Question

I have been attempting to create a form where a user can simply press a button and the form will add a new field for the user to use. I have 2 of these dynamically added field types.

Firstly a field where a user can upload files, by pressing the add button another field is pasted underneath the current field and is ready for use.

I have followed an old guide on how to get this done with a bit of ajax and jQuery.

This guide to be exact: http://www.jeremykendall.net/2009/01/19/dynamically-adding-elements-to-zend-form/

As you can see it’s from 2009 and a bit outdated yet it still works under the current Zend Framework version 1.11.11

The problem however arises now that i want an edit / update version of the form. I need to populate it’s fields but first of all i need to create enough fields for the data to be stored in. So when there’s 3 files that have been uploaded it should create 2 additional fields and place the 3 file names in these fields ready to be edited and updated. Simply using $form->populate($stuff) is not going to work

I just have no idea how to accomplish this and the tutorial on dynamically added fields only goes as far as the addAction and not how to create the editAction under these conditions.

Is there any tutorial out there on how to create and manage forms such as these? I’m sure i am not the only one who’s had the idea to builds these kind of forms?

I can add my code if there’s a request for it but it’s the same as the example from the guide, just a different set of elements in the form.

Adding a small example of it’s use.
A user adds an item with 3 files, these files are uploaded along with a filename so in the database it appears like this : File_Id : '1' , File_Name : 'SomeFile' , File_location : 'somewhere/on/my/pc/SomeFile.txt'.

Now the user realizes he forgot a file or wants to delete a file from that list, he goes to the edit page and here i want the form to display the previously added filenames. So if there’s 3 files it shows 3 and when there’s 2 it shows 2 etc. How do i build a form to dynamically add fields based on the number of uploaded files and then populate them?

Any advice on how to handle this is well appreciated 🙂

Answer 1

You can make use of the semi-magic setXxx() methods of the form.

Inside the form:

public function setFiles($files) {
    foreach ($files as $file) {
        $this->addElement(/* add a file element */);
        //do other stuff, like decorators to show the file name, etc.
    }
}

In your controller:

$files = $model->getFiles();
$form = new Form_EditFiles(array('files' => $files));

By passing an array with key files you will make the form try to call the method named setFiles(), which you have conveniently provided above.

This should push you in the right direction, or so I hope at least.