element is really template::element although when in the "template" namespace you may omit the template:: qualifier. See the template::form API for creating the form element container. DEPRECATED: please use the properly namespaced api

Parameters:

command (required)

form_id (required)

element_id (required)

See Also:

• template::element
• template::form
• template::element

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Manage elements of form objects.

see the individual commands for further information.

Parameters:

command (required)

one of create, error_p, exists, get_property, get_value, get_values, querygetall, set_error, set_properties, set_value

form_id (required)

string identifying the form

element_id (required)

string identifying the element

See Also:

• template::element::create
• template::element::error_p
• template::element::exists
• template::element::get_property
• template::element::get_value
• template::element::get_values
• template::element::querygetall
• template::element::set_error
• template::element::set_properties
• template::element::set_value
• template::form

Testcases:

template_widget_file

Append an element to a form object. If a submission is in progress, values for the element are prepared and validated.

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form to which the element is to be added. The form must have been previously created with a form create statement.

element_id (required)

A keyword identifier for the element that is unique in the context of the form.

Options:

-widget

The name of an input widget for the element. Valid widgets must have a rendering procedure defined in the template::widget namespace.

-datatype

The name of a datatype for the element values. Valid datatypes must have a validation procedure defined in the template::data::validate namespace.

-label

The label for the form element.

-html

A list of name-value attribute pairs to include in the HTML tag for widget. Typically used for additional formatting options, such as cols or rows, or for JavaScript handlers.

-maxlength

The maximum allowable length in bytes. Will be checked using 'string bytelength'. Will also cause 'input' widgets (text, integer, etc.) to get a maxlength="..." attribute.

-options

A list of options for select lists and button groups (check boxes or radio buttons). The list contains two-element lists in the form { {label value} {label value} {label value} ...}

-fieldset

A list of name-value attribute pairs to include in the HTML tag for checkboxes and radio FIELDSET.

-legend

A list of name-value attribute pairs to include in the HTML tag for checkboxes and radio LEGEND.

-legendtext

A text for the LEGEND tag to include in the checkboxes and radio FIELDSET block

-value

The default value of the element

-values

The default values of the element, where multiple values are allowed (checkbox groups and multiselect widgets)

-validate

A list of custom validation blocks in the form {name { script } { message } name { script } { message } ...} where name is a unique identifier for the validation step, expression is a block to Tcl code (script) that should set the result to 1 or 0, and message is to be displayed to the user when the validation step fails, that is, if the expression evaluates to 0. Use the special variable $value to refer to the value entered by the user in that field. Note that e.g. in ad_form, all blocks are substituted, therefore, the script might require escaping.

-sign

Specify for a hidden widget that its value should be signed

-help_text

Text displayed with the element

-help

Display helpful hints (date widget only?)

-optional

A flag indicating that no value is required for this element. If a default value is specified, the default is used instead.

-mode

Valid values are 'display', 'edit', and the empty string. If set to 'display', the element will render as static HTML which doesn't allow editing of the value, instead of the HTML form element (e.g. <input>) which would otherwise get used. If set to 'edit', the element is as normal, allowing the user to edit the contents. If set to the empty string or not specified at all, the form's 'mode' setting is used instead.

-nospell

A flag indicating that no spell-checking should be performed on this element. This overrides the 'SpellcheckFormWidgets' parameter.

-noquote

A flag indicating that no value should not be quoted in a form. In addition, the nonquoted inform field is not transmitted as a hidden field (which can be attacked via noquote). Currently only supported by the "inform" widget type.

-before_html

A chunk of HTML displayed immediately before the rendered element.

-after_html

A chunk of HTML displayed immediately after the rendered element.

-display_value

Alternative value used when the element is in display mode. If specified, this value is used when the mode is set to 'display', instead of asking the element widget to render itself in display mode.

-multiple

A flag indicating that more than one value is expected from the input element

-format

Many form elements allow one to specify a format, e.g. a way the element should be displayed or interpret its value. Refer to the specific widgets for the actual behavior.

-section

Specify to which form section this element belongs

-htmlarea_p

Only relevant for textarea kind of elements, tells if the element is supposed to be rendered as a richtext editor or not.

See Also:

• template::widget
• template::data::validate
• template::form::create
• template::form::section

Testcases:

template_widget_file

Return true if the named element has an error set. Helpful for client code that wants to avoid overwriting an initial error message.

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element with which the error message should be associated in the form template.

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Determine if an element exists in a specified form

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element within the form.

Returns:

1 if the element exists in the form, or 0 otherwise

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Retrieves the specified property of the element, such as value, datatype, widget, etc.

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element.

property (required)

The property to be retrieved

Returns:

The value of the property, or "" if the property does not exist

See Also:

• template::element::set_properties

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Retrieves the current value of an element. Typically used following a valid form submission to retrieve the submitted value.

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element.

Returns:

The current value of the element.

See Also:

• template::element::get_values

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Retrieves the list current values for an element. Typically used following a valid form submission where multiple values may have been submitted for a single element (i.e. for a checkbox group or multiple select box).

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element.

Returns:

A list of current values for the element.

See Also:

• template::element::get_value

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Get all values for an element, performing any transformation defined for the datatype.

Parameters:

element_ref (required)

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Manually set an error message for an element. This may be used to implement validation filters that involve more than one form element ("Sorry, blue is not available for the model you selected, please choose another color.")

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element with which the error message should be associated in the form template.

message (required)

The text of the error message.

Testcases:

template_widget_file

Modify properties of an existing element. The same options may be used as with the create command. Most commonly used to set the default value for an element when a form page is initially requested.

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element.

See Also:

• template::element::create

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Sets the value of an element

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element.

value (required)

The value to apply

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Sets the list of values of an element

Parameters:

form_id (required)

The identifier of the form containing the element.

element_id (required)

The unique identifier of the element.

values (required)

The list of values to apply

Testcases:

No testcase defined.