
3. Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'

This will create the directory application/forms/ with the classfile Guestbook.php. Open that file and update it so it reads as follows:

1. // application/forms/Guestbook.php
3. class Application_Form_Guestbook extends Zend_Form
4. {
5. public function init()
6. {
7. // Set the method for the display form to POST
8. $this->setMethod('post');
10. // Add an email element
11. $this->addElement('text', 'email', array (
12. 'label' => 'Your email address:',
13. 'required' => true,
14. 'filters' => array ('StringTrim'),
15. 'validators' => array (
16. 'EmailAddress',
17. )
18. ));
20. // Add the comment element
21. $this->addElement('textarea', 'comment', array (
22. 'label' => 'Please Comment:',
23. 'required' => true,
24. 'validators' => array (
25. array ('validator' => 'StringLength', 'options' => array (0, 20))
26. )
27. ));
29. // Add a captcha
30. $this->addElement('captcha', 'captcha', array (
31. 'label' => 'Please enter the 5 letters displayed below:',
32. 'required' => true,
33. 'captcha' => array (
34. 'captcha' => 'Figlet',
35. 'wordLen' => 5,
36. 'timeout' => 300
37. )
38. ));
40. // Add the submit button
41. $this->addElement('submit', 'submit', array (
42. 'ignore' => true,
43. 'label' => 'Sign Guestbook',
44. ));
46. // And finally add some CSRF protection
47. $this->addElement('hash', 'csrf', array (
48. 'ignore' => true,
49. ));
50. }
51. }

The above form defines five elements: an email address field, a comment field, a CAPTCHA for preventing spam submissions, a submit button, and a CSRF protection token.

Next, we will add a signAction() to our GuestbookController which will process the form upon submission. To create the action and related view script, execute the following:

1. % zf create action sign Guestbook
2. Creating an action named sign inside controller
3. at application/controllers/GuestbookController.php
4. Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'
5. Creating a view script for the sign action method
6. at application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml
7. Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'

As you can see from the output, this will create a signAction() method in our controller, as well as the appropriate view script.

Let's add some logic into our guestbook controller's sign action. We need to first check if we're getting a POST or a GET request; in the latter case, we'll simply display the form. However, if we get a POST request, we'll want to validate the posted data against our form, and, if valid, create a new entry and save it. The logic might look like this:

1. // application/controllers/GuestbookController.php
3. class GuestbookController extends Zend_Controller_Action
4. {
5. // snipping indexAction()...
7. public function signAction()
8. {
9. $request = $this->getRequest();
10. $form = new Application_Form_Guestbook();
12. if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
13. if ($form->isValid($request->getPost())) {
14. $comment = new Application_Model_Guestbook($form->getValues());
15. $mapper = new Application_Model_GuestbookMapper();
16. $mapper->save($comment);
17. return $this->_helper->redirector('index');
18. }
19. }
21. $this->view->form = $form;
22. }
23. }

Of course, we also need to edit the view script; edit application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml to read:

1. <!-- application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml -->
3. Please use the form below to sign our guestbook!
5. <?php
6. $this->form->setAction($this->url());
7. echo $this->form;

> Note: Better Looking Forms
> No one will be waxing poetic about the beauty of this form anytime soon. No matter - form appearance is fully customizable! See the decorators section in the reference guide for details.
> Additionally, you may be interested in our tutorial on form decorators.

> Note: Checkpoint
> Now browse to "http://localhost/guestbook/sign". You should see the following in your browser:

Create a Model and Database Table | Zend Framework Quick Start Programmer's Reference Guide | Congratulations!