[Html-widget] Status of HTML::Widget?

[Dave Morriss]

On 2/9/07, Carl Franks <fireartist at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, HTML::Widget seems to be in limbo at the moment.
>
> I've just made public my intended replacement, called HTML::FormFu.

Carl,

Thanks for the clarification. I'll wait and watch developments for a while.

> > I'm quite new to the intricacies of building such applications, and am
> > a bit thrown by some aspects of H::W.
>
> Could you expand on that any further, and I'll see it it's anything
> I've already dealt with?

My problem is with constraints. My application is heavily derived from
the Catalyst tutorial code and I have a form I'm using to edit user
and role details. I populate this with data from the database, except
for the encrypted password. I want to accept non-password changes
and/or a new password.

I have no constraints or filters, yet the form fails to validate
unless I provide a new password. It's as if there's a "phantom" 'All'
constraint there which I can't remove.

What's happening?

---- Start Code----
sub make_edit_widget {
    my ($self, $c, $user, $roles) = @_;

    # Create an HTML::Widget to build the form
    my $w = $c->widget('user_form')->method('post');

    # Use custom class to render each element in the form
    $w->element_container_class('FormElementContainer');

    # Get all known roles from the database
    my @roleObjs = $c->model("CalendarDB::Roles")->all();
    my @roles = map {$_->id => $_->role} sort {$a->id cmp $b->id} @roleObjs;

    # Get the team list from the database
    my @teamObjs = $c->model("CalendarDB::Teams")->all();
    my @teams = map {$_->id => $_->name} sort {$a->name cmp $b->name} @teamObjs;

    # Extract the user's roles
    my @role_ids;
    while (my $role = $roles->next) {
	push(@role_ids,$role->role_id->id);
    }

    # Create the form fields. We show the username but don't accept any edits.
    $w->element('Textfield','first_name')->label('First
Name')->size(40)->value($user->first_name);
    $w->element('Textfield','last_name')->label('Last
Name')->size(40)->value($user->last_name);
    $w->element('Textfield','username')->label('Username')->size(10)->value($user->username)->
	attributes({readonly=>'readonly'});
    $w->element('Textfield','passwd')->label('Password')->size(20);
    $w->element('Textfield','email_address')->label('Email')->size(40)->value($user->email_address);
    $w->element('Select','team_id')->label('Team')->options(@teams)->selected($user->team_id->id);
    $w->element('Select','roles')->label('Roles')->options(@roles)->
	multiple(1)->size(3)->selected(@role_ids);
    $w->element('Submit','submit')->value('submit');

    # Return the widget
    return $w;
}

----End Code----

Thanks for any clues,
Dave