Just a quicky, as I had to spend 10 mins looking this up hopefully it’ll save someone else time later.
I need to retrieve a random user from the users table, but didn’t know how to express a random record… this method will return a single random user, or can take an argument to return more than 1 UserPeer
So it should take the value of the hints input element, go off to the 3rd party api, grab the info I need then pop it into the input that has an id of tags … only that doesn’t work, of course.
So what’s the solution?
Ok, a 3 step process, firstly we need to add script = true in our observe_field parameters, letting the observe_field know that it’s going to have script returned that it will need to execute
…now, I’m not entirely happy with this for 2 reasons. Firstly, the update parameter of the observe_field call is now redundant, and secondly, the id of the input we want to update is now harded in the view, so to at least get around that, we can add an extra parameter in the with part of observe_field like this:
Ever wanted to run some functions or create some variables before every action in a module? Or ever wanted to do something crafty after every action and before the template gets displayed?
Even if your answer is no, its good to be aware for future projects, that Symfony is hiding some very valuable methods of doing such things. Read on…
For doing stuff before every action in your module, just create a new function called preExecute() like so:
class demomoduleActions extends sfActions
{publicfunction preExecute(){// ... put your stuff here that you want to run before every Action ...}}
Equally for doing anything you like after every action in your module just create a new function called postExecute() like so:
class demomoduleActions extends sfActions
{publicfunction postExecute(){// ... put your stuff here that you want to run after every Action ...}}
It really is as simple as that. I stumbled across a little while ago whilst working on a project for a client of mine. So I thought I’d share this with you all.
Performing a search, well, It didn’t break, but it went to:
http://www.acmevideowebsite.com/frontend_dev.php/search/module/search/action/index
all together now, “wtf?”
So, tried referencing the route with @ echo form_tag('@search');
Same result, so checking the generated HTML, we see… action="/frontend_dev.php/search/module/default/action/index"
We now cross over live to the MSN conversation with Rob:
Baj:// says:
search:
url: /search/*
params: { module: video, action: search }
Baj:// says:
params:? or param:
Rob says:
lol
Grr, as usually with my coding, it’s something stupid… what confused me most was that it didn’t error on an incorrectly configured YAML file… probably because params: could be a legal term?
I recently came across the problem of using multiple input_auto_complete_tag’s. The problem was I needed to store the ID of my first category somewhere, so I could filter the sub-categories returned in the second input_auto_complete_tag. Also, just to make things a little more complicated, there is a third input_auto_complete_tag that needs results filtered by the previous IDs.
Follow me, as I take you through a quick tutorial of how I did it:
Form Template:
Firstly we need create our form with the three auto completing inputs. To enable us to store the IDs that are returned we’ll put in a hidden tag for each input tag. Also to enable us to get the ID of the selected result, we’ll need a tiny bit of Javascript which runs after selecting the result.
The ‘after_update_element’ simply takes the ID from the element we’ve clicked on, in the results of the auto complete function and places it into the hidden tag.
Select B and Select C use the ‘with’ argument to send the ID of the previous selects to our auto complete function (module/autoComplete) enabling us to filter the results we’ll display in the input_auto_complete_tag.
Auto Complete Function:
The auto complete function will be called everytime we’re typing into one of the input_auto_complete_tag’s. As you can see in the code above, we’re also passing through a parameter (eg. module/autoComplete?select=a) specifying which input is calling the function.
<?phppublicfunction executeAutoComplete(){// Get which input called the function$input = $this->getRequestParameter('select');
// Get what the user has typed$typed = $this->getRequestParameter('select_'.$input);
// Depending what input called this generate $db_results for the templateswitch($input){case'a':
//... generate $db_resultsbreak;
case'b':
// Get the IDs of previous inputs$a_id = $this->getRequestParameter('select_a_id');
//... generate $db_results using $a_id to filter resultsbreak;
case'c':
// Get the IDs of previous inputs$a_id = $this->getRequestParameter('select_a_id');
$b_id = $this->getRequestParameter('select_b_id');
//... generate $db_results using $a_id and $b_id to filter resultsbreak;
}// Create array with the ID and Name$results = array();
foreach($db_resultsas$row){$results[$row->getId()] = $row->getName();
}// Pass results to the template$this->results = $results;
}?>
I’ll leave you to generate the database results, as this is very specific to your database model. Although as a hint, it’s usually best to use an LIKE query:
The auto complete template simply returns a unordered list which will be displayed on our form for the user to select from.
It’s really as easy as that, but if you’ve got any questions or queries about how to get it working for you, please leave a comment and I’ll try and help you out.
Having just launched “Acme Video Website”, I tinkered with a few things, re-synced and got…
Warning: htmlentities() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /var/www/acme_video/docs/lib/symfony/config/sfViewConfigHandler.class.php on line 229
Ouchy. So I checked sfViewConfigHandler.class.php to see what was causing the fuss…
Sadly, my regex is non-existent so I’m not entirely sure what’s being replace, however, it was obvious there was an illegal character defined in my meta keyword/description in my View.yml (actual title changed to protect anonimity of website)
title: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet: consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Hmm, completely forgot about the colon there (after “amet”), whatever’s parsing the yml is obviously having a fit, and I need to leave that in there as the site owner wants to keep the original meta stuff for now.
So, tried \: to escape it, no deal! Time for a quick google, obviously…
According to the specifications for yml,
“Within double-quotes, special characters may be represented with c-style escape sequences starting with a blackslash”
title: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet\: consectetuer adipiscing elit."
Which physically put \: in the html that was generated, so removing the \ gave be the desired result. All I had to do was encase the entire line in quotes, (and checking the source of the generated html it was fine too, not doing anything funky like 2 sets of quotes, always worth checking!).
Sure enough, refering to the excellent “The Definitive Guide To Symfony” book, page 65 “Help, a YAML File Killed My App” shows exactly what I should have done anyway…
Todays lesson, don’t be so lazy, the book is only 2 meters across the corridor!
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