#backbone-forms-jam
This repository is a fork of backbone-forms repository. The purpose of this fork is to provide for backbone-forms a packaging to Jam.
It has been published to the Jam's package repository, so Backbone.Forms
can be installed simply typing:
$ jam install backbone-forms-jam
#backbone-forms
A flexible, customisable form framework for Backbone.JS applications.
- Simple schema definition to auto-generate forms
- Validation
- Nested forms
- Advanced and custom editors (e.g. NestedModel, List, Date, DateTime)
- Custom HTML templates
###Example: Quickly generate forms to edit models
var User = Backbone.Model.extend({
schema: {
title: { type: 'Select', options: ['Mr', 'Mrs', 'Ms'] },
name: 'Text',
email: { validators: ['required', 'email'] },
birthday: 'Date',
password: 'Password',
address: { type: 'NestedModel', model: Address },
notes: { type: 'List', listType: 'Text' }
}
});
var user = new User();
var form = new Backbone.Form({
model: user
}).render();
$('body').append(form.el);
###Example: Fully customise forms and templates
HTML:
<script id="formTemplate" type="text/html">
<form>
<h1>New User</h1>
<h2>Main Info</h2>
<div data-fields="title,name,birthday"></div>
<h2>Account Info</h2>
<h3>Email</h3>
<div data-fields="email"></div>
<h3>Password</h3>
<p>Must be at least 8 characters long</p>
<div data-editors="password"></div>
</form>
</script>
Javascript:
var UserForm = Backbone.Form.extend({
template: _.template($('#formTemplate').html()),
schema: {
title: { type: 'Select', options: ['Mr', 'Mrs', 'Ms'] },
name: 'Text',
email: { validators: ['required', 'email'] },
password: 'Password'
}
});
var form = new UserForm({
model: new User()
}).render();
$('body').append(form.el);
###Live editable demos
##Guide###Table of Contents:
##InstallationDependencies:
Include backbone-forms.js:
<script src="backbone-forms/distribution/backbone-forms.min.js"></script>
Optionally, you can include the extra editors, for example the List editor:
<script src="backbone-forms/distribution/editors/list.min.js"></script>
To use a custom template pack, e.g. Bootstrap, include the relevant files after backbone-forms.js.
<script src="backbone-forms/distribution/templates/bootstrap.js"></script>
<link href="backbone-forms/distribution/templates/bootstrap.css" rel="stylesheet" />
If you use Backbone with node.js, you can just require('backbone-forms');
in your index file.
Note there is also a distribution file for RequireJS / AMD.
##UsageForms are generated from a schema
, which can be defined on the form itself or on a model.
The schema keys should match the attributes that get set on the model. type
defaults to Text
. When you don't need to specify any options you can use the shorthand by passing the editor name as a string.
See schema definition for more information.
var User = Backbone.Model.extend({
schema: {
title: { type: 'Select', options: ['Mr', 'Mrs', 'Ms'] },
name: 'Text',
email: { validators: ['required', 'email'] },
birthday: 'Date',
password: 'Password',
address: { type: 'NestedModel', model: Address },
notes: { type: 'List', listType: 'Text' }
}
});
var user = new User();
var form = new Backbone.Form({
model: user
}).render();
$('body').append(form.el);
Once the user is done with the form, call form.commit()
to apply the updated values to the model. If there are validation errors they will be returned.
See validation for more information.
var errors = form.commit(); // runs schema validation
or
var errors = form.commit({ validate: true }); // runs schema and model validation
To update a field after the form has been rendered, use form.setValue
:
model.on('change:name', function(model, name) {
form.setValue({ name: name });
});
###Usage without models
You can create a form without tying it to a model. For example, to create a form for a simple object of data:
var form = new Backbone.Form({
//Schema
schema: {
id: 'Number',
name: 'Text',
password: 'Password'
},
//Data to populate the form with
data: {
id: 123,
name: 'Rod Kimble',
password: 'cool beans'
}
}).render();
Then instead of form.commit()
, do:
var data = form.getValue(); //Returns object with new form values
###Initial data
If a form has a model attached to it, the initial values are taken from the model's defaults. Otherwise, you may pass default values using the schema.data
.
###Options
-
model
The model to tie the form to. Calling
form.commit()
will update the model with new values. -
data
If not using the
model
option, pass a native object through thedata
option. Then useform.getValue()
to get the new values. -
schema
The schema to use to create the form. Pass it in if you don't want to store the schema on the model, or to override the model schema.
-
fieldsets
An array of fieldsets descriptions. A fieldset is either a list of field names, or an object with
legend
andfields
attributes. Thelegend
will be inserted at the top of the fieldset inside a<legend>
tag; the list of fields will be treated asfields
is below.fieldsets
takes priority overfields
. -
fields
An array of field names (keys). Only the fields defined here will be added to the form. You can also use this to re-order the fields.
-
idPrefix
A string that will be prefixed to the form DOM element IDs. Useful if you will have multiple forms on the same page. E.g.
idPrefix: 'user-'
will result in IDs like 'user-name', 'user-email', etc.If not defined, the model's CID will be used as a prefix to avoid conflicts when there are multiple instances of the form on the page. To override this behaviour, pass a null value to
idPrefix
. -
template
The compiled template to use for generating the form.
###Events
Backbone.Form
fires the following events:
-
change
This event is triggered whenever something happens that affects the result of
form.getValue()
. -
focus
This event is triggered whenever this form gains focus, i.e. when the input of an editor within this form becomes the
document.activeElement
. -
blur
This event is triggered whenever this form loses focus, i.e. when the input of an editor within this form stops being the
document.activeElement
. -
<key>:<event>
Events fired by editors within this form will bubble up and be fired as
<key>:<event>
.form.on('title:change', function(form, titleEditor) { console.log('Title changed to "' + titleEditor.getValue() + '".'); });
The schema defined on your model can be the schema object itself, or a function that returns a schema object. This can be useful if you're referencing variables that haven't been initialized yet.
The following default editors are included:
- Text
- Number
- Password
- TextArea
- Checkbox
- Checkboxes
- Hidden
- Select
- Radio
- Object
- NestedModel
- Date
- DateTime
- List An editable list of items (included in a separate file:
distribution/editors/list.min.js
)
###Main attributes
For each field definition in the schema you can use the following optional attributes:
-
type
The editor to use in the field. Can be a string for any editor that has been added to
Backbone.Form.editors
, such as the built-in editors (e.g.{ type: 'TextArea' }
), or can be a constructor function for a custom editor (e.g. :{ type: MyEditor }
).If not defined, defaults to 'Text'.
-
title
Defines the text that appears in a form field's
<label>
. If not defined, defaults to a formatted version of the camelCased field key. E.g.firstName
becomesFirst Name
. This behaviour can be changed by assigning your own function toBackbone.Form.helpers.keyToTitle
. -
validators
A list of validators. See Validation for more information
-
help
Help text to add next to the editor.
-
editorClass
String of CSS class name(s) to add to the editor
-
editorAttrs
A map of attributes to add to the editor, e.g.
{ maxlength: 30, title: 'Tooltip help' }
-
fieldClass
String of CSS class name(s) to add to the field
-
fieldAttrs
A map of attributes to add to the field, e.g.
{ style: 'background: red', title: 'Tooltip help' }
-
template
Name of the template to use for this field. See Customising templates for more information.
###Main events
Every editor fires the following events:
-
change
This event is triggered whenever something happens that affects the result of
editor.getValue()
. -
focus
This event is triggered whenever this editor gains focus, i.e. when an input within this editor becomes the
document.activeElement
. -
blur
This event is triggered whenever this editor loses focus, i.e. when an input within this editor stops being the
document.activeElement
.
Besides these three, editors can implement custom events, which are described below.
##TextCreates a normal text input.
-
dataType
Changes the
type="text"
attribute. Used for HTML5 form inputs such asurl
,tel
,email
. When viewing on a mobile device e.g. iOS, this will change the type of keyboard that is opened. For example,tel
opens a numeric keypad.
Creates and populates a <select>
element.
-
options
Options to populate the
<select>
.Can be either:
- String of HTML
<option>
s - Array of strings/numbers
- An array of option groups in the form
[{group: 'Option Group Label', options: <any of the forms from this list (except the option groups)>}]
- Array of objects in the form
{ val: 123, label: 'Text' }
- A Backbone collection
- A function that calls back with one of the above
Backbone collection notes
If using a Backbone collection as the
options
attribute, models in the collection must implement atoString()
method. This populates the label of the<option>
. The ID of the model populates thevalue
attribute.If there are no models in the collection, it will be
fetch()
ed. - String of HTML
####Methods
-
setOptions()
Update the options in the select. Accepts any of the types that can be set in the schema
options
####Examples
var schema = {
country: { type: 'Select', options: new CountryCollection() }
};
var schema = {
users: { type: 'Select', options: function(callback, editor) {
users = db.getUsers();
callback(users);
}}
}
// Option groups (each group's option can be specified differently)
var schema = {
options: [
{ group: 'Cities', options: ['Paris', 'Beijing']},
{ group: 'Countries', options: new Collection(objects)},
{ group: 'Food', options: '<option>Bread</option>'}
]
}
Creates and populates a list of radio inputs. Behaves the same way and has the same options as a Select
.
Creates and populates a list of checkbox inputs. Behaves the same way and has the same options as a Select
. To set defaults for this editor, use an array of values.
The Object editor creates an embedded child form representing a Javascript object.
###Attributes
-
subSchema
A schema object which defines the field schema for each attribute in the object
###Events
-
<key>:<event>
Events fired by editors within this Object editor will bubble up and be fired as
<key>:<event>
.
####Examples
var schema = {
address: { type: 'Object', subSchema: {
street: {},
zip: { type: 'Number' },
country: { 'Select', options: countries }
}}
};
addressEditor.on('zip:change', function(addressEditor, zipEditor) {
console.log('Zip changed to "' + zipEditor.getValue() + '".');
});
Used to embed models within models. Similar to the Object editor, but adds validation of the child form (if it is defined on the model), and keeps your schema cleaner.
###Attributes
-
model
A reference to the constructor function for your nested model. The referenced model must have it's own
schema
attribute
###Events
-
<key>:<event>
Events fired by editors within this NestedModel editor will bubble up and be fired as
<key>:<event>
.
####Examples
var schema = {
address: { type: 'NestedModel', model: Address }
};
addressEditor.on('zip:change', function(addressEditor, zipEditor) {
console.log('Zip changed to "' + zipEditor.getValue() + '".');
});
Creates <select>
s for date, month and year.
-
yearStart
First year in the list. Default: 100 years ago
-
yearEnd
Last year in the list. Default: current year
####Extra options You can customise the way this editor behaves, throughout your app:
var editors = Backbone.Form.editors;
editors.Date.showMonthNames = false; //Defaults to true
editors.Date.monthNames = ['Jan', 'Feb', ...] //Defaults to full month names in English
Creates a Date editor and adds <select>
s for time (hours and minutes).
-
minsInterval
Optional. Controls the numbers in the minutes dropdown. Defaults to 15, so it is populated with 0, 15, 30, and 45 minutes.
Creates a list of items that can be added, removed and edited. Used to manage arrays of data.
This is a special editor which is in a separate file and must be included:
<script src="backbone-forms/distribution/editors/list.min.js" />
If using the Object
or NestedModel
listType, you will need to include a modal adapter on the page. Backbone.BootstrapModal is provided for this purpose. It must be included on the page:
<script src="backbone-forms/distribution/adapters/backbone.bootstrap-modal.min.js" />
###Attributes
-
itemType
Defines the editor that will be used for each item in the list. Similar in use to the main 'type' schema attribute. Defaults to 'Text'.
-
confirmDelete
Optional. Text to display in a delete confirmation dialog. If falsey, will not ask for confirmation.
-
itemToString
A function that returns a string representing how the object should be displayed in a list item.
Optional, but recommended when using listType 'Object'. When listType is 'NestedModel', the model's
toString()
method will be used, unless a specificitemToString()
function is defined on the schema.
###Events
-
add
This event is triggered when a new item is added to the list.
-
remove
This event is triggered when an existing item is removed from the list.
-
item:<event>
Events fired by any item's editor will bubble up and be fired as
item:<event>
.
####Examples
function userToName(user) {
return user.firstName + ' ' + user.lastName;
}
var schema = {
users: { type: 'List', itemType: 'Object', itemToString: userToName }
};
listEditor.on('add', function(listEditor, itemEditor) {
console.log('User with first name "' + itemEditor.getValue().firstName + '" added.');
});
listEditor.on('item:focus', function(listEditor, itemEditor) {
console.log('User "' + userToName(itemEditor.getValue()) + '" has been given focus.');
});
listEditor.on('item:lastName:change', function(listEditor, itemEditor, lastNameEditor) {
console.log('Last name for user "' + itemEditor.getValue().firstName + '" changed to "' + lastNameEditor.getValue() +'".');
});
There are 2 levels of validation: schema validators and the regular
built-in Backbone model validation. Backbone Forms will run both when
form.validate()
is called. Calling form.commit()
will run schema
level validation by default, and can also run model validation if { validate: true }
is passed.
###Schema validation
Validators can be defined in several ways:
- As a string - Shorthand for adding a built-in validator. You can add custom validators to this list by adding them to
Backbone.Form.validators
. See the source for more information. - As an object - For adding a built-in validator with options, e.g. overriding the default error message.
- As a function - Runs a custom validation function. Each validator the following arguments:
value
andformValues
- As a regular expression - Runs the built-in
regexp
validator with a custom regular expresssion.
###Built-in validators
- required: Checks the field has been filled in
- email: Checks it is a valid email address
- url: Checks it is a valid URL
- match: Checks that the field matches another. The other field name must be set in the
field
option. - regexp: Runs a regular expression. Requires the
regexp
option, which takes a compiled regular expression.
####Examples
var schema = {
//Built-in validator
name: { validators: ['required'] },
//Multiple built-in validators
email: { validators: ['required', 'email'] },
//Built-in editors with options:
password: { validators: [
{ type: 'match', field: 'passwordConfirm', message: 'Passwords must match!' }
] },
//Regular expression
foo: { validators: [/foo/] },
//Custom function
username: { validators: [
function checkUsername(value, formValues) {
var err = {
type: 'username',
message: 'Usernames must be at least 3 characters long'
};
if (value.length < 3) return err;
}
] }
}
###Handling errors
Error messages will be added to the field's help text area, and a customisable bbf-error
class will be added to the field element so it can be styled with CSS.
Validation runs when form.commit()
or form.validate()
are called. If validation fails, an error object is returned with the type
(validator that failed) and customisable message
:
//Example returned errors from form validation:
{
name: { type: 'required', message: 'Required' }, //Error on the name field
email: { type: 'email', message: 'Invalid email address' }, //Error on the email field
_others: ['Custom model.validate() error'] //Error from model.validate()
}
###Customising error messages
After including the Backbone Forms file, you can override the default error messages.
{{mustache}} tags are supported; they will be replaced with the options passed into the validator configuration object. {{value}}
is a special tag which is passed the current field value.
Backbone.Form.validators.errMessages.required = 'Please enter a value for this field.';
Backbone.Form.validators.errMessages.match = 'This value must match the value of {{field}}';
Backbone.Form.validators.errMessages.email = '{{value}} is an invalid email address.';
You can also override the error message on a field by field basis by passing the message
option in the validator config.
###Model validation
If your models have a validate()
method the errors will be added to the error object. To make the most of the validation system, the method should return an error object, keyed by the field object. If an unrecognised field is added, or just a string is returned, it will be added to the _others
array of errors:
var User = Backbone.Model.extend({
validate: function(attrs) {
var errs = {};
if (usernameTaken(attrs.username)) errs.username = 'The username is taken'
if !_.isEmpty(errs) return errs;
}
})
###Schema validators
Forms provide a validate
method, which returns a dictionary of errors, or null
. Validation is determined using the validators
attribute on the schema (see above).
If you model provides a validate
method, then this will be called when you call Form.validate
. Forms are also validated when you call commit
. See the Backbone documentation for more details on model validation.
####Example
//Schema definition:
var schema = {
name: { validators: ['required']
}
var errors = form.commit();
Backbone-Forms comes with a few options for rendering HTML. To use another template pack, such as for Bootstrap, just include the .js file from the templates
folder, after including backbone-forms.js
.
You can change all the default templates by copying the included distribution/templates/bootstrap.js
file and adapting that. Placeholders are the data-xxx
attributes, e.g. data-fieldsets
, data-fields
and data-editors
.
###Alternate field templates If only certain fields need a different template this can be done by providing the template in the schema:
var altFieldTemplate = _.template('<div class="altField" data-editor></div>');
var form = new Backbone.Form({
schema: {
age: { type: 'Number' }, //Uses the default field template
name: { template: altFieldTemplate } //Uses the custom template
}
});
###100% custom forms To customise forms even further you can pass in a template to the form instance or extend the form and specify the template, e.g.:
<script id="formTemplate" type="text/html">
<form>
<h1>Edit profile</h1>
<h2>Name</h2>
<div data-editors="firstName"><!-- firstName editor will be added here --></div>
<div data-editors="lastName"><!-- lastName editor will be added here --></div>
<h2>Password</h2>
<div data-editors="password">
<div class="notes">Must be at least 7 characters:</div>
<!-- password editor will be added here -->
</div>
</form>
</script>
var form = new Backbone.Form({
template: _.template($('#formTpl').html()),
model: new UserModel() //defined elsewhere
});
You can add editors by themselves, without being part of a form. For example:
var select = new Backbone.Form.editors.Select({
model: user,
key: 'country',
options: getCountries()
}).render();
//When done, apply selection to model:
select.commit();
If you are using a schema with nested attributes (using the Object
type), you may want to include only some of the nested fields in a form. This can be accomplished by using 'path' syntax as in the example below.
However, due to Backbone's lack of support for nested model attributes, getting and setting values will not work out of the box. For this to work as expected you must adapt your model's get() and set() methods to handle the path names, or simply use DeepModel which will handle paths for you automatically.
var Model = Backbone.DeepModel.extend({
schema: {
title: 'Text',
author: { type: 'Object', subSchema: {
id: 'Number',
name: { type: 'Object', subSchema: {
first: 'Text',
last: 'Text'
}}
}}
}
});
var form = new Backbone.Form({
model: new Model,
fields: ['title', 'author.id', 'author.name.last']
}).render();
The following shorthand is also valid:
var Model = Backbone.DeepModel.extend({
schema: {
title: 'Text',
'author.id': 'Number',
'author.name.first': 'Text'
}
});
var form = new Backbone.Form({
model: new Model
})
Writing a custom editor is simple. They must extend from Backbone.Form.editors.Base.
var CustomEditor = Backbone.Form.editors.Base.extend({
tagName: 'input',
events: {
'change': function() {
// The 'change' event should be triggered whenever something happens
// that affects the result of `this.getValue()`.
this.trigger('change', this);
},
'focus': function() {
// The 'focus' event should be triggered whenever an input within
// this editor becomes the `document.activeElement`.
this.trigger('focus', this);
// This call automatically sets `this.hasFocus` to `true`.
},
'blur': function() {
// The 'blur' event should be triggered whenever an input within
// this editor stops being the `document.activeElement`.
this.trigger('blur', this);
// This call automatically sets `this.hasFocus` to `false`.
}
},
initialize: function(options) {
// Call parent constructor
Backbone.Form.editors.Base.prototype.initialize.call(this, options);
// Custom setup code.
if (this.schema.customParam) this.doSomething();
},
render: function() {
this.setValue(this.value);
return this;
},
getValue: function() {
return this.$el.val();
},
setValue: function(value) {
this.$el.val(value);
},
focus: function() {
if (this.hasFocus) return;
// This method call should result in an input within this edior
// becoming the `document.activeElement`.
// This, in turn, should result in this editor's `focus` event
// being triggered, setting `this.hasFocus` to `true`.
// See above for more detail.
this.$el.focus();
},
blur: function() {
if (!this.hasFocus) return;
this.$el.blur();
}
});
Notes:
- The editor must implement
getValue()
,setValue()
,focus()
andblur()
methods. - The editor must fire
change
,focus
andblur
events. - The original value is available through
this.value
. - The field schema can be accessed via
this.schema
. This allows you to pass in custom parameters.
###master
- Allow field template to be defined in schema
- Fix overriding List modal templates in Bootstrap template pack
###0.12.0
- Update for Backbone 1.0
- Overhaul templating and rendering
- List: Set focus on newly added simple list items
- Select: Add option group support (khepin)
###0.11.0
- Update for Backbone 0.9.10
- Pass editor instance as second parameter to Select options function
- Fix for jQuery 1.9
- Don't show if schema title===false (philfreo)
- Fix change event on radio editor (DominicBoettger)
- Fix model errors not being return by validate() (mutewinter)
- Setting value with setValue only from form.schema (okhomenko)
- Some smaller optimisation and fixes according to jsHint (MarcelloDiSimone)
- Add Form.setValue(key, val) option for arguments (lennym)
- Support ordering years in descending order in Date field (lennym)
- Allow the Number field type to accept decimal values (philfreo)
- Added 'backbone-forms' as a dependency to the AMD wrapper for templates. (seanparmelee)
- Allow use of required validator with checkbox fields (lennym)
- Make Form.Field template rendering context overrideable (drd)
- Fix a mismatched button element in the bootstrap.js template file. (there4)
- Fix AMD editors that must have backbone forms (philfreo)
- Skip undefined properties when setting form value from model.toJSON() (jgarbers)
- Add listItemTemplate option to list editors (philfreo)
- Fix NestedModel values being overridden by defaults (#99)
- Add Select.setOptions() method to change options on demand
- AMD improvements (see issue #77)
- Add 'change', 'focus' and 'blur' events (DouweM)
- Fix: #72 Hitting 'Enter' being focused on any text field in examples deletes nested "notes"
- Pressing enter in a list now adds a new item to the bottom of the list (Juice10)
- Customization of List Template & Tweaked default templates (philfreo)
- Fix not rendering of hidden fields (#75) (DouweM)
- DateTime editor:
- Convert strings to dates
- Remove built-in Date editor before removing self
- Email validator should accept "+" sign (#70)
###0.10.0
- update build scripts & package.json for jam packaging (dstendardi)
- Fields with options, such as Select, should handle 0 as value (torbjorntorbjorn)
- Update backbone.bootstrap-modal adapter
- Refactor rendering.
- tags are now defined in the template.
- Where a template is used, (e.g. advanced editors, field etc.), the entirety of the HTML is now defined in the template to make custom templating easier.
- All templates must now have a main 'parent' element.
- Create new List, Date and DateTime editors that don't rely on jQuery UI.
- You will still need to use jQuery UI editors for the calendar.
- For list items of type
Object
andNestedModel
you must include a modal adapter, such as the included Bootstrap Modal one. Should create one for jQuery UI.
- Improve the way dependencies are defined and module is exported for browser & CommonJS
- Add underscore dependency to AMD version
- Use buildify for building distribution files.
- Rename jQuery UI editors to jqueryui.List, jqueryui.Date, jqueryui.DateTime. These may be moved to a separate repository soon.
- Fix #65 Number editor Firefox NaN bug
- Fix bug with hidden fields (jeffutter)
- Fix AMD distribution bug (ikr)
####Required changes when upgrading:
- List editor:
- Change 'listType' to 'itemType' in schema definition.
- Make sure you have a modal adapter included if using Object and NestedModel itemTypes. See the List editor section.
###0.9.0
- Added ability to use a custom template compiler (geowa4)
- Added distribution files (development and minified production versions)
- Added AMD-compatible version (development and minified production versions)