Form Builder

JSON-based Form builder for Laravel Enso

This package can work independently of the Enso ecosystem.

The front end implementation that utilizes this api is present in the forms package.

For live examples and demos, you may visit laravel-enso.com

^{click on the photo to view a short demo in compatible browsers}

Installation

Comes pre-installed in Enso.

To install outside of Enso:

install the package composer require laravel-enso/forms
if needed, publish and customize the config
install the front end for the api implementation: yarn add @enso-ui/forms

Features

allows for quick creation of forms
uses a JSON template file for generating the form
flexible form layout, that supports directly from the template
- grouping inputs into logical sections and columns of different widths, even on the same row
- grouping sections into tabs
for most forms, the json template is all that it's needed
provides helpful error messages when the template is missing parameters or unexpected values are found
when needed, allows the customization of form components in order to cover all scenarios
comes with a template.json file that can be used as an example when starting out
integrates with the Laravel Request Validation for seamless usage and reusability
uses the Enso toast notifications for stylish feedback on the various actions
customizable placeholder for all elements

Under the Hood

a template file is needed in order to generate the form data structure object
the Form object has to be used in the back-end (controller) to parse the template, get additional parameters if required, and build the structure
although in most common scenarios you can give all the required configuration in the template file, the Form class has fluent helper functions for setting/overriding most attributes
a VueForm component needs to be included in the view/page/parent component, taking as parameter the URI path used to obtain the form-builder's resulting object
an EnsoForm component should be included in the view/page/parent component, taking the URI path needed to make the ajax request and fetch the form configuration. Acts like a wrapper for the VueForm within the Enso ecosystem

Usage

When using the form builder functionality, you will be needing several items:

the JSON template that configures the form's layout, inputs, actions, etc.
a basic Form builder class (which can also contain complex logic for complex scenarios)
usually, an endpoint that reads the configuration and returns a properly formatted form configuration
importing the VueForm / EnsoForm VueJS components from the forms package inside your page/component that renders the form based on the configuration
one or more endpoints for your form's actions, such as storing, updating, deleting.

create a template file for the new form, using template.json as an example, and place it inside app/Forms (recommended). Below is an example of such a template:

{
    "title": "My Title",
    "icon": "location-arrow",
    "tabs": true,
    "method": null,
    "routePrefix": "core.addresses",
    "sections": [
        {
            "tab": "First Tab",
            "columns": 3,
            "fields": [
                {
                "label": "County",
                "name": "county_id",
                "value": null,
                "meta": {
                    "custom": true,
                    "type": "select",
                    "multiple": false,
                    "source": null,
                    "options": [],
                    "placeholder": "Type it in"
                }
            }, 
                {
                    "label": "Locality",
                    "name": "locality_id",
                    "value": null,
                    "meta": {
                        "custom": true,
                        "type": "select",
                        "multiple": false,
                        "source": "core.addresses.localitiesSelectOptions",
                        "options": [],
                        "label": "label"
                    }
                }, 
                {
                    "label": "Neighborhood",
                    "name": "neighborhood",
                    "value": null,
                    "meta": {
                        "custom": false,
                        "type": "input",
                        "content": "text",
                        "disabled": false
                    }
                }
            ]
        }, 
        {
            "tab": "Second Tab",
            "columns": "custom",
            "fields": [
                {
                    "label": "Street Type",
                    "name": "street_type",
                    "value": null,
                    "column": 3,
                    "meta": {
                        "type": "select",
                        "multiple": false,
                        "source": null,
                        "options": []
                    }
                }, 
                {
                    "label": "Street",
                    "name": "street",
                    "value": null,
                    "column": 6,
                    "meta": {
                        "custom": false,
                        "type": "input",
                        "content": "text",
                        "disabled": false,
                        "placeholder": "Street is manadatory"
                    }
                }, 
                {
                    "label": "Number",
                    "name": "number",
                    "value": null,
                    "column": 3,
                    "meta": {
                        "custom": false,
                        "type": "input",
                        "content": "text",
                        "disabled": false
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "tab": "Second Tab",
            "columns": 2,
            "fields": [
                {
                    "label": "Observations",
                    "name": "obs",
                    "value": null,
                    "meta": {
                        "custom": false,
                        "type": "input",
                        "content": "text",
                        "disabled": false
                    }
                },
                {
                        "label": "Price",
                        "name": "price",
                        "value": 12321.12,
                        "meta": {
                        "type": "input",
                        "content": "money",
                        "symbol": "GBP", 
                        "precision": "3", 
                        "thousand": " ", 
                        "decimal": ",", 
                        "positive": "%s %v", 
                        "negative": "%s (%v)", 
                        "zero":"%s --"  
                        }  
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

When giving a number of columns, the fields will be evenly divided into columns, and will have equal width. If a custom value is given, then you may specify on each field the desired width. See below for more information.

When using the money input type, you should read the accounting.js documentation, as these details are outside of the scope of this documentation.

create a Form builder class.

class UserGroupForm
{
    private const TemplatePath = __DIR__.'/../Templates/userGroup.json';
    private $form;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->form = (new Form(static::TemplatePath));
    }

    public function create()
    {
        return $this->form->create();
    }

    public function edit(UserGroup $userGroup)
    {
        return $this->form
            ->value('roleList', $userGroup->roleList())
            ->edit($userGroup);
    }
}

This class will handle the logic for creating the form configuration out of your template. If any extra logic is required to fill or process the form, in addition to the template, this is the place for it.

In the example above, you can see that for the 'roleList' form attribute we're setting the value by using a helper method on the model.

You may even use the available fluent methods to override (if necessary) default values provided in the template.

in your controller methods return the resulting data from the Form builder.

public function create(UserGroupForm $form)
{
    return ['form' => $form->create()];
}

public function edit(UserGroup $userGroup, UserGroupForm $form)
{
    return ['form' => $form->edit($userGroup)];
}

In the above examples, we're using injection to create an instance of our Form builder class (UserGroupForm), equivalent to instantiating it using new inside the methods.

inside your page/component import and use the VueForm component. Take a look at the forms UI package documentation for more information.

Advanced usage

The PHP Form class provides the following fluent helper functions:

actions(array $actions), sets the actions available on the form. Valid actions are create, store, update and delete
routePrefix(string $prefix), sets the route prefix that then is used with the various action default endpoints,
title(string $title), the title for the form,
icon(string $icon), the icon shown alongside the title
route(string $action, string $route), permits setting a specific route for a given action
options(string $name, $value), sets the available meta options for a given form attribute Commonly used to override the form value.
value(string $field, $value), sets the starting value for form element Commonly used to override the form value.
hide(string $field), marks the field as hidden
show(string $field), marks the field as visible, opposite effect of hide()
hideSection($fields), marks as hidden the sections that contain the given fields
showSection($fields), marks as visible the sections that contain the given fields
hideTab($tabs), marks as hidden the tabs with the given names; note that the names are case sensitive
showTab($tabs), marks as visible the tabs with the given names; note that the names are case sensitive
disable(string $field), marks the field as disabled
readonly(string $field), marks the field as readonly
meta(string $field, string $param, $value), sets a specific value, for a meta param, for the given field
append($prop, $value), adds a property and its value in the template root-level params object, in order to make it available in the front-end. Note that this params object is different than the params object you can pass as a property to the vue-form / enso-form VueJS components
routeParams($params), set the given parameters as the route parameters
authorize(bool $authorize), set the authorize flag for the form. If this value is not given in the form, the global default value is taken from the config file
labels(bool $labels), sets the labels attribute on the template. If this value is not given in the form, the global default value is taken from the config file
sectionVisibility($fields, bool $hidden), set the sections containing the given fields as visible/hidden as per the $hidden parameter
sectionVisibility($tabs, bool $hidden), set the sections containing the given tabs as visible/hidden as per the $hidden parameter

It also provides the 2 methods used for generating the properly formatted form configuration:

create(Model $model), for a create-type form, where the model is optional. If given, the model attribute values are filled for the form values (another way of setting some default values)
edit(Model $model). for an edit-type form, where the model is required. The model's values are set as the form values

Global Configuration

The Form builder can be globally configured from within its own configuration file, found at config/enso/forms.php:

    'validations' => 'local',
    'buttons' => [
        'create' => [
            'icon' => 'plus',
            'class' => 'is-info',
            'event' => 'create',
            'action' => 'router',
            'label' => 'Create',
        ],
        'show' => [
            'icon' => 'eye',
            'class' => 'is-success',
            'event' => 'show',
            'action' => 'router',
            'label' => 'Show',
        ],
        'back' => [
            'icon' => 'arrow-left',
            'class' => 'is-primary',
            'event' => 'back',
            'action' => 'router',
            'label' => 'Back',
        ],
        'store' => [
            'icon' => 'check',
            'class' => 'is-success',
            'event' => 'store',
            'action' => 'router',
            'label' => 'Save',
        ],
        'update' => [
            'icon' => 'check',
            'class' => 'is-success',
            'event' => 'update',
            'action' => 'router',
            'label' => 'Update',
        ],
        'destroy' => [
            'icon' => 'trash-alt',
            'class' => 'is-danger',
            'event' => 'destroy',
            'action' => 'ajax',
            'method' => 'DELETE',
            'message' => 'The selected record is about to be deleted. Are you sure?',
            'confirmation' => true,
            'label' => 'Delete',
        ],
    ],
    'dateFormat' => 'Y-m-d',
    'selectPlaceholder' => 'Choose',
    'authorize' => true,
    'dividerTitlePlacement' => 'center',
    'labels' => 'true',

The following options are available:

validations, string, values may be 'local'/'production'/'yourEnvironment'. If set to 'local', form configuration validations are performed only when developing locally, while 'production' will always perform the validation checks.

The flag only affects the validation of the template not the validation of form input values, which is always enabled.
buttons, array, enables the customization of various options for the buttons used in the forms, such as labels, colors, events and more
altFormat, string, sets the default date format for datepicker fields. Note that for these fields an instance of Carbon is expected
selectPlaceholder, string, the placeholder used for select fields,
authorize, boolean, default true, flag that enables the integration with the Laravel-Enso authorization, meaning that certain user actions are not available if the user does not have access on the corresponding routes
dividerTitlePlacement, string, default 'center', values may be 'left', 'center', 'right'. Affects the placement of sections' divider text, if used and given within the template
labels, boolean, default true. When set to false, no labels are used, instead placeholders will be shown with the label values. The option can be overridden for each template.

Form Configuration

Root level parameters

"title": "Form Title",
"icon": "icon",    
"routes: ,
"routePrefix": "administration.users",
"routeParams": null,
"authorize": true,
"dividerTitlePlacement": "center"
"params": null,
"actions": ["create", "store", "update", "destroy" ],
"autosave": false,
"debounce": 300
"method": null,
"tabs": true,
"sections": [],
"labels": true,

method

Is: optional
Type: string
Values: "post", "patch", "put"

If using the form normally, by calling create($model), edit($model) methods, then the action is set automatically, as "post" for creation and "patch" for edit.

sections

Is: required
Type: array of objects

All form inputs are grouped into sections. See below for the sections details.

title

Is: optional
Type: string

This is the title of the form.

icon

Is: optional
Type: string

The Font Awesome 5 icon class, for example "book" for the "fa-book" CSS class.

routePrefix

Is: optional
Type: string

Represents the route prefix that is used when checking permissions and building the route/path for a certain button. For example, for a user form's Save button, if the name of the store route is "administration.users.create", then the prefix is "administration.users" and the action is "create".

routes

Is: optional
Type: object

An object that will hold the route for each action.

actions

Is: optional
Type: array of strings,
Values: "create", "show", "store", "update", "destroy"

The actions are used to determine the available buttons in the form. Note that if the authorize flag is set to true, the builder also checks if the user has access to/for a certain action, and if he does not, the respective button won't be shown.
If the actions are not given, defaults are used, depending on the method parameter, as follows:

if doing a POST, the actions array is ['store']
if doing anything else, i.e. a PUT, the actions array is ["create", "show", "update", "destroy"]

autosave

Is: optional
Type: boolean,

If set to true, the form will perform an auto-save when any of its inputs change

debounce

Is: optional
Type: number,

Should be used in conjunction with autosave so that the number of requests to the backend are limited

authorize

Is: optional
Type: boolean

Flag that sets whether authorization checks should be made. If not given in the form, the option is read from the global form configuration, found at config/enso/forms.php. If given, it overrides the global value.

params

Is: optional
Type: object

Can be used to pass extra parameters to the VueJS component / front-end, useful when customizing the form in-page (with slots, linking the form component/data to other components in the page, etc).

Notes:

you may also set extra parameters and their values programmatically, using the append('attribute', $value) function on your (LaravelEnso\forms\app\Classes\Form) form object instance
also, this params object is different to the optional params property of the vue-form / enso-form VueJS component. Keep in mind that this params object will be accessible in the vue-form's data object, while the other params is a property on the vue-form

dividerTitlePlacement

Is: optional
Type: string
Value: may be one of "left", "center", "right"

It specifies the relative position of the divider. If not given, the option is read from the global form configuration, found at config/enso/forms.php

tabs

Is: optional
Type: boolean,

The flag activates the tab feature of the form. This then requires that each section has a tab property which specifies the name of the tab the section belongs to.

labels

Is: optional
Type: boolean

If set to true, then placeholders will be used instead of labels.

Section

The section is the organizing block for form inputs.

"sections": [{
    "tab": "First Tab",
    "columns": 3,
    "fields": [{
        "label": "Country",
        "name": "country_id",
        "value": null,
        "meta": {
            "type": "select",
            "multiple": false,
            "source": "core.addresses.countryOptions",
            "options": []
        }
    }, {
        ...
    }]
    }, {
    "columns": 6,
    "fields": [{
        "label": "Number",
        "name": "number",
        "value": null,
        "meta": {
            "custom": false,
            "type": "input",
            "content": "text",
            "disabled": false
        }
    }, {
    ...
    }]
}]

columns

Is: required
Type: number/string
Values: one of the following 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, "custom", "slot"

The attribute specifies how many columns will be used for the form elements in this section. If giving a number, then the size of each element is calculated automatically.

If using "custom", you need to specify for each filed the column size, by providing the column parameter (see below).

If using "slot", then a slot will be rendered for that section. In this case, you also need to specify an additional "slot": "name" parameter with the desired name of the slot.

fields

Is: required
Type: array of objects

The fields parameter will hold the actual form elements. For the configuration of each specific form element, see below.

divider

Is: optional
Type: boolean

Flag that specifies that a divider should be used here.

title

Is: optional
Type: string

Title for the divider. Should be used in conjunction with the divider parameters, as without setting the divider to true, the title will not be shown.

Note that the position of the divider title will depend on the value of the dividerTitlePlacement parameter (see above).

column

Is: optional
Type: numeric

Flag that specifies the column size. Only needed when the value of columns the value of "columns" is "custom".

tab

Is: optional
Type: string

Specifies the name of the tab this section belongs to. Each section may have its own tab or multiple sections can share a tab.

When setting this option, the tabs flag on the main template structure must be present and set to true.

slot

Is: optional
Type: string

Specifies the name of the slot that should be rendered for this section. Only needed when the value of "columns" is "slot".

Field

Is the individual element of the from, generally representing an input of some sort.

label

Is: required
Type: string

The label for the element.

name

Is: required
Type: string

The name of the Model's attribute, that is to be mapped to this input (for instance, the name is also used to fill the models's value when setting up an edit type of form).

The name will be the request's key for the value of the input given be the user, when an action is committed (for instance the user clicks the Save button).

value

Is: required
Type: number/string/object/boolean

The starting value for a form element. The value can be

hard coded in the template,
it will be filled from the Model when creating an edit form (or a create form with the optional model parameter)
it can also be set programmatically by calling the Form object's value() method.

column

Is: required
Type: number

The size of the column for that element IF using the "custom" value for section columns parameter. The given number is used in combination with Bulma's is-x 12-columns-system. See here for more information.

Note that if columns parameter is not set to "custom", the column parameter is not required and is ignored.

Examples

Following you will find several non-exhaustive examples, with most if not all of the types, and various parameter combinations.

Text input

A disabled generic text input

{
    "label": "Description",
    "name": "description",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "input",
        "content": "text",
        "disabled": true
    }
}

Numeric input

A numeric text input with a 1-5 range, and a 0.5 step when changing values

{
    "label": "Temperature",
    "name": "temp",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "input",
        "content": "number",
        "min": 1,
        "max": 5,
        "step": 0.5
    }
}

Checkbox input

A checkbox input, with a default value of true.

{
    "label": "Is Enabled",
    "name": "is_enabled",
    "value": true,
    "meta": {
        "type": "input",
        "content": "checkbox"        
    }
}

Textarea

A textarea with a placeholder and a 5 rows height. Note that the textarea is resizable only if you add the "resize": true property.

{
    "label": "Story",
    "name": "story",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "textarea",
        "placeholder": "We'd love to hear your story",
        "rows": 5,
        "resize": true
    }
}

wysiwyg

A basic what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor input.

{
    "label": "Notes",
    "name": "obs",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "wysiwyg"        
    }
}

DatePicker

The most basic datepicker, with a placeholder.

{
    "label": "Start Date",
    "name": "start_date",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "datepicker",
        "placeholder": "Woot"
    }
}

DatePicker with time

A datepicker also with time selection.

{
    "label": "Pick Up",
    "name": "pick_up",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "datepicker",
        "time": true,
        "format": "m/d/Y h:m"
    }
}

Timepicker

A timepicker with a placeholder and 24 hour format time. Note that if you use a 12 hour format time, on change, in the back end, you won't be able to differentiate between AM and PM.

{
    "label": "Reminder",
    "name": "reminder",
    "value": "13:59",
    "meta": {
        "type": "timepicker",
        "format": "H:i",
        "placeholder": "Select the time"
    }
}

Single Select

A single select, with a default non-standard option list, a set value, and custom tracking attributes.

{
    "label": "Country",
    "name": "country_id",
    "value": "a",
    "meta": {
        "type": "select",
        "multiple": false,
        "options": [{"slug":"a", "customLabel":"First"},{"slug":"b", "customLabel":"Second"}],
        "trackBy":"slug",
        "label":"customLabel"
    }
}

Server Side Select

A server side single select, that fetches the list of options using the named route given as source.

{
    "label": "Country",
    "name": "country_id",
    "value": null,
    "meta": {
        "type": "select",
        "multiple": false,
        "source": "core.addresses.countryOptions"
    }
}

Multi-Select

A multi select, with no default value, no options and no server-side fetching option.

{
    "label": "Types",
    "name": "type_id",
    "value": [],
    "meta": {
        "type": "select",
        "multiple": true,
        "options": []
    }
}

In this case, you would set the options list from within your controller/service/etc by calling the options method on the form builder object:

$form->options('type_id', MyTypes::all())

Note: For more examples, you may look into the Enso packages for various use cases.

Publishes

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=form-config - the configuration file,
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=forms - the example JSON template file & form builder,

Contributions

are welcome. Pull requests are great, but issues are good too.

License

This package is released under the MIT license.

← File Manager Helpers →

# Form Builder

# Installation

# Features

# Under the Hood

# Usage

# Advanced usage

# Global Configuration

# Form Configuration

# Root level parameters

# method

# sections

# title

# icon

# routePrefix

# routes

# actions

# autosave

# debounce

# authorize

# params

# dividerTitlePlacement

# tabs

# labels

# Section

# columns

# fields

# divider

# title

# column

# tab

# slot

# Field

# label

# name

# value

# meta

# column

# Meta

# Generic

# type

# content

# disabled

# readonly

# placeholder

# tooltip

# hidden

# custom

# Select only

# options

# trackBy

# label

# multiple

# source

# translated

# disable-clear

# objects

# pivotParams

# customParams

# Input only

# step

# min

# max

# Datepicker & Timepicker

# format

# time

# time12hr

# Textarea only

# rows

# resize

# Money Input

# symbol

# precision

# thousand

# decimal

# positive

# negative

# zero

# Examples

# Text input

# Numeric input

Form Builder

Installation

Features

Under the Hood

Usage

Advanced usage

Global Configuration

Form Configuration

Root level parameters

method

sections

title

icon

routePrefix

routes

actions

autosave

debounce

authorize

params

dividerTitlePlacement

tabs

labels

Section

columns

fields

divider

title

column

tab

slot

Field

label

name

value

meta

column

Meta

Generic

type

content

disabled

readonly

placeholder

tooltip

hidden

custom

Select only

options

trackBy

label

multiple

source

translated

disable-clear

objects

pivotParams

customParams

Input only

step

min

max

Datepicker & Timepicker

format

time

time12hr

Textarea only

rows

resize

Money Input

symbol

precision

thousand

decimal

positive

negative

zero

Examples

Text input

Numeric input