A Brief Introduction to Zend_Form

About Me Jeremy Kendall PHP Developer since 2001 Organizer Memphis PHP Contributor to FRAPI project (getfrapi.com) [email_address] @JeremyKendall http://jeremykendall.net

The Goal
Practical knowledge
Just enough to get you started
Just enough to be really dangerous
Better understanding of the Zend Framework's philosophy

Not the Goal
In-depth technical knowledge
Beautiful UI
Wealth beyond your wildest dreams

Forms
They're everywhere
They're indispensable
They might well be your primary job responsibility

Form Requirements
Collect data
Filter input
Validate input
Display validation messages
Include default data (ex. List of US States)
Pre-populated fields (for edit/update operations)
. . . and more.

Example: PHP Form, Code Sample

Works, but . . .
Tons of markup
Code in the markup
Confusing conditionals
Client side validation only
Zero input filtering
Requires two scripts: form & processor
I could go on and on . . .

Could form handling be improved?
What about . . .
Markup generation?
Built in validation and filtering?
OO for extensibility and ease of re-use?
Separation of concerns?

Zend_Form
Introduced in version 1.5.0PR, early 2008
Creates, validates, and renders forms
Object oriented
Easily extended
Completely customizable
Can be used apart from ZF MVC
Slices and dices
Available for the low, low price of $19.95

Zend_Form Examples
Some fields required
Default Zend_Form markup
Some default data included
First example stands alone
Second example in ZF MVC app

Example: Zend_Form, Standalone

Example: Zend_Form, MVC

Pros and Cons
Since most of this presentation has been about the pros, the cons include:
OO overhead
Code and display are still combined
Steep-ish learning curve

Resources
Zend_Form Quickstart
http://bit.ly/ba8fr0
Rob Allen's talk, “Working with Zend_Form”
http://akrabat.com/talks/
Zend_Form_Element_Multi – Tips and Tricks
http://bit.ly/bEZl37

Questions?

Thanks! Jeremy Kendall [email_address] @JeremyKendall http://jeremykendall.net

A Brief Introduction to Zend_Form

by Jeremy Kendall on Jul 23, 2010

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A Brief Introduction to Zend_Form — Presentation Transcript