Question

I really like the idea of putting forms into a seperate class that manages validation etc, but I don’t like everything ending up in a DL and also not being able to use square bracket notation in post elements like <input type='checkbox' name='data[]'>.

Is there another way of generating forms – like in views so I can style them the way I want, but also keeping the validation aspect? Also how would I load this view into my current view (using partial view somehow?)

Answer 1

I would suggest going with the full out form ViewScript to manage how your form elements are displayed.

For example, if you wanted them displayed as list items you would have a form that look like this

<?php
class Default_Form_Myform extends Zend_Form
{
    public function  __construct($options = null) {
        parent::__construct($options);
    }
    public function  init() {
        parent::init();
        $this->setName('myform');
        $name = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('name');
        $name->setLabel('Name')
                    ->setDescription('Give your name...');
        $this->addElement($name);            
        $submit = new Zend_Form_Element_Submit('submit');
        $this->addElement($submit);        
        $this->clearDecorators();
        $this->setElementDecorators(
                array(
                    'viewHelper',
                    'Errors',
                    array('Label', array('class' => 'delabel')),
                    'Description',
                    array('HtmlTag', array('tag' => 'li')),        
                )
        );           
        // The template is at application/modules/default/views/myForm.phtml
        $this->setDecorators(array(
        array('ViewScript', array('viewScript' => 'myForm.phtml'))
        ));  
    }
}

Then you would have a template at application/modules/default/views/myForm.phtml

All elements are called by their declared name like $this->element->name

<form action="<?= $this->element->getAction(); ?>"
      method="<?= $this->element->getMethod(); ?>"
      enctype="<?= $this->element->getEnctype(); ?>"
      name="<?= $this->element->getName(); ?>">
    <ul>
    <?= $this->element->name; ?>
    <?= $this->element->submit ?>
    </ul>
</form>

Now in your view script you just need to echo the form like you normally would <?= $this->form; ?>

Note I’m using modules, you may or may not have that in the directories and class names

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