TWiki Forms

Defining a Form

1. Create a TWiki table, with each column representing one element of an entry field: Name, Type, Size, Values, Tooltip message, and Attributes (see sample below).

Example:

You can also retrieve possible values for select, checkbox or radio types from other topics:

Example:

%SEARCH{"Office$" scope="topic" web="%MAINWEB%" nonoise="on" type="regex" format="$web.$topic" separator=", " }%

• You have to list the available form topics explicitly. You cannot use a SEARCH to define WEBFORMS.

Adding a form to a topic

• Edit the topic and follow the "Add form" button to add a Form. This is typically done to a template topic, either to the WebTopicEditTemplate topic in a web, or a new topic that serves as an application specific template topic. Initial Form values can be set there.

• If two people edit the same topic containing a form at exactly the same time, and both change fields in the form, TWiki will try to merge the changes so that no data is lost.

Structure of a Form Template

A Form Template specifies the fields in a form. A Form Template is simply a page containing a TWiki table, where each row of the table specifies one form field.

Each column of the table is one element of an entry field: Name, Type, Size, Values, Tooltip message, and Attributes.

The Name, Type and Size columns are required. Other columns are optional. The form must have a header row (e.g. | *Name* | *Type* | *Size* |).

Name is the name of the form field.

The Type, Size and Value fields describe the legal values for this field, and how to display them.

• Type checkbox specifies one or more checkboxes. The Size field specifies how many checkboxes will be displayed on each line. The Value field should be a comma-separated list of item labels.
  • Type checkbox+buttons will add Set and Clear buttons to the basic checkbox type.
• Type radio is like checkbox except that radio buttons are mutually exclusive; only one can be selected.
• Type label specifies read-only label text, The Value field should contian the text of the label.
• Type select specifies a select box. The Value field should contain a comma-separated list of options for the box. The Size field can specify a fixed size for the box (e.g. 1, or a range e.g. 3..10. If you specify a range, then the box will never be smaller than 3 items, never larger than 10, and will be 5 high if there are only 5 options.
  • There are two modifiers that can be applied to the select type:
    • select+multi turns multiselect on for the select, to allow Shift+Click and Ctrl+Click to select (or deselect) multiple items.
    • select+values allows the definition of values that are different to the displayed text. For example:

      | Field 9 | select+values | 5 | One, Two=2, Three=III, Four | Various values formats |

      shows OneTwoThreeFour but the values or options Two and Three are 2 and III respectively.
      You can combine these modifiers e.g. select+multi+values
• Type text specifies a one-line text field. Size specifies the text box width in number of characters. Value is the initial (default) content when a new topic is created with this form template.
• Type textarea specifies a multi-line text box. The Size field should specify columns x rows, e.g. 80x6; default size is 40x5. As for text, the Value field specifies the initial text
• Type date specifies a single-line text box and a button next to it; clicking on the button will bring up a calendar from which the user can select a date. The date can also be typed into the text box. Size specifies the text box width in characters. As for text, the Value field specifies the initial text

Tooltip message is a message that will be displayed when the cursor is hovered over the field in edit view.

Attributes specifies special attributes for the field. Multiple attributes can be entered, separated by spaces.

• An attribute H indicates that this field should not be shown in view mode. However, the field is available for editing and storing information.
• An attribute M indicates that this field is mandatory. The topic cannot be saved unless a value is provided for this field. If the field is found empty during topic save, an error is raised and the user is redirected to an oops page. Mandatory fields are indicated by an asterisks next to the field name.

For example, a simple form just supporting entry of a name and a date would look as follows:

| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* |
| Name   | text   | 80     |
| Date   | date   | 30     |

• Field names have to be unique.
• A very few field names are reserved. If you try to use one of these names, TWiki will automatically append an underscore to the name when the form is used.
• You can space out the title of the field, and it will still find the topic e.g. Aeroplane Manufacturers is equivalent to AeroplaneManufacturers.
• If a label field has no name, it will not be shown when the form is viewed, only when it is edited.
• Field names can in theory include any text, but you should stick to alphanumeric characters. If you want to use a non-wikiname for a select, checkbox or radio field, and want to get the values from another topic, you can use [[...]] links. This notation can also be used when referencing another topic to obtain field values, but a name other than the topic name is required as the name of the field.
• Leading and trailing spaces are not significant.

• The field value will be used to initialize a field when a form is created, unless specific values are given by the topic template or query parameters. The first item in the list for a select or radio type is the default item. For label, text, and textarea fields the value may also contain commas. checkbox fields cannot be initialized through the form template.
• Leading and trailing spaces are not significant.
• Field values can also be generated through a FormattedSearch, which must yield a suitable table as the result.
• Variables in the initial values of a form definition get expanded when form values are initialized from the form definition. The escape words $quot ("), $percnt (%), $dollar ($), $n (newline), and $nop can be used to prevent expansion.

• The topic definition is not read when a topic is viewed.
• Form definition topics can be protected in the usual manner, using TWikiAccessControl, to limit who can change the form template and/or individual value lists. Note that view access is required to be able to edit topics that use the form definition, though view access to the form definition is not required to view a topic where the form has been used.

Values in Other Topics

| *Name*                 | *Type* | *Size* |
| AeroplaneManufacturers | select |        |

The AeroplaneManufacturers topic must contain a table, where each row of the table describes a possible value. The table only requires one column, Name. Other columns may be present, but are ignored.

For example:

| *Name* |
| Routan |
| Focke-Wulf |
| De Havilland |

Notes:

• The Values column must be empty in the referring form definition.

Extending the range of form data types

• any type name starting with checkbox
• any type name with +multi anywhere in the name

Hints and Tips

Build an HTML form to create new Form-based topics

• New topics with a form are created by simple HTML forms asking for a topic name. For example, you can have a SubmitExpenseReport topic where you can create new expense reports, a SubmitVacationRequest topic, and so on. These can specify the required template topic with its associated form. Template topics has more.

Searching for Form Data

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