| <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> | |
| <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> | |
| <head> | |
| <title>CodeIgniter User Guide : Form Helper</title> | |
| <style type='text/css' media='all'>@import url('../userguide.css');</style> | |
| <link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' media='all' href='../userguide.css' /> | |
| <script type="text/javascript" src="../nav/nav.js"></script> | |
| <script type="text/javascript" src="../nav/prototype.lite.js"></script> | |
| <script type="text/javascript" src="../nav/moo.fx.js"></script> | |
| <script type="text/javascript" src="../nav/user_guide_menu.js"></script> | |
| <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> | |
| <meta http-equiv='expires' content='-1' /> | |
| <meta http-equiv= 'pragma' content='no-cache' /> | |
| <meta name='robots' content='all' /> | |
| <meta name='author' content='ExpressionEngine Dev Team' /> | |
| <meta name='description' content='CodeIgniter User Guide' /> | |
| </head> | |
| <body> | |
| <!-- START NAVIGATION --> | |
| <div id="nav"><div id="nav_inner"><script type="text/javascript">create_menu('../');</script></div></div> | |
| <div id="nav2"><a name="top"></a><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="myHeight.toggle();"><img src="../images/nav_toggle.jpg" width="153" height="44" border="0" title="Toggle Table of Contents" alt="Toggle Table of Contents" /></a></div> | |
| <div id="masthead"> | |
| <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="width:100%"> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><h1>CodeIgniter User Guide Version 1.6.0</h1></td> | |
| <td id="breadcrumb_right"><a href="../toc.html">Table of Contents Page</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- END NAVIGATION --> | |
| <!-- START BREADCRUMB --> | |
| <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="width:100%"> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td id="breadcrumb"> | |
| <a href="http://codeigniter.com/">CodeIgniter Home</a> › | |
| <a href="../index.html">User Guide Home</a> › | |
| Form Helper | |
| </td> | |
| <td id="searchbox"><form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search"><input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" id="as_sitesearch" value="codeigniter.com/user_guide/" />Search User Guide <input type="text" class="input" style="width:200px;" name="q" id="q" size="31" maxlength="255" value="" /> <input type="submit" class="submit" name="sa" value="Go" /></form></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </table> | |
| <!-- END BREADCRUMB --> | |
| <br clear="all" /> | |
| <!-- START CONTENT --> | |
| <div id="content"> | |
| <h1>Form Helper</h1> | |
| <p>The Form Helper file contains functions that assist in working with forms.</p> | |
| <h2>Loading this Helper</h2> | |
| <p>This helper is loaded using the following code:</p> | |
| <code>$this->load->helper('form');</code> | |
| <p>The following functions are available:</p> | |
| <h2>form_open()</h2> | |
| <p>Creates an opening form tag with a base URL <strong>built from your config preferences</strong>. It will optionally let you | |
| add form attributes and hidden input fields.</p> | |
| <p>The main benefit of using this tag rather than hard coding your own HTML is that it permits your site to be more portable | |
| in the event your URLs ever change.</p> | |
| <p>Here's a simple example:</p> | |
| <code>echo form_open('email/send');</code> | |
| <p>The above example would create a form that points to your base URL plus the "email/send" URI segments, like this:</p> | |
| <code><form method="post" action="http:/www.your-site.com/index.php/email/send" /></code> | |
| <h4>Adding Attributes</h4> | |
| <p>Attributes can be added by passing an associative array to the second parameter, like this:</p> | |
| <code> | |
| $attributes = array('class' => 'email', 'id' => 'myform');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_open('email/send', $attributes);</code> | |
| <p>The above example would create a form similar to this:</p> | |
| <code><form method="post" action="http:/www.your-site.com/index.php/email/send" class="email" id="myform" /></code> | |
| <h4>Adding Hidden Input Fields</h4> | |
| <p>Hidden fields can be added by passing an associative array to the third parameter, like this:</p> | |
| <code> | |
| $hidden = array('username' => 'Joe', 'member_id' => '234');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_open('email/send', '', $hidden);</code> | |
| <p>The above example would create a form similar to this:</p> | |
| <code><form method="post" action="http:/www.your-site.com/index.php/email/send" class="email" id="myform" /><br /> | |
| <input type="hidden" name="username" value="Joe" /><br /> | |
| <input type="hidden" name="member_id" value="234" /></code> | |
| <h2>form_open_multipart()</h2> | |
| <p>This function is absolutely identical to the <dfn>form_open()</dfn> tag above except that it adds a multipart attribute, | |
| which is necessary if you would like to use the form to upload files with.</p> | |
| <h2>form_hidden()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate hidden input fields. You can either submit a name/value string to create one field:</p> | |
| <code>form_hidden('username', 'johndoe');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /><br /> | |
| <input type="hidden" name="username" value="johnodoe" /></code> | |
| <p>Or you can submit an associative array to create multiple fields:</p> | |
| <code>$data = array(<br /> | |
| 'name' => 'John Doe',<br /> | |
| 'email' => 'john@example.com',<br /> | |
| 'url' => 'http://www.example.com'<br /> | |
| );<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_hidden($data);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /><br /> | |
| <input type="hidden" name="name" value="John Doe" /><br /> | |
| <input type="hidden" name="email" value="john@example.com" /><br /> | |
| <input type="hidden" name="url" value="http://www.example.com" /></code> | |
| <h2>form_input()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate a standard text input field. You can minimally pass the field name and value in the first | |
| and second parameter:</p> | |
| <code>echo form_input('username', 'johndoe');</code> | |
| <p>Or you can pass an associative array containing any data you wish your form to contain:</p> | |
| <code>$data = array(<br /> | |
| 'name' => 'username',<br /> | |
| 'id' => 'username',<br /> | |
| 'value' => 'johndoe',<br /> | |
| 'maxlength' => '100',<br /> | |
| 'size' => '50',<br /> | |
| 'style' => 'width:50%',<br /> | |
| );<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_input($data);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /><br /> | |
| <input type="text" name="username" id="username" value="johndoe" maxlength="100" size="50" style="width:50%" /></code> | |
| <p>If you would like your form to contain some additional data, like JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the | |
| third parameter:</p> | |
| <code>$js = 'onClick="some_function()"';<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_input('username', 'johndoe', $js);</code> | |
| <h2>form_password()</h2> | |
| <p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_input()</dfn> function above | |
| except that is sets it as a "password" type.</p> | |
| <h2>form_upload()</h2> | |
| <p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_input()</dfn> function above | |
| except that is sets it as a "file" type, allowing it to be used to upload files.</p> | |
| <h2>form_textarea()</h2> | |
| <p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_input()</dfn> function above | |
| except that it generates a "textarea" type. Note: Instead of the "maxlength" and "size" attributes in the above | |
| example, you will instead specify "rows" and "cols".</p> | |
| <h2>form_dropdown()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you create a standard drop-down field. The first parameter will contain the name of the field, | |
| the second parameter will contain an associative array of options, and the third parameter will contain the | |
| value you wish to be selected. You can also pass an array through the third parameter, and CodeIgniter will create a multiple select for you. Example:</p> | |
| <code>$options = array(<br /> | |
| 'small' => 'Small Shirt',<br /> | |
| 'med' => 'Medium Shirt',<br /> | |
| 'large' => 'Large Shirt',<br /> | |
| 'xlarge' => 'Extra Large Shirt',<br /> | |
| );<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| $shirts_on_sale = array('small', 'large');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, 'large');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| <select name="shirts"><br /> | |
| <option value="small">Small Shirt</option><br /> | |
| <option value="med">Medium Shirt</option><br /> | |
| <option value="large" selected="selected">Large Shirt</option><br /> | |
| <option value="xlarge">Extra Large Shirt</option><br /> | |
| </select><br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, $shirts_on_sale);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| <select name="shirts" multiple="multiple"><br /> | |
| <option value="small" selected="selected">Small Shirt</option><br /> | |
| <option value="med">Medium Shirt</option><br /> | |
| <option value="large" selected="selected">Large Shirt</option><br /> | |
| <option value="xlarge">Extra Large Shirt</option><br /> | |
| </select></code> | |
| <p>If you would like the opening <select> to contain additional data, like JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the | |
| fourth parameter:</p> | |
| <code>$js = 'onChange="some_function()"';<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, 'large', $js);</code> | |
| <h2>form_fieldset()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate fieldset/legend fields.</p> | |
| <code>echo form_fieldset('Address Information');<br /> | |
| echo "<p>fieldset content here</p>\n";<br /> | |
| echo form_fieldset_close(); | |
| <br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Produces<br /> | |
| <fieldset id="address_info"> | |
| <br /> | |
| <legend>Address Information</legend> | |
| <br /> | |
| <p>form content here</p> | |
| <br /> | |
| </fieldset></code> | |
| <p>Similar to other functions, you can submit an associative array in the second parameter if you prefer to set additional attributes. </p> | |
| <p><code>$attributes = array('id' => 'address_info', 'class' => 'address_info');<br /> | |
| echo form_fieldset('Address Information', $attributes);<br /> | |
| echo "<p>fieldset content here</p>\n";<br /> | |
| echo form_fieldset_close(); <br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Produces<br /> | |
| <fieldset id="address_info" class="address_info"> <br /> | |
| <legend>Address Information</legend> <br /> | |
| <p>form content here</p> <br /> | |
| </fieldset></code></p> | |
| <h2>form_fieldset_close()</h2> | |
| <p>Produces a closing </fieldset> tag. The only advantage to using this function is it permits you to pass data to it | |
| which will be added below the tag. For example:</p> | |
| <code>$string = "</div></div>";<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo fieldset_close($string);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /> | |
| </fieldset><br /> | |
| </div></div></code> | |
| <h2>form_checkbox()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate a checkbox field. Simple example:</p> | |
| <code>echo form_checkbox('newsletter', 'accept', TRUE);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| <input type="checkbox" name="newsletter" value="accept" checked="checked" /></code> | |
| <p>The third parameter contains a boolean TRUE/FALSE to determine whether the box should be checked or not.</p> | |
| <p>Similar to the other form functions in this helper, you can also pass an array of attributes to the function:</p> | |
| <code>$data = array(<br /> | |
| 'name' => 'newsletter',<br /> | |
| 'id' => 'newsletter',<br /> | |
| 'value' => 'accept',<br /> | |
| 'checked' => TRUE,<br /> | |
| 'style' => 'margin:10px',<br /> | |
| );<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_checkbox($data);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /><br /> | |
| <input type="checkbox" name="newsletter" id="newsletter" value="accept" checked="checked" style="margin:10px" /></code> | |
| <p>As with other functions, if you would like the tag to contain additional data, like JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the | |
| fourth parameter:</p> | |
| <code>$js = 'onClick="some_function()"';<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_checkbox('newsletter', 'accept', TRUE, $js)</code> | |
| <h2>form_radio()</h2> | |
| <p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_checkbox()</dfn> function above except that is sets it as a "radio" type.</p> | |
| <h2>form_submit()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate a standard submit button. Simple example:</p> | |
| <code>echo form_submit('mysubmit', 'Submit Post!');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| <input type="submit" name="mysubmit" value="Submit Post!" /></code> | |
| <p>Similar to other functions, you can submit an associative array in the first parameter if you prefer to set your own attributes. | |
| The third parameter lets you add extra data to your form, like JavaScript.</p> | |
| <h2>form_label()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate a <label>. Simple example:</p> | |
| <code>echo form_label('What is your Name', 'username');<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce: | |
| <br /> | |
| <label id="username">What is your Name</label></code> | |
| <p>Similar to other functions, you can submit an associative array in the third parameter if you prefer to set additional attributes. </p> | |
| <p><code>$attributes = array(<br /> | |
| 'class' => 'mycustomclass',<br /> | |
| 'style' => 'color: #000;',<br /> | |
| );<br /> | |
| echo form_label('What is your Name', 'username', $attributes);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce: <br /> | |
| <label id="username" class="mycustomclass" style="color: #000;">What is your Name</label></code></p> | |
| <h2>form_reset()</h2> | |
| <p>Lets you generate a standard reset button. Use is identical to <dfn>form_submit()</dfn>.</p> | |
| <h2>form_close()</h2> | |
| <p>Produces a closing </form> tag. The only advantage to using this function is it permits you to pass data to it | |
| which will be added below the tag. For example:</p> | |
| <code>$string = "</div></div>";<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| echo form_close($string);<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| // Would produce:<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| </form><br /> | |
| </div></div></code> | |
| <h2>form_prep()</h2> | |
| <p>Allows you to safely use HTML and characters such as quotes within form elements without breaking out of the form. Consider this example:</p> | |
| <code>$string = 'Here is a string containing <strong>"quoted"</strong> text.';<br /> | |
| <br /> | |
| <input type="text" name="myform" value="<var>$string</var>" /></code> | |
| <p>Since the above string contains a set of quotes it will cause the form to break. | |
| The form_prep function converts HTML so that it can be used safely:</p> | |
| <code><input type="text" name="myform" value="<var><?php echo form_prep($string); ?></var>" /></code> | |
| <p class="important"><strong>Note:</strong> If you use any of the form helper functions listed in this page the form | |
| values will be prepped automatically, so there is no need to call this function. Use it only if you are | |
| creating your own form elements.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- END CONTENT --> | |
| <div id="footer"> | |
| <p> | |
| Previous Topic: <a href="file_helper.html">File Helper</a> | |
| · | |
| <a href="#top">Top of Page</a> · | |
| <a href="../index.html">User Guide Home</a> · | |
| Next Topic: <a href="html_helper.html">HTML Helper</a> | |
| </p> | |
| <p><a href="http://codeigniter.com">CodeIgniter</a> · Copyright © 2007 · <a href="http://ellislab.com/">Ellislab, Inc.</a></p> | |
| </div> | |
| </body> | |
| </html> |