php form submission script clues

[ejoftheweb]

sweltering, so sorry if the answer to this is obvious, I have looked but not found though may be stupid due to heat....

Using the RunPHP form submission plugin, writing a script...

are the form variable names the same as the fabrik element names?

so could I use:

$value = JRequest::getVar('___fullelementname');

if not, what else do I use to get the data out of $_REQUEST?

Is there any more documentation on writing form submission scripts beyond page 24 in the pdf manual?

[peamak]

Yes you can use JRequest::getVar() but you'll need to use the full element name, meaning:
table_name___element_name
With the _raw possibility.

For the other question: I don't think I've ever read the manual but this is a weird question LOL

	_raw In addition to the normal placeholders of {tablename___elementname} you can also use {tablename___elementname_raw} This is useful, for elements which have the concept of a 'label' and a 'value' (like dropdowns, database join elements, checkboxes, etc) the {tablename___elementname} will contain the 'label'. The {tablename___elementname_raw} will contain the 'value'.

[rob]

Yes you can use JRequest::getVar() but you'll need to use the full element name, meaning:
table_name___element_name

Although if your form is not recording to the database then

PHP Code:

$value = JRequest::getVar('___fullelementname'); 


is correct

You can always add:

PHP Code:

echo 'value = ' . $value;
exit; 


in your script to test that you have picked up the correct data, That line would write out the value and exit allowing you to see the output before the form redirects after the end of the PHP form submission plugin

-Rob

[ejoftheweb]

Thanks both for the reply and the script is now picking up the right values from the form, but despite the cooler weather I still seem to have the stupid goggles on...

The form is accessed using the fabrik cck button and its intended purpose is to add attributes to articles as they are created/edited; these are then stored in a table used by a third-party extension.

I need to get the joomla article_id of the article being edited when the form is called up with the fabrik button, and therefore created a hidden field element called article_id, but I can't work out how to get the value into the field. Do I need to put a fabrik placeholder in the default box for the element - and if so what?

Or perhaps I can access it directly in PHP from the joomla framework, without carrying it back and forth in POST headers?

Hints would be much appreciated. I have tried RTFM, honest!

	Placeholder In many places in Fabrik you will see references to placeholders. This is a technique by which you can insert an element's full name surrounded by curly braces, like {tablename___elementname}, which will then be replaced by the value of that element, in whatever context the placeholder is being used. Examples of use might be in the 'Email to:' setting of the Email form plugin, where you might have {contacts___email}. Or in a 'calc' element your code might read "return '{mytable___lastname}, {mytable___firstname}' to create a full name.

[peamak]

If I understood correctly, you could try something like that:

PHP Code:

$articleId = JRequest::getVar('id');
if (strstr(':', $articleId)) { // article's ID can be of format XX:title-alias
$articleId = array_shift(explode(':', $articleId));
}
return $articleId; 


Hope I'm making sense.

[ejoftheweb]

Tom, thanks for your quick response.

My problem isn't with the php side of things though. if the value is in the POST request, I can get it: it's how to get it there in the first place, which I think I have to do using fabrik settings on the form or element and can't quite figure out.

[rob]

What I think you are going to need is to add a hidden field to your form.
Call it article_id
Set it to eval
set its default value to

PHP Code:

return JRequest::getVar('id'); 


When the form is loaded in the article it will insert the article id into the field.

Then when you submit your form you can grab that with

PHP Code:

$articleId = JRequest::getVar('article_id'); 


[ejoftheweb]

Rob, many thanks. I think I'm narrowing this down - slightly more on the ball today too.
Using php code for the default values opens up loads of interesting possibilities....

But, looking at the setup again:

The article_id is in the GET request to open the article editor (its name seems to be cid[], not id), but the form is called using the fabrik_cck button, which generates another http GET request, and this request doesn't contain the article_id.

So I have tracked down fabrik.php in editors.xtd, and edited it so that:

PHP Code:

$link = 'index.php?option=com_fabrik&c=form&task=cck&tmpl=component&e_name='.$name.'&catid='.$catid.'&section='.$section; 


becomes:

PHP Code:

$link = 'index.php?option=com_fabrik&c=form&task=cck&tmpl=component&e_name='.$name.'&catid='.$catid.'&section='.$section.'&cid='.$id.; 


and it seems to work...

So thanks for the pointers; I'll be back again shortly when I hit the next gotcha.

[rob]

hey thanks for reporting what you needed to do to fix things. I'd forgotten about the plugin calling a seperate url.
I've added your fix into the svn code for others to benefit from as well

-Rob

	SVN SVN (short for Sub Version) is the source code control system we use to manage the Fabrik code with. The SVN will always contain bug fixes and new features which have been added since the last ZIP in the downloads area was built. We allow public access to our SVN repository, so users always have access to the latest and greatest version. Click the link next to this popup to go to a page which describes how to access our SVN repository.