PHP Form Helper Class

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A simple class to display HTML form elements using PHP.

The goal of this class is to make displaying forms simple. It takes care of the syntax and encoding when adding HTML form input elements. It does NOT handle all HTML (containers, labels, etc.), validation data, or process data.

Requirements

• PHP >= 5.1

Installation

Add the FormHelper.php file to your project.

Basic Example

HTML / PHP code

<?php

// include the class file and create a new object.
require_once('../FormHelper.php');
$form = new FormDisplay();

// get the value passed to the page. check both $_POST and $_GET
$name = $form->getPassed('name');

// options for select (dropdown menu)
$colors = [
    '' => '- select a color -',
    'blue' => 'Blue',
    'green' => 'Green',
    'lightBlue' => 'Light Blue',
    'red' => 'Red'];

?>

<?php 
// start the form <form>
$form->formStart(); 
?>

    <div>Name</div>    
    <?php
    // text input <input type="text">
    $form->text('name', $name);
    ?><br><br>
    
    <div>Favorite Color</div>
    <?php 
    // select (dropdown) with options <select><option>
    $form->select('colors', $colors);
    ?><br><br>
    
    <div>Comments</div>
    <?php 
    // textarea (large text input) <textarea>
    $form->textarea('comments');
    ?><br><br>
    
    <?php 
    // submit button <input type="submit">
    $form->submit('Save Info')
    ?>

<?php 
// end the form </form>
$form->formEnd(); ?>

Generated HTML

<form action="/yourPage.php" method="post">
    <div>Name</div>    
    <input type="text" name="name" value=""><br><br>
    
    <div>Favorite Color</div>
    <select name="colors"><option value="">- select a color -</option><option value="blue">Blue</option><option value="green">Green</option><option value="lightBlue">Light Blue</option><option value="red">Red</option></select><br><br>
    
    <div>Comments</div>
    <textarea name="comments"></textarea><br><br>

    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Save Info">
</form>

Comparison of a setting up a form with and without using this class

Getting values from the form and cleanup (trimming and removing html tags)

without class

<?php
$full_name = "";
if (isset($_POST['full_name'])) {
    $full_name = $_POST['full_name'];
    $full_name = strip_tags($full_name);
    $full_name = trim($full_name);
}
?>

with class

<?php
$full_name = $form->getPassed('full_name');
?>

Form start and end

without class

<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']; ?>" method="post">
</form>

with class

<?php
$form->formStart();
$form->formEnd();
?>

Text input

without class

<input type="text" name="full_name" id="full_name" value="<?php echo htmlentities($full_name); ?>" placeholder="Full Name">

with class - if doAddIdAttributeFromName is set to true - $form->setDoAddIdAttributeFromName(true);

<?php $form->text('full_name', $full_name, ["placeholder"=>"Full Name"]); ?>

Dropdown menu (select)

without class

<select name="color">
    <option value="" <?php if ($color == "") { echo "selected"; } ?>></option>
    <option value="red" <?php if ($color == "red") { echo "selected"; } ?>>red</option>
    <option value="green" <?php if ($color == "green") { echo "selected"; } ?>>blue</option>
    <option value="red &amp; blue" <?php if ($color == "red & blue") { echo "selected"; } ?>>red &amp; blue</option>
</select>

with class

<?php
$colors = array('', 'red', 'blue', 'red & blue');
$form->select('color', $colors, $color);
?>

Checkbox

without class

<input type="checkbox" name="is_checked" value="1" <?php if ($is_checked) { echo "checked"; } ?>>

with class

<?php
$form->checkbox('is_checked', $is_checked);
?>

Settings

private $doAddIdAttributeFromName = false;

• automatically add an id attribute with the same value as name
• does not affect radio inputs because they can have multiple elements with the same name
• if set to false, id can be by added with the $moreAttributes parameter
• if set to true, id can be by overridden with the $moreAttributes parameter

$form->setDoAddIdAttributeFromName(false);
$form->text('first_name');
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="">

$form->setDoAddIdAttributeFromName(true);
$form->text('first_name');
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="" id="first_name">

private $doReturnHtml = false;

• return the HTML elements as a string
• if not set, output is written to the screen

$form->setDoReturnHtml(false);
$form->text('first_name');
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="">

$form->setDoReturnHtml(true);
$html = $form->text('first_name');
// (outputs nothing)
echo $html;
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="">

private $isXhtml = false;

• close tag elements, ex: <input type="input" name="name" /> vs <input type="input" name="name">
• boolean attributes will have values, ex: <option value="1" selected="selected"> vs. <option value="1" selected>

$form->setIsXhtml(false);
$form->text('first_name', '', ['readonly']);
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="" readonly>

$form->setIsXhtml(true);
$form->text('first_name', '', ['readonly']);
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="" readonly="readonly" />

private $doPassedStringCleanup = true;

• string cleanup of passed variables
• removes HTML tags (strip_tags)
• strips whitespace from the beginning and end of a string (trim)
• used in getPost(), getGet(), and getPassed() functions

// passed from form: $first_name = "<b>Joe</b>"

$form->setDoPassedStringCleanup(true);
$first_name = $form->getPassed('first_name');
$form->text('first_name', $first_name);
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="Joe">

$form->setDoPassedStringCleanup(false);
$first_name = $form->getPassed('first_name');
$form->text('first_name', $first_name);
// (note that the value is HTML encoded)
// <input type="text" name="first_name" value="&lt;b&gt;Joe&lt;/b&gt;">

private $doSelectOptionValueEqualsText = false;

• when an array of data is passed for the options of a dropdown menu (select), this determines if the value for each option is the array item key or the array item value (same as the display)
• if set, select option value and display text will both be set to the options array item value, so [2=>'a', => 3=>'b'] will output <option value="a">a</option><option value="b">b</option>
• if NOT set, select option value will be the array key and the display text will be the array value, so [2=>'a', => 3=>'b'] will output <option value="2">a</option><option value="3">b</option>

$options = ['NY'=>'New York', 'OH'=>'Ohio'];

$form->setDoSelectOptionValueEqualsText(false);
$form->select('state', $options);
// <select name="state"><option value="NY">New York</option><option value="OH">Ohio</option></select>

$form->setDoSelectOptionValueEqualsText(true);
$form->select('state', $options);
// <select name="state"><option value="New York">New York</option><option value="Ohio">Ohio</option></select>

Using form tag attributes

All form element functions include a $moreAttributes parameter. It takes an array of attributes with the $key as the attribute name and the value being the value.

If the key is numeric, it will be handled as a boolean attribute (with no value such as readonly, disabled, checked, etc.).

Common attributes would include id, class, style, placeholder, etc.

$moreAttributes = ['style'=>'padding:20px;', 'placeholder'=>'Name', 'readonly'];
$form->text('name', '', $moreAttributes);

HTML output

<input type="text" name="name" value="" style="padding:20px" placeholder="Name" readonly>

Functions

Settings

• setDoAddIdAttributeFromName($value) - set $doAddIdAttributeFromName
• setDoReturnHtml($value) - set $doReturnHtml
• setIsXhtml($value) - set $isXhtml
• setDoPassedStringCleanup($value) - set $doPassedStringCleanup
• setDoSelectOptionValueEqualsText($value) - set $doSelectOptionValueEqualsText

String Manipulation

• htmlEscape($string) - escape a string to display in HTML
• stringCleanup($string) - strips HTML tags from a string

Get Passed Data

• getPassed($var, $returnOnfail = '') - retrive a value from $_GET or $_POST
• getPost($var, $returnOnfail = '') - retrive a value from $_POST
• getGet($var, $returnOnfail = '') - retrive a value from $_GET

input elements <input>

• hidden($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="hidden">
• text($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="text">
• color($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="color">
• number($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="number">
• range($name, $min, $max, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="range">
• email($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="email">
• tel($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="tel">
• date($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="date">
• password($name, $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="password">
• checkbox($name, $isChecked = false, $value = 1, $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="checkbox">
• radio($name, $value, $selectedValue = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="radio">
• submit($value = '', $name = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="submit">
• reset($value = '', $name = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <input type="reset">

Other form elements

• formStart($action = '', $method = '', $moreAttributes = array()) - <form>
• formEnd() - </form>
• textarea($name, $value = '', $moreAttributes = []) - <textarea>
• button($html = 'Submit', $moreAttributes = []) - <button>
• select($name, $options, $value = null, $moreAttributes = []) - <select><option>
• selectByRecordSet($name, $records, $valueKey, $displayKey, $emptyText = '', $value = null, $moreAttributes = []) - <select><option>