Inside/Outside¶

FormFu forms look to me like "inside-out" objects. The attributes and code are all set outside of the object. FormHandler forms are the opposite. Almost all attributes and settings are set *inside* the form class, although settings can be passed in on 'new' and 'process', of course. FormHandler fields are built as part of the object construction process, so you do not create or add new fields after the form instance has been constructed. There are many facilities for setting fields active/inactive or changing the various field attributes, so this is not limiting in what you can do.

One of the big advantages of having form fields and validations, etc, inside the object is that it makes it a lot easier to test exactly what you're using in your controllers.

Config files¶

There are so many drawbacks to using config files to specify your forms that I don't see why anybody would voluntarily do it. However it takes all kinds, so if you really want to use config files, you can...mostly. There are a lot of things you can't do in config files, but FormHandler provides so many ways of doing things, that you can probably get it to work. And sometimes it's easier to update forms piecemeal, or there may be policies in place, so if you really want/need config files for building forms, see HTML::FormHandler::Foo and the test in t/form_setup/config.t.

Rendering¶

You should be able to make your FormHandler forms automatically render very close to FormFu's rendering. There's an example of simple FormFu-like rendering in t/render/ff.t. Set up a base class with the necessary code, and your forms could be practically drop-in replacements from a rendering perspective.

Filters¶

A 'trim' filter is installed by default in FormHandler; it's a special version of an apply action, and can be set to a transform or Moose type. See the documentation in HTML::FormHandler::Field#trim.

An HTML filter is applied by default in certain places in the rendering. You can change it with the 'render_filter' attribute. See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Rendering#Rendering-filter.

You can change the form of the field's value using a number of inflation/deflation methods, or a transform, or a Moose type. See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::InflationDeflation and HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Validation.

Transforms and inflations/deflations do not change what is presented in the form unless you set the 'fif_from_value' flag on the field (the rough equivalent of FormFu's 'render_processed_value').

FormatNumber

Use an inflation:

    has_field 'foo' => ( type => 'PosInteger', inflate_method => \&format_number );
    sub format_number {
        my ( $self, $value ) = @_;
        return unformat_number( $value );
    }

Constraints¶

A lot of these are simple regexes or functions. If they're things you're going to use often, you probably want to put them in a type library or validator class.

AllOrNone

Not implemented. Do this in a form 'validate' sub.

ASCII

A simple regex:

   has foo => ( apply => [  { check => qr/^\p{IsASCII}*\z/,
       message => 'Not a valid string' } ] );
    

AutoSet

Not necessary. This is done automatically by FormHandler. You'd have to go to some work to avoid it.

Bool

A simple regex:

    qr/^[01]?\z/
    

Or you can use the Boolean field.

Callback, CallbackOnce

This is just validation done in code. Use one of the many places you can put validation in methods in FormHandler. See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Validation.

DateTime

Use Date or DateTime field or make your own.

DependOn

Use 'dependency' attribute in the form. Or do more complicated things in the form's 'validate' sub.

Email

Use the 'Email' field type, or use the FH Moose Type, 'email'.

     has_field 'email' => ( type => 'Email' );
     -- or --
     use HTML::FormHandler::Types ('Email');
     has_field 'email' => ( apply => [ Email ] );
    

Equal

No equivalent. Perform this check in the form's 'validate' sub.

File

Use 'Upload' field.

Integer

Use 'Integer' field.

Length, MaxLength, MinLength

Use 'minlength' and 'maxlength' on the Text field and its subclasses.

Range, MaxRange, MinRange

Use 'range_start' and 'range_end'.

MinMaxFields

No equivalent.

Number

Use Moose type 'Num'.

Printable

Use FormHandler Moose type 'Printable'.

reCAPTCHA

Use Captcha field or HTML::FormHandlerX::Field::reCAPTCHA.

Regex

Use 'check' action with regex.

Required

Set 'required' flag on the field.

Set

Use 'check' action with arrayref of strings.

SingleValue

Not necessary.

Word

This is a simple regex:

    qr/^\w*\z/
    

Substitute FormHandler Moose type 'SingleWord'.

Inflators¶

Use one of the inflation/deflation methods. See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::InflationDeflation.

Validators¶

See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Validation.

Transformers¶

See HTML::FormHandler::Manual::InflationDeflation and HTML::FormHandler::Manual::Validation.