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Wiki Forms
Form-based input in topics, with name/value pairs stored as Meta Data variables; choose one of multiple forms per web & topicOverview
By adding form-based input to freeform content, you can structure topics with unlimited, easily searchable categories. When forms are enabled for a web and selected in a topic, a single form appears in edit mode, and the contents are rendered as a table when viewed on the display page. You can define unlimited forms per web. For each topic, you can select a template if more than one is defined, or remove forms entirely. Form input values are stored as WikiMetaData; all data is saved. Form Templates replace WikiCategoryTables from the 01-Dec-2000 version of Wiki. - see #FormsVsCategoryTablesDefining a Form Template
A Form Template is simply a page containing your form, defined as a table where each row is one form field.Form Template Elements
- form template - a set of fields defining a form (replaces category table definition)
- A web can use one or more form templates
- form - a topic containing additional meta data (besides the freeform TEXTAREA) that categorizes the content (replaces category table)
- Within a form-enabled web, individual topics can have a form or no form
- form field - a named item in a form (replaces category item name)
- field type - selects the INPUT type:
- field value - one or more values from a fixed set (select, checkbox, radio type) or free-form (text). (replaces category item value)
Defining a Form in One Topic
- Create a new topic with your form name:
YourForm,ExpenseReport,InfoCategory,RecordReview, whatever you need. - Create a Wiki table, with each column head representing one element of an entry field:
Name,Type,Size,Values, andTooltip message(see sample below). - For each field, fill in a new line; for the type of field, select from the list.
- Save the topic (you can later choose to enable/disable individual forms).
Example:WebForm
| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* | *Values* | *Tooltip message* |
| TopicClassification | select | 1 | NoDisclosure, PublicSupported, PublicFAQ | blah blah... |
| OperatingSystem | checkbox | 3 | OsHPUX, OsLinux, OsSolaris, OsWin | blah blah... |
| OsVersion | text | 16 | | blah blah... |
Defining a Form with Multiple Topics
Forms can also be defined by using form templates that retrieve field values from one or more separate topics:- A
FormTemplatetopic defines the Form, ex:YourFormTemplate. - For each field that has a value list - select, radio, checkbox - can use separate topic to define the available values.
Example: WebFormTemplate
- WebFormTemplate main definition:
Leave the
Valuesfield blank.
- TopicClassification field value definition:
- Implementation Notes: This format allows you to define field items with or without WikiNames, depending on your needs.
- Topics can be protected in the usual manner, using AccessControl, to limit who can change the form template and/or individual value lists.
-
[[...]]links can be used to force a link (at present, the[[...][...]]format is not supported). - The
Tooltip messagecolumn is used as a tooltip for the field name (only if field name is a WikiName) - you only see the tooltip In edit. - The first item in the list is the default item. Alternative initial values can be set in a topic template, like
WebTopicEditTemplate, withfield=value, or, for checkboxes,field.=1 - The topic definition is not read when a topic is viewed.
Enabling Forms by Web
Forms are enabled on a per web basis. TheWEBFORMS variable in WebPreferences is optional and defines a list of possible form templates. Example: - Set WEBFORMS = BugForm, FeatureForm, BookLoanForm
- With
WEBFORMSenabled, an extra button is added to the edit view. If the topic doesn't have a Form, an Add Form button appears at the end of the topic. If a Form is present, a Change button appears in the top row of the Form. The buttons open a screen that enables selection of a form specified inWEBFORMS, or the No form option.
Including Forms in New Topics
- A default Form Template (new topics get this default form) can be provided by creating the
WebTopicEditTemplatetopic in a web and adding a form to it. Initial Form values can be set there.
- Additionally a new topic can be given a Form using the
formtemplateparameter in the URL. Initial values can then be provided in the URLs or as form values:- other than checkboxes:
name, ex:?BugPriority=1 - checkbox:
namevalue=1, ex:?ColorRed=1.
Boxes with a tick must be specified.
- other than checkboxes:
Setting Up Multiple Form Options
- The optional
WEBFORMSvariable defines alternative forms that can be selected by pressing Change in edit mode.
- A topic template can use any form.
- New topics with a form are created by simple HTML forms asking for a topic name. For example, you can have a
SubmitExpenseReporttopic where you can create new expense reports, aSubmitVacationRequesttopic, and so on. These can specify the required template topic with its associated form.
Form Data Storage
The form topic name, fields and values are stored as WikiMetaData - the order of the field/value pairs is the same as in the template.Using Form Data
DataForms accept user-input data, stored as WikiMetaData. Meta data also contains program-generated info about changes, attachments, etc. To find, format and display form and other meta data, see WikiMetaData,SEARCH and METASEARCH variables in Macros, and Wiki Formatted Search for various options.
Main Changes from Category Tables
The Form Template system is a more powerful, flexible replacement for the original WikiCategoryTable. Data from existing category tables can be imported directly.Importing Category Table Data
On upgrading from the previous Wiki, a Form Template topic has to be built for each web that used a Category Table, recreating the fields and values from the oldfoswikicatitems.tmpl. The replacement Form Template must be set as the first item in the WebPreferences variable WEBFORMS. If missing, pages will display, but attempting to edit results in an error message.
The new Form Template system should work with old Category Table data with no special conversion. Data is assigned to Meta variables the first time an imported topic is edited and saved in the new system.
NOTE: If things aren't working correctly, there may be useful entries in data/warning.txt.
Using Forms For Settings
Example process to change your WebPreferences to use forms instead of{3 spaces}* Set statements:
- create WebPrefencesForm topic
- fill it with a table like this:
| *Name*|*Type*|*Size*|*Value*|*Tooltip message*|*Attributes*|
| WEBTOPICLIST |textarea| | | List of topics of the %WEB% web |S|
| SITEMAPLIST |select |3| on, | list this web in the Site Map |S|
| SITEMAPWHAT |textarea| | | short web summary |S|
| WEBBGCOLOR |text |8| | Web specific background color |S|
etc... - Edit WebPreferences and:
- Add or Change the form to WebPrefencesForm
- add WebPrefencesForm to the
Set WEBFORMSline - Save
- Edit WebPreferences, jump straight down to the form ignoring all the
textareastuff, and set as you like - if everything works as you like it, you can delete the Set statements (the form overrides set if they are both used).
S attribute has been specified (S for Setting).
If you change the form, the changes will not take affect until you edit and save the preferences' topics again.
Using the Foswiki:Extensions.EditTablePlugin on WebPreferencesForm makes adding new prefedrences a breeze.
A possibly unwanted side effect for using forms for the SKINS setting in their personal user topic: because the User Preferences are final you can't have different skins for different webs as the user's setting always wins. A workaround is to simply omit SKIN in the form.
Another example, this one using EditTablePlugin, source:
%EDITTABLE{ header="|*Name*|*Type*|*Size*|*Values*|*Tooltip message*|*Attributes*|" format="|text,20|text,20|text,20|text,20|text,20|text,1|" }%
Result (after some editing):
-- Wiki:Main.JohnTalintyre - 16 Aug 2001 -- Wiki:Main.MikeMannix - 05 Jan 2002
-- Wiki:Main.PeterThoeny - 25 Apr 2004
-- Wiki:Main.MattWilkie - 27 Jul 2004
Organização
Patrocínio
%btEdit% %btAnexar% %btVersao% %btMais%
revisão: r1 - 06 Jan 2012 - 01:10:03 - UnknownUser
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