CGI::FormBuilder::Source::File(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation NAME CGI::FormBuilder::Source::File - Initialize FormBuilder from external file SYNOPSIS # use the main module use CGI::FormBuilder; my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(source => 'form.conf'); my $lname = $form->field('lname'); # like normal DESCRIPTION This parses a file that contains FormBuilder configuration options, and returns a hash suitable for creating a new $form object. Usually, you should not use this directly, but instead pass a $filename into "CGI::FormBuilder", which calls this module. The configuration format steals from Python (ack!) which is sensitive to indentation and newlines. This saves you work in the long run. Here's a complete form: # form basics method: POST header: 1 title: Account Information # define fields fields: fname: label: First Name size: 40 minit: label: Middle Initial size: 1 lname: label: Last Name size: 60 email: size: 80 phone: label: Home Phone comment: (optional) required: 0 sex: label: Gender options: M=Male, F=Female jsclick: javascript:alert('Change your mind??') # custom options and sorting sub state: options: \&getstates sortopts: \&sortstates datafile: label: Upload Survey Data type: file growable: 1 # validate our above fields validate: email: EMAIL phone: /^1?-?\d{3}-?\d{3}-?\d{4}$/ required: ALL # create two submit buttons, and skip validation on "Cancel" submit: Update, Cancel jsfunc: <new; Any arguments specified are taken as defaults, which the file then overrides. For example, to always turn off "javascript" (so you don't have to in all your config files), use: my $source = CGI::FormBuilder::Source::File->new( javascript => 0 ); Then, every file parsed by $source will have "javascript => 0" in it, unless that file has a "javascript:" setting itself. parse($source) This parses the specified source, which is either a $file, "\$string", or "\@array", and returns a hash which can be passed directly into "CGI::FormBuilder": my %conf = $source->parse('myform.conf'); my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(%conf); write_module($modname) This will actually write a module in the current directory which you can then use in subsequent scripts to get the same form: $source->parse('myform.conf'); $source->write_module('MyForm'); # write MyForm.pm # then in your Perl code use MyForm; my $form = MyForm->new; You can also override settings from "MyForm" the same as you would in FormBuilder: my $form = MyForm->new( header => 1, submit => ['Save Changes', 'Abort'] ); This will speed things up, since you don't have to re-parse the file every time. Nice idea Peter. NOTES This module was completely inspired by Peter Eichman's "Text::FormBuilder", though the syntax is different. Remember that to get a new level in a hashref, you need to add a newline and indent. So to get something like this: table => {cellpadding => 1, cellspacing => 4}, td => {align => 'center', bgcolor => 'gray'}, font => {face => 'arial,helvetica', size => '+1'}, You need to say: table: cellpadding: 1 cellspacing: 4 td: align: center bgcolor: gray font: face: arial,helvetica size: +1 You get the idea... SEE ALSO CGI::FormBuilder, Text::FormBuilder REVISION $Id: File.pm 100 2007-03-02 18:13:13Z nwiger $ AUTHOR Copyright (c) Nate Wiger . All Rights Reserved. This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or the Artistic License, copies of which should have accompanied your Perl kit. perl v5.40.0 2024-09-01 CGI::FormBuilder::Source::File(3)