Question

I use symfony 1.4 in my php project. I’ve got a form which might be extended depending on user configuration. If user chooses additional labels or budget for tasks, this information ought to be embedded to form class and displayed as widget in form partial (additional inputs).

For example:

1. Admin wants to have only basic tasks without buget or labels. Only TasksForm widgets are displayed when editing or creating new task.

2. Admin wants to have basic tasks with labels. TasksForm is displayed with additional field that enables user to choose labels.

3. Admin wants to have all options (labels + budget)

Relations in db are:

Tasks:
  columns:
    name: string(127)
    created_at: timestamp
    updated_at: timestamp

Budget:
  columns:
    task_id: integer
    budget_prognosis: integer
    budget_used: integer
  relations:
    Tasks:
      local: task_id
      foreign: id
      type: one

TaskHasLabel:
  columns:
    task_id: 
      type: integer
      primary: true
    label_id:
      type: integer
      primary: true
  relations:
    Tasks:
      local: task_id
      foreign: id
      type: one
      onDelete: CASCADE
    Labels:
      local: label_id
      foreign: id
      type: one
      onDelete: CASCADE

Labels:
  columns:
    name: string(127)
  relations:
    Tasks:
      class: Task
      local: label_id
      foreign: task_id
      refClass: TaskHasLabel

Aim is to easily change configuration of forms and add new configuration options in the future. I know I could do this by creating separate form for every combination, but I don’t want to repeat myself. Another idea is to combine all fields in one form and hide them, but it doesn’t seem to me like a good idea. I thought of configuration via parameters in form constructor, but I’m not sure of that either. What’s the best practice in this situation?

Answer 1

Of all the possibilities:

• Subclass the form so you don’t “repeat yourself”. This is good if you only have one or two choices, but it quickly becomes a problem with more choices (4 forms if only 2 options and all combinations are valid).
• Create a form for each option. Then, with constructor parameter, add embedded forms for each of the additional feature the user wants to show. This also allows you to prevent the display of some options if a user does not have the rights to see the data (that would be available if information is hidden in the browser).

Embedded forms work quite well in SF1.4 (see here). This would be my solution. It also keeps the MVC working. If you are using Doctrine for your model, you can also read this.