[Html-widget] HTML::Widget::Element::Field

[Brian Kirkbride]

Carl Franks wrote:
> I've been thinking some more about my idea of parsing a form out of a
> html/xml file, and it's maybe not as stupid as it first sounds.
> It also doesn't even require any template markup.
> 
> Point H-W to any html/xml file, or a variable already containing the 
> markup.
> Search for a form with the same name as the widget, or failing that
> the first form in the file.
> 
> For any markup which isn't a form input/button field, save it, so it
> can be output later unchanged.
> For any form input/button field, create a new element using the
> attributes/content from the markup.
> 
> You've then got a ready-made $widget which you can add constraints and
> filters to.
> 
> You could even then add any app-wide hidden fields to the end of the
> widget, and they'll be included within the FORM tags, without the
> designer having to know about it.
> 
> If I can get it working as I envisage, it's certainly something I'd use.
> Is it likely to solve the problem you're looking at?
> I'll have a hack, and see if I can come up with some working code.
> 
> Carl
> 


I've been following this discussion with great interest but haven't had the time 
to get my thoughts straight so that I can chime in.  But I do have to say that I 
love this idea of using an HTML/XHTML form as the config.  It would solve many 
of the issues I have with complex forms and HTML::Widget, mostly when including 
extraneous tags in the form (images, links, etc).

Best,
Brian Kirkbride