DB Result to Form

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
I have to build a lot of large forms for work, most have 30-50 fields each, and grew very tired of creating the views for these large forms so I came up with this helper. It's not perfect and I wouldn't advise using it on smaller forms, but for large ones, I would rather write 10-15 lines of code versus 60-70 lines of code to build the form.

Code:

<?php  if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

//abstract function to create a 2 column form (make sure your style creates a two-column form or alter as needed)
//Created by mike morey [email protected]
//FREE to use, amend, modify, and distribute as long as this info remains intact

function create_dbform($data, $controller, $js = '', $dropdowns = null, $textareas = null, $excludes = null, $hidden = null, $required = null, $dates = null)
{
$form = form_open(base_url().$controller).'<br />';
foreach($data as $key => $value){
  if(in_array($key, $excludes) && !in_array($key, $hidden)){
   unset($data[$key]);
  }
  if(in_array($key, $hidden)){
   $form .= form_hidden($key, $value);
   unset($data[$key]);
  }
}
$x=0;

foreach($data as $key => $value){
  if($x % 2){
   //
  }else{
   $form .= '<tr>';
  }
  if(array_key_exists($key, $dropdowns)){ //DROPDOWNS
   $form .= '<td';
   if(in_array($key, $required)){     $form .= ' bgcolor="#F00"><span  color:#FFFFFF;">';
   }else{
    $form .= '><span ">';
   }
   $fjs = 'id="'.$key.'"';
   $form .= ucwords(str_replace('_', ' ', $key)).': </span><span >'.form_dropdown($key, $dropdowns[$key], $value, $fjs).'</span></td>';
  }elseif(in_array($key, $textareas)){ //TEXTAREAS
   $area = array(
     'name'        => $key,
     'id'          => $key,
     'value'       => $value,
     'rows'      => '4', //EDITABLE
     'cols'        => '39', //EDITABLE
   );
   $form .= '<td><span ">'.ucwords(str_replace('_', ' ', $key)).': </span><span  float:right;">'.form_textarea($area).'</span></td>';
  }elseif(in_array($key, $dates)){ //DATE FIELDS
   $form .= '<td';
   if(in_array($key, $required)){     $form .= ' bgcolor="#F00"><span  color:#FFFFFF;">';
   }else{
    $form .= '><span ">';
   }
   $caljs = 'class="datefield" id="'.$key.'"';
   $form .= ucwords(str_replace('_', ' ', $key)).': </span><span ">'.form_input($key, $value, $caljs).'</span></td>';
  }else{ //TEXT FIELDS
   $text = array(
     'name'        => $key,
     'id'          => $key,
     'value'       => $value,
     'maxlength'   => '75', //EDITABLE
     'size'        => '40', //EDITABLE
   );
   $form .= '<td';
   if(in_array($key, $required)){     $form .= ' bgcolor="#F00"><span  color:#FFFFFF;">';
   }else{
    $form .= '><span ">';
   }
   $form .= ucwords(str_replace('_', ' ', $key)).': </span><span  float: right;">'.form_input($text).'</span></td>';
  }
  if($x % 2){
   $form .= '</tr>';
  }else{
   //
  }
$x++;
}
$form .= '<div id="hidden_formdata" >'; //For use with JS if needed to display under certain triggers
$form .= '</div>';
$form .= '<tr><td colspan="2"><div align="center">'.form_submit('submit', 'Submit').'</div></td></tr><br /><br />'; //EDITABLE Value
$form .= form_close().'<br />';
return $form;
}

Controller Example:

Code:

$info = $this->net_model->get_client($clientid);
$hidden = array('id');
$excludes = array('updated','id','noweb','contract','abbreviation');
$dropdowns = array('category_id' => get_categories(),'subcategory' => get_subcategories(), 'foodcourt' => array('0' => 'No', '1' => 'Yes'), 'is_restaurant' => array('0' => 'No', '1' => 'Yes'), 'rest_type' => array('' => 'Choose', 'sit_down' => 'Sit Down', 'stand_up' => 'Stand Up'), 'does_delivery' => array('0' => 'No', '1' => 'Yes'), 'cctype' => array('' => 'Choose', 'AMEX' => 'Amex', 'DISC' => 'Discover', 'MC' => 'MasterCard', 'VISA' => 'Visa'));
$textareas = array('notes', 'foodcourt_exclusives', 'foodcourt_notes', 'foodcourt_deals');
$required = array('firstname', 'lastname', 'email', 'account', 'category_id', 'subcategory');
$dates = array();
$data['clientinfo'] = create_dbform($info, 'orders/update/'.$clientid, '', $dropdowns, $textareas, $excludes, $hidden, $required, $dates);

All parameters except the $js parameter are passed as arrays, $dropdowns is a multi-dimensional array of keys with values consisting of the dropdown options.

Note: The get_categories() and get_subcategories() functions are custom helpers I made to return an array of these items, you can do similar.

DEFINITIONS:
$info - the form data returned from query
$hidden - any hidden fields for your form
$excludes - any fields you want omitted from your form (used only when doing an SELECT * query)
$dropdowns - multi-dimensional array for your dropdowns data
$textareas - fields for text area input
$required - any fields you want to be styled differently as being required
$dates - any date fields (this required that you have a version of jQuery UI loaded in your page header to work and use the following code in your header :

Code:

[removed]
$(function() {
  $(".datefield").each(function() {
   $(this).datepicker();
  });
});
[removed]';

The styling in the helper is modifiable to fit your own CSS styling, mine is basic.

Enjoy.

[eluser]quickshiftin[/eluser]
Nice helper!