Root-container reference

Hi,

I'm working on making my code abstract so I can use it across different templates and I have a question.

Is there a way of finding out the root-container's name using FormAPI?

Say if my DCT had a root-container named so..

[root-container name="annoucement" location="annoucement"]
[item name="UniqueID" pathid="UniqueID"]
[hidden][/hidden]
[/item]
[/root-containter>"]

What function and syntax can I use to retrieve the "announcement" value without knowing the value of the root-container's name? Again, I want to do this so I can abstract functions that will be used on fields that are common across many different templates.

Thanks,
/D

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Comments

Nidhi_Agrawal

Hi,

I didnt accessed root-container name on FormApi.
You can define a container inside a root-container. And easily access the name of that on FormApi.
[root-container name="annoucement1" location="annoucement1"]
[container name="annoucement" location="annoucement"]

[item name="UniqueID" pathid="UniqueID"]
[hidden][/hidden]
[/item]
[containter>"]
[/root-containter>"]

Nidhi...

Nidhi_Agrawal

Refer page 63 of "TeamSite 6.0 FormAPI Developers Guide" pdf .This may help you.

Nidhi..

histogram.zip

IWguy

Hi Nidhi,

Appreciate the comments and I reviewed the Teamsite 6 manual (same example that I looked at previously in my Teamsite 6.5 manual).

I'm still curious though - with your example, wouldn't I still have to reference the root container? e.g. /annoucement1/annoucement/uniqueID

Ideally, I would like to write a function that can be used on different fields across several different templates (say for example, a "toUpper" command).

This is how things would be within the DCT:

IWEventRegistry.addItemHandler("/news/title", "onItemChange", toUpperCase);
var UpperCaseItem = IWDatacapture.getItem("/news/title");
toUpperCase(UpperCaseItem);

function toUpperCase(item) {
item.setValue(item.getValue().toUpperCase());
}

Now the field "title" will change depending on which Item I am looking to run a script on but is simple to determine. The problem I am having is with the root-container (in this case it's called "news") . This will change depending on the type of DCR I am in. I was hoping to pass the name of the root-container into the function once I abstract it and store it in a separate JS file. Is this possible?

Thanks,
/D

Thanks,
Darcy

Adam Stoller

This is how things would be within the DCT:

IWEventRegistry.addItemHandler("/news/title", "onItemChange", toUpperCase);
var UpperCaseItem = IWDatacapture.getItem("/news/title");
toUpperCase(UpperCaseItem);

function toUpperCase(item) {
    item.setValue(item.getValue().toUpperCase());
}

If you have an item handler for on /news/title - why are you explicitly writing the next two lines? I think all you need is the first line and the function declaration (repeating the first line for each field on which you want this operation to occur:

function init(){
   ...
   IWEventRegistry.addItemHandler("/news/title", "onItemChange", toUpperCase);
   ...
}
function toUpperCase(item){
   item.setValue(item.getValue().toUpperCase());
}

(I'm assuming there is a toUpperCase javascript function)

You could further abstract this if you wanted with a function that traversed all the fields in your form, perhaps checking the type of field or something and registered the event handler for them -- and at the same time, explicitly calling the function for each item too as a form initialization step.

histogram.zip

IWguy

Hi Ghoti,

Thanks for the reply and you are right about the 2 extra lines not being needed. As for what I'm looking to do, let me try to explain it further.

You mentioned that I could abstract it so that it doesn't matter what the field is. That's good and that what my plan is. My goal is though is to abstract it to a level where I can use it across forms. I'm not being specific to the toUpperCase command either here so it's not that what I'm stuck on.

The goal is to run a script so that the following command can be used...

IWEventRegistry.addItemHandler("/" + root_container_name + "/" + item_name, "onItemChange", toUpperCase);

In this fashion, I can pass in the values of root_container_name and item_name into the function.

Hopefully I've explained myself better - my apologies for not doing so at first.
Thanks,
/D

Adam Stoller

Hi Ghoti,

Thanks for the reply and you are right about the 2 extra lines not being needed. As for what I'm looking to do, let me try to explain it further.

You mentioned that I could abstract it so that it doesn't matter what the field is. That's good and that what my plan is. My goal is though is to abstract it to a level where I can use it across forms. I'm not being specific to the toUpperCase command either here so it's not that what I'm stuck on.

The goal is to run a script so that the following command can be used...

IWEventRegistry.addItemHandler("/" + root_container_name + "/" + item_name, "onItemChange", toUpperCase);

In this fashion, I can pass in the values of root_container_name and item_name into the function.

Hopefully I've explained myself better - my apologies for not doing so at first.
Thanks,
/D

I don't have a straight-out answer for you - frankly if I had taken the time to design and implement something like this I wouldn't be too likely to post it all here anyway - at least not without getting something like a free-trip to GearUp for presenting it first - but as long as we're talking semi-theoretical/semi-hypothetical I'm more than willing to toss in ideas from time to time.

(simple, but stated for completeness) Create a "global.js" or "common.js" file that contains the functions you need and include that file in all of the DCTs.
The functions you define for setting up handlers like you suggest would need to know
- the root container and item path [not sure why you'd consider them separately],
- the event and
- the function to register for that event.
You can either create your own datastructure for this and pass that in, or create the lists and whatever you need on the fly when you call the initializer -- perhaps you don't need to specify the fields if you can specify other criteria that is consistant throughout (like all textarea fields should be processed by such-and-such event handler ...)
You will, I believe, run into problems if you want to register more than one function for a particular event for a particular xpath - so you need to figure out if this is going to be an issue for you - and if so the design needs to account for multi-faceted functions that can be called with a single event handler but are able to perform multiple operations when invoked.

Ultimately, I think there comes a point where the level of abstraction hurts rather than helps - and I think it's up to you to determine where that point is for your project.

IWguy

heh heh... Thanks Ghoti - you are right about how abstraction can hurt if taken to the Nth degree.

Thanks for your thoughts on this though. I'll give a whirl at this.

As far as Gear Up goes, you can take the credit and head to GearUp to present. Smiley Happy

Just have a couple of pints for me.

l8r,
/D