Zend Framework 2 : Step by Step build Form using Annotation Builder

Zend Framework provide AnnotationBuilder that can createForm by entity which we defined. An entity can be one class that consists of Annotation Type, Filter, Validator, etc in each of the properties. This feature need doctrine Annotation. In this post, i will give you step by step how to use this annotation .

1. First, grab skeleton application from github.

git clone git://github.com/zendframework/ZendSkeletonApplication.git
cd ZendSkeletonApplication

2. Add doctrine/common to composer.json

{
    "repositories": [
        {
            "type": "composer",
            "url": "http://packages.zendframework.com/"
        }
    ],
    
    "name": "zendframework/skeleton-application",
    "description": "Skeleton Application for ZF2",
    "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
    "keywords": [
        "framework",
        "zf2"
    ],
    "homepage": "http://framework.zend.com/",
    "require": {
        "php": ">=5.3.3",
        "zendframework/zendframework": "2.*",
        "doctrine/common" : ">=2.1"
    }
}

3. run install by :

COMPOSER_PROCESS_TIMEOUT=5000 php composer.phar install

The process will be like the following :

4. Let’s code :
a. create an entity

namespace SampleModule\Model;

use Zend\Form\Annotation;

/**
 * @Annotation\Hydrator("Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ObjectProperty")
 * @Annotation\Name("Student")
 */
class Student
{
    /**
     * @Annotation\Type("Zend\Form\Element\Text")
     * @Annotation\Required({"required":"true"})
     * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StripTags"})
     * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StringToUpper"})
     * @Annotation\Validator({"name":"StringLength", "options":{"min":"5"}})
     * @Annotation\Options({"label":"Absent Id:"})
     */
    public $absentid;
    
    /**
     * @Annotation\Type("Zend\Form\Element\Text")
     * @Annotation\Required({"required":"true" })
     * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StripTags"})
     * @Annotation\Validator({"name":"StringLength", "options":{"min":"1"}})
     * @Annotation\Options({"label":"Name:"})
     */
    public $name;
    
    /**
     * @Annotation\Type("Zend\Form\Element\Radio")
     * @Annotation\Required({"required":"true" })
     * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StripTags"})
     * @Annotation\Options({"label":"Gender:",
     *                      "value_options" : {"1":"Male","2":"Female"}})
     * @Annotation\Validator({"name":"InArray",
     *                        "options":{"haystack":{"1","2"},
     *                              "messages":{"notInArray":"Gender is not valid"}}})
     * @Annotation\Attributes({"value":"1"})
     */
    public $gender;
    
    /**
     * @Annotation\Type("Zend\Form\Element\Select")
     * @Annotation\Required({"required":"true" })
     * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StripTags"})
     * @Annotation\Options({"label":"Class:",
     *                      "value_options" : {"0":"Select a Class","1":"A","2":"B","3":"C"}})
     * @Annotation\Validator({"name":"InArray",
     *                        "options":{"haystack":{"1","2","3"},
     *                              "messages":{"notInArray":"Please Select a Class"}}})
     * @Annotation\Attributes({"value":"0"})
     */
    public $class;
    
    
    /**
     * @Annotation\Type("Zend\Form\Element\Submit")
     * @Annotation\Attributes({"value":"Submit"})
     */
    public $submit;
}

b. Call it in controller

namespace SampleModule\Controller;

use Zend\Mvc\Controller\AbstractActionController;
use Zend\Form\Annotation\AnnotationBuilder;
use SampleModule\Model\Student;

class StudentController extends AbstractActionController
{
    public function addAction()
    {
        $student    = new Student();
        $builder    = new AnnotationBuilder();
        $form       = $builder->createForm($student);
        
        $request = $this->getRequest();
        if ($request->isPost()){
            $form->bind($student);
            $form->setData($request->getPost());
            if ($form->isValid()){
                print_r($form->getData());
            }
        }
        
        return array('form'=>$form);
    }
}

c. show it in the view :

$form = $this->form;
$form->setAttribute('action', $this->url(
    'SampleModule/default',
    array(
        'action'     => 'add',
        'controller' => 'student'
    )
));
$form->prepare();

echo $this->form()->openTag($form);
echo $this->formCollection($form);
echo $this->form()->closeTag();

Done !

References :
1. http://mwop.net/blog/2012-07-02-zf2-beta5-forms.html