Eric Colinet - 9:07 am Q: Why there is no helper for the form tag ? A: 1.5.0 actually introduces Zend_View_Helper_Form. When using Zend_Form with the default decorators, however, you will not need to use it, as it is called via the Form decorator. _________________________________________________________________ Pablo Viquez - 10:00 am Q: is it possible to use Zend_Form on the ZF stable version? A: At the time of the webinar, the stable version was 1.0.4, which did not include Zend_Form. As of 17 March 2008, the stable branch is now 1.5, which includes Zend_Form. _________________________________________________________________ Yzmir Ramirez - 10:00 am Q: What about Javascript form validation to syncrhonize the Zend_Validate object attached to the element? Are we on our own? Or is there an AJAX hook? A: Currently, we do not support client-side validation directly with Zend_Form; you will have to do this on your own. However, implementing server-side AJAX validation using Zend_Form is fairly trivial; simply make a request to an action that will validate the form, and return a payload with either a boolean true or a list of errors. _________________________________________________________________ Jaroslav Gurican - 10:00 am Q: what about performace - comparing to other framworks A: We have not benchmarked Zend_Form at this time. As with any web application, you should be applying a number of layers of caching to your applications: content caching, opcode caching, etc. Zend_Form itself consists of many classes and objects, so using an opcode cache will definitely benefit performance. _________________________________________________________________ Tobias Gies - 10:00 am Q: Is it possible to set a common id prefix for all form elements? A: Yes, through the use of array notation. On your form, simply pass a value to the setElementsBelongTo() accessor, and all values will be returned in that array, and have that value as their id prefix. So, if you passed the value 'foo', then all values will be returned as keys of the 'foo' array, and have ids that begin with 'foo-'. _________________________________________________________________ Tobias Gies - 10:01 am Q: Zend_Form allows for File input. However, the default enctype is application/x-www-form-urlencoded. Is it intelligent enough to change to multipart/form-data as soon as a file element is attached? A: First, the x-www-form-urlencoded enctype is only used for forms that have a method of 'POST'. Second, Zend_Form does *not* currently allow for File input; we do not curretly have a file element as we are waiting for Zend_Upload/Zend_File_Transfer to mature and be promoted to core. (There is a FormFile view helper, but no corresponding Zend_Form element.) You should theoretically be able to pass an 'enctype' attribute to your form to change the value utilized; I have not tested this, however. _________________________________________________________________ Hongxing Geng - 10:02 am Q: when Zend Framework 1.5 will be released? A: Zend Framework 1.5.0 was released 17 March 2008. _________________________________________________________________ Dimitri van Hees - 10:01 am Q: will there be more options available for the processAjax function? now it returns only json A: Yes, this is an improvement we've already noted; you can track it on the Zend Framework issue tracker: http://framework.zend.com/issues/browse/ZF-2797 _________________________________________________________________ Sam Hauglustaine - 10:02 am Q: when you want to "group" radiobuttons or checkboxes: do you use display groups and/or array notation? A: The Radio element actually allows you to pass an associative array of value => label combinations in order to create a group of radio buttons already; the label for that element will be used as a label for the group. We also have a MultiCheckbox element that allows you to create a group of related checkboxes that will be returned as an array of values. Just like the Radio element, you can pass an associative array of value => label combinations. _________________________________________________________________ Jaroslav Gurican - 10:02 am Q: is there some way to interact with database (direct and easy filling using database, foreign keys,... - a kind of CRUD application) A: Not yet. :-) _________________________________________________________________ Jaroslav Gurican - 10:04 am Q: seems that you can always use e.g. createElement, do we need addElement - what is the philosophy behind the difference A: addElement() implements a fluent interface, meaning it returns the current object -- the form object. This allows you to chain together several calls to addElement() -- or chain such calls with other accessors and factories in the Zend_Form class. createElement() is used to create an element using the current form object's settings -- such as plugin paths -- and returns that element; however, the element is *not* attached to the form at that point. _________________________________________________________________ Yzmir Ramirez - 10:06 am Q: Any idea if native AJAX support will be implemented to use our validator class for the element prior to being able to submit the form? A: Possibly in a future release. If we do so, it will be specific to only one or two libraries, as we do not wish to maintain a javascript code base within Zend Framework. _________________________________________________________________ Aldemar Bernal - 10:07 am Q: Is it better to have an extended class by form or to add methods to the models classes e.g user::getUserLoginForm() A: It really depends on your needs. I will often use both -- e.g., have the model have an accessor to retrieve the form, but in that accessor instantiate a concrete, custom form class. _________________________________________________________________ Chris Ray - 10:07 am Q: Is Zend Framework ever going to have a merchant service module, like Zend_Paypal, or Zend_Payment or something like it? A: If Zend Framework contributors have a need for such components, then yes. If you'd like to contribute such a component, please read our contributor guidelines: http://framework.zend.com/community/contribute