DCT | Form API Validations

Yes, this is fundamental to FormAPI and I recommend you read the manual (6.5 manual starting at page 49).

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mohit_maniar

Without actually writing the code for you, I'll get you very close...

var item = IWDatacapture.getItem("myTextarea");
if (item.getValue().length > 120) {
...
}

You could add to the code above and put it in a function which is called when the textarea is changed and also when the form is validated.

mohit_maniar

Hi

Hi Dave,
My requirment is not to allow user more than 120 characters when he is authoring the DCR and not after user clicks save button.
DCR Field:
[html]

Javascript&colon;
<script language="javascript" location="template-type">
IWEventRegistry.addItemHandler("/dsc_section_title", "onItemChange", textCounter);
function textCounter(item)
{
var maxlength = 120;
var field = item.getValue();
if (field.value > maxlength) // if too long...trim it!
{
alert("only 120 character possible");
field.value = field.value.substring(0, maxlength);
}
}

</script>
[/html]
The code is allowing to write more than 120 characters.
Can i use [onKeyDown & onKeyUp] given below:
[html]
<textarea required="t" rows="4" cols="60" wrap="virtual" validation-regex="^(.|\n){1,120}$" onkeydown="textCounter(item.)" onkeyup="textCounter(item)">
[/html]
Thanks,
Mohit.

jbonifaci

It what situation is it allowing more than 120 characters?

The only FormAPI event you have to tie into this is onItemChange. onItemChange you can check if it is greater than 120 characters and either trim or set isValid to false.

~Jeff

Using onKeyDown is going to rely on vanilla Javascript and integrating that with a DCT is pure ****... seriously. Not to mention, it's not supported. As Jeff mentioned, you'll need to rely on onItemChange but since you said it's not working, could you post the code and perhaps you messed up somewhere? This is a common requirement and this task is pretty straight-forward (not rocket science like integrating standard Javascript events with the DCT).

jbonifaci

If the problem is, your function doesn't work (which I can't see how it does), you'll probably want to change it to FormAPI that actually works, not a mix of javascript and formapi that doesn't:

function textCounter(itemObject)
{
 var maxLength = 120;
 var itemValue = itemObject.getValue()
 if (itemValue.length > maxLength)
 {
  alert("Only 120 character possible");
  itemObject.setValue(itemValue.substring(0, maxLength));
 }
}

~Jeff

Is it still "pure ****" to integrate onkeydown with a DCT? Can anyone point me down the road to **** please, I'd like to get started Smiley Happy

Is it still "pure ****" to integrate onkeydown with a DCT? Can anyone point me down the road to **** please, I'd like to get started

It is not that bad. You just need to know how to find DCT Item within FormAPI code and how to *inject* DOM on<Event> clause into it.
Try the following example as is first and see if you can leverage it to your requirements. Needless to say, this is neither documented nor supported.[html]

Proof of Concept

Container

Item
<br>

<script><br>IWEventRegistry.addFormHandler("onFormInit", init);<br><br>function init() {<br> // Find Element. For portability use getElementsByName(...)[0](plural), not getElementByName(singular)<br> var txtArea = top.document.formframe.document.getElementsByName('cnt/itm')[0];<br> <br> // Inject your Handler<br> if (txtArea) txtArea.onkeydown = function() {return myOnKeyDownHandler()};<br>}<br><br>function myOnKeyDownHandler() {<br> alert("This is ****!");<br> return true; // return false to discard pressed Key<br>}<br></script>

[/html]

Thanks I will try this on Monday!

This code does not work as is. I've tried playing with it for 2 hours now, and no luck.

This code does not work as is. I've tried playing with it for 2 hours now, and no luck.

Works in my case, see attached screen-shot. Please note testing Environment information from my post signature.

Note also that I've used dcr-type="iwov", if you've used type "xml" naming may differ for the "get...ByName" command.
Other than that - you would have to play with the code, insert tries/debugging and the like to see where it fails
in your Environment. Chances are - you fail to find text Area to manipulate

Thank you, I got it working once I switched it to dcr-type = "iwov", but the iwov dcr-type doesn't support tabs !!! So I don't think I can use this. Any thoughts on the tabs problem? Is it possible to get this working with the xml dcr-type?

singleFacultyStudentFeedback_Managementview_SummativeFormative_FEEDBACK_CODE_6.zip

Is it possible to get this working with the xml dcr-type?

I'm sure it is possible. All you have to do is render a form with type XML, View Source and figure out DCT Items'
naming convention. After that you modify "getElementsByName" parameter accordingly, re-test and close up this
thread with your update

nipper

This begs the question as to why you use IWOV style DCRs ? I have not used them for a long while, pretty much after I stopped using workflow builder and writing in Basic. Smiley Very Happy

This begs the question as to why you use IWOV style DCRs ? I have not used them for a long while, pretty much after I stopped using workflow builder and writing in Basic.

In my particular case (I actually have a mix) - for Backward compatibility and nothing else.
Another interesting question is what System performance would be like with synchronous
AJAX calls to a server on every key press but this is not my problem, is it?

When I view source I get this: name='Content/cnt/1/itm'

But when I try the line:

var txtArea = top.document.formframe.document.getElementsByName('Content/cnt/1/itm');

it does not work. Any thoughts? I'm not seeing any documentation on getElementsByName

Thanks.

nipper

That is a java function, not FormAPI, try google for some examples

The following code results in a popup saying "1" so the getElementsByName is fine, it's the:

if (txtArea) txtArea.onkeydown = function() {return myOnKeyDownHandler()};

line that apparently isn't working now with dcr-type="xml"

Any ideas out there for me?

Oh here is my code:
[html]
[/html]

The following code results in a popup saying "1" so the getElementsByName is fine...

1. It isn't. "getElementsByName" always returns an array and you've lost an index somewhere.(That is actually why you are getting txtArea.length==1). So:
var txtArea = top.document.formframe.document.getElementsByName('Content/cnt/1/itm')[0]; // Btw, naming seems correct here.

2. <container name="cnt" location="cnt" min="1" max="10" default="1">
Site Publisher creates default (first) replicant after onInit Event. You'd have to [post=121833]delay processing[/post] somewhat.

3. Finally, do not expect that new Replicants added by your user will somehow inherit the desired behavior. You'd have to code
for it using perhaps onRepplicantAdded FormAPI Event or something like that.

It may be easier to do what you want if you do not mix up FormAPI and JS. You may want to use custom callout (CGI or Java Servlet)
to populate your replicant fields. There you do what you want and how you want it without tiptoeing around undocumented Form Publisher
code.

Thank you! So now it's working, but as you said it doesn't handle new replicants. I noticed when you add a replicant and view source there is no path in the view source such as Content/cnt/1/itm (but for the new replicant) so how do I refer to the newly added replicants with getElementsByName ?

Thank you! So now it's working, but as you said it doesn't handle new replicants. I noticed when you add a replicant and view source there is no path in the view source such as Content/cnt/1/itm (but for the new replicant) so how do I refer to the newly added replicants with getElementsByName ?

Have you tried "Content/cnt/2/itm", "Content/cnt/3/itm", etc?