iTopiaBlog

I was searching long time for a good auto completer widget, but I couldn’t find one. So I created it by my self.
I did the same with the build in symfony auto completer widget. When I have time I’ll post it, too.
I hope I could help someboby with this small tutorial. Please give me feedback if there are any questions or suggestions.

Now lets start:

1. Copy the dojo package to the js folder
Resulting path to dojo.js: web/js/dojoToolkit/dojo/dojo.js

2. Enable dojo.js
If not yet happend elsewhere:
Modify the view.yml: apps/[YOUR_APP]/config/view.yml



default:
javascripts: [dojoToolkit/dojo/dojo.js]

3. Create the widget
lib/widget/itWidgetFormInputTextDijitAutocomplete.php

class itWidgetFormInputTextDijitAutocomplete extends sfWidgetForm
{
/**
* Constructor.
*
* Available options:
*
* * model: Name of the Model
* * searchfield: Table field in which will be searched
* * action: Optional: request action or url
* * value_method: Optional: getter for form field value
* * output_method: Optional: getter for form field name
* * criteria_method: Optional: getter for additional cirteria
* * add_empty: Optional: add emtpy value option to the list
* * choices: An array of possible choices (n/a)
* * formatter: A callable to call to format the checkbox choices
*
* @see sfWidgetForm
*/
protected function configure($options = array(), $attributes = array())
{
$this->addRequiredOption('model');
$this->addRequiredOption('search_field');
$this->addOption('action', 'default/ajaxAutocomplete');
$this->addOption('value_method', 'getPrimaryKey');
$this->addOption('output_method', 'getPrimaryKey');
$this->addOption('choices', array());
$this->addOption('criteria_method', '');
$this->addOption('formatter', array($this, 'formatter'));
$this->addOption('add_empty', false);
}

/**
* Renders the widget as HTML.
*
* @param string The name of the HTML widget
* @param mixed The value of the widget
* @param array An array of HTML attributes
* @param array An array of errors
*
* @return string A HTML representation of the widget
*
* @see sfWidgetForm
*/
public function render($name, $value = null, $attributes = array(), $errors = array())
{
$choices = $this->getOption('choices');
if ($choices instanceof sfCallable)
{
$choices = $choices->call();
}

$baseAttributes = array(
'action' => $this->getOption('action'),
'name' => $name,
'type' => 'text',
'value' => $value,
'id' => $id = $this->generateId($name, self::escapeOnce($name)),
);

return call_user_func($this->getOption('formatter'), $this, $baseAttributes);
}

/**
* Renders the input fields as HTML.
*
* @param widget
* @param attributes
*
* @return string A HTML representation of the input fields
*/
public function formatter($widget, $attributes)
{
sfLoader::loadHelpers(array('Form', 'Url'));
$request = sfContext::getInstance()->getRequest();
$field_id = $attributes['id'];
$field_name = $attributes['name'];
$ajax_field_id = 'ajax_'.$attributes['id'];
$out_field_id = 'out_'.$attributes['id'];
$object = @call_user_func(array($this->getOption('model').'Peer', 'retrieveByPk'), $attributes['value']);
$default_out = $request->getParameter('ajax_'.$attributes['name'], is_object($object) ? call_user_func(array(&$object, $this->getOption('output_method'))) : '');
$default_value = $request->getParameter($attributes['name'], is_object($object) ? $attributes['value'] : '');

$html = '';
$ajaxParams=array(
'model' => $this->getOption('model'),
'value_method' => $this->getOption('value_method'),
'output_method' => $this->getOption('output_method'),
'search_field' => $this->getOption('search_field'),
'criteria_method' => $this->getOption('criteria_method'),
'field_name' => 'ajax_'.$attributes['name']
);
if($this->getOption('add_empty')===false) $ajaxParams['add_empty'] = 'false';
elseif($this->getOption('add_empty')===true) $ajaxParams['add_empty'] = 'true';
else $ajaxParams['add_empty'] = $this->getOption('add_empty');

$requestUrl = url_for($attributes['action'].'?'.http_build_query($ajaxParams), true);
$requestUrl = str_replace('frontend_dev.php/', '', $requestUrl);
$requestUrl = str_replace('backend_dev.php/', 'backend.php/', $requestUrl);

$html .= <<
<script type="text/javascript">
dojo.require("dojo.data.ItemFileReadStore");
dojo.require("dijit.form.FilteringSelect");
</script>
<div dojoType="dojo.data.ItemFileReadStore"
jsId="{$field_id}Store" url="{$requestUrl}"></div>
EOF;

$input_text = <<
<input dojoType="dijit.form.FilteringSelect"
store="{$field_id}Store"
class="medium"
id="{$field_id}"
name="{$field_name}"
value="{$default_value}"
hasDownArrow="true",
invalidMessage="",
ignoreCase="true" />
}

4. Create action for the AJAX request
apps/[APP_NAME]/modules/default/actions/actions.class.php

<?php
class defaultActions extends sfActions
{
public function executeAjaxAutocomplete($request)
{
$model = $request->getParameter('model');
$criteria_method = $request->getParameter('criteria_method');
$add_empty = $request->getParameter('add_empty', 'false');
$this->value_method = $request->getParameter('value_method');
$this->output_method = $request->getParameter('output_method');

$peer_object = $model.'Peer';

if($criteria_method!='') $criteria = call_user_func(array($peer_object, $criteria_method));
else $criteria = new Criteria();

$search_field = $request->getParameter('search_field');
$field_name = $request->getParameter('field_name');
$var = $request->getParameter($field_name);

$j_object = array('identifier' => 'abbreviation', 'items'=>array());

$search_field = strtoupper($search_field);

$sql_field = constant($peer_object.'::'.$search_field);

$c = $criteria;
$c->add($sql_field, $var . '%', Criteria::LIKE);
$this->list = call_user_func(array($peer_object,'doSelect'), $c);

if($add_empty!='false')
{
$j_object['items'][] = array(
'name' => $add_empty=='true' ? '' : $add_empty,
'label' => '',
'abbreviation' => ''
);
}

foreach($this->list AS $v)
{
$j_object['items'][] = array(
'name' => call_user_func(array(&$v, $this->output_method)),
'label' => call_user_func(array(&$v, $this->output_method)),
'abbreviation' => call_user_func(array(&$v, $this->value_method))
);
}
$this->j_object = $j_object;
}
}

5. Create template for the AJAX request
apps/[APP_NAME]/modules/default/templates/ajaxAutocompleteSuccess.php

<?php decorate_with(false); ?>
<?php print_r(json_encode($j_object)); ?>

6. Insert the new widget into your sfForm
apps/[APP_NAME]/modules/default/templates/ajaxAutocompleteSuccess.php

...
# $widgets['user_id'] = new sfWidgetFormInput();
$widgets['user_id'] = new stWidgetFormInputTextDijitAutocomplete(array(
'model' => 'User',
'search_field' => 'username',
'value_method' => 'getId',
'output_method' => 'getUsername',
'criteria_method' => 'getCriteriaRegisteredUsers'
));

6. Clear symfony cache

Links:

• http://api.dojotoolkit.org/jsdoc/1.3.2/dijit.form.FilteringSelect