, (*1)
Introduction
MultiForm is a SilverStripe module, allowing flow control for forms, and step
process to be automatically determined based on configuration variables on each
step class. It augments the existing Form class in SilverStripe., (*2)
The goal of the module is to allow greater flexibility than features, so each
individual implementation can be customized to the project requirements., (*3)
Maintainer Contact
- Sean Harvey (Nickname: sharvey, halkyon)
- Ingo Schommer (Nickname: chillu)
Requirements
Note: For a SilverStripe 4.x or 3.x compatible version, please use ^2 or ^1 tagged version, (*4)
What it does do
- Abstracts fields, actions and validation to each individual step.
- Maintains flow control automatically, so it knows which steps are ahead and
behind. It also can retrieve an entire step process from start to finish, useful
for a step list.
- Persists data by storing it in the session for each step, once it's
completed. The session is saved into the database.
- Allows customisation of next, previous steps, saving, loading and
finalisation of the entire step process
- Allows for basic ability to branch a step by overloading the next step method
with logic to switch based on a condition (e.g. a checkbox, or dropdown in the
field data).
- Ties a user logged in who is using the step process (if applicable). This
means you can build extended security or logging.
- Basic flexibility on the URL presented to the user when they are using the
forms. By default it stores an encrypted hash of the session in the URL, but you
can reference it by the ID instead. It's recommend that additional security,
such as checking the user who first started the session be applied if you want
to reference by ID.
What it doesn't do
- Automatically handle relation saving, e.g. MembershipForm manages the Member
- Provide a complete package out of the box (you must write a bit of code using
the tutorial!)
- Automatically determine what to do at the end of the process, and where to
save it
- Provide nicely presented URLs of each step (an enhancement, for the future)
Note: The multiform directory should sit in your SilverStripe root project
directory in the file system as a sibling of cms and framework., (*5)
Reporting bugs
If you've found a bug that should be fixed for future releases, then please make
a ticket on https://github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-multiform/issues., (*6)
This helps to ensure we release less buggy software in the future!, (*7)
Tutorial
The assumption is the developer who is starting this tutorial has an
intermediate level of knowledge in SilverStripe, understands what "run
dev/build?flush=1" means, and has written some custom PHP code in SilverStripe
before., (*8)
If you are not familiar with SilverStripe, it is highly recommended you run
through the tutorials before attempting to start with this one., (*9)
1. Installing
Using Composer, you can install multiform into your
SilverStripe site using this command (while in the directory where your site is
currently located), (*10)
composer require silverstripe/multiform
First of all, we need to create a new subclass of MultiForm., (*11)
For the above example, our multi-form will be called SurveyForm, (*12)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Forms\MultiForm;
class SurveyForm extends MultiForm
{
}
3. Set up first step
Now that we've created our new MultiForm subclass step, we need to define what
form is going to be the first step in our multi-step process., (*13)
Each form step must subclass MultiFormStep. This is so the multi-form can
identify that this step is part of our step process, and is not just a standard
form., (*14)
So, for example, if we were going to have a first step which collects the
personal details of the form user, then we might have this class:, (*15)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Models\MultiFormStep;
class PersonalDetailsStep extends MultiFormStep
{
}
Now that we've got our first step of the form defined, we need to go back to our
subclass of MultiForm, SurveyForm, and tell it that SurveyFormPersonalDetailsStep
is the first step., (*16)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Forms\MultiForm;
class SurveyForm extends MultiForm
{
private static $start_step = PersonalDetailsStep::class;
}
4. Define next step, and final step
We've managed to set up the basics of multi-form, but it's not very useful, as
there's only one step!, (*17)
To get more than one step, each step needs to know what it's next step is in
order to use flow control in our system., (*18)
To let the step know what step is next in the process, we do the same as setting
the $start_step variable SurveyForm, but we call it $next_steps., (*19)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Models\MultiFormStep;
use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
use SilverStripe\Forms\TextField;
class PersonalDetailsStep extends MultiFormStep
{
private static $next_steps = OrganisationDetailsStep::class;
public function getFields()
{
return FieldList::create(
TextField::create('FirstName', 'First name'),
TextField::create('Surname', 'Surname')
);
}
}
At the very least, each step also has to have a getFields() method returning
a FieldSet with some form field objects. These are the fields that the form
will render for the given step., (*20)
Keep in mind that our multi-form also requires an end point. This step is the
final one, and needs to have another variable set to let the multi-form system know
this is the final step., (*21)
So, if we assume that the last step in our process is OrganisationDetailsStep, then we can do something like this:, (*22)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Models\MultiFormStep;
class OrganisationDetailsStep extends MultiFormStep
{
private static $is_final_step = true;
...
}
5. Run database integrity check
We need to run dev/build?flush=1 now, so that the classes are available to the
SilverStripe manifest builder, and to ensure that the database is up to date
with all the latest tables. So you can go ahead and do that., (*23)
Note: Whenever you add a new step, you MUST run dev/build?flush=1 or you
may receive errors., (*24)
However, we've forgotten one thing. We need to create a method on a page-type so
that the form can be rendered into a given template., (*25)
So, if we want to render our multi-form as $SurveyForm in the Page.ss
template, we need to create a SurveyForm method (function) on the controller:, (*26)
use SilverStripe\CMS\Controllers\ContentController;
use SilverStripe\ORM\FieldType\DBHTMLText;
class PageController extends ContentController
{
private static $allowed_actions = [
'SurveyForm',
'finished'
];
public function SurveyForm()
{
return SurveyForm::create($this, 'SurveyForm');
}
public function finished()
{
return [
'Title' => 'Thank you for your submission',
'Content' => DBHTMLText::create('<p>You have successfully submitted the form!</p>')
];
}
}
The SurveyForm() function will create a new instance of our subclass of
MultiForm, which in this example, is SurveyForm. This in turn will then set
up all the form fields, actions, and validation available to each step, as well
as the session., (*27)
You can of course, put the SurveyForm method on any controller class you
like., (*28)
Your template should look something like this, to render the form in:, (*29)
<div id="content">
<% if $Content %> $Content <% end_if %> <% if $SurveyForm %> $SurveyForm <%
end_if %> <% if $Form %> $Form <% end_if %>
</div>
In this case, the above template example is a sub-template inside the Layout
directory for the templates. Note that we have also included $Form, so
standard forms are still able to be used alongside our multi-step form., (*30)
6. Adding a step indicator
By default, we include a couple of basic progress indicators which could be
useful, out of the box., (*31)
Two of them, as of the time of writing this are:, (*32)
- Progress list (multiform/templates/Includes/MultiFormProgressList.ss)
- Progress complete percent (multiform/templates/Includes/MultiFormProgressPercent.ss)
They are designed to be used either by themselves, or alongside each other.
For example, the percentage could compliment the progress list to give an
indication of completion status., (*33)
To include these with our instance of multiform, we just need to add an
<% include %> statement into the template., (*34)
For example:, (*35)
<% with $SurveyForm %> <% include MultiFormProgressList %> <% end_with %>
This means the included template is rendered within the scope of the
SurveyForm instance returned, instead of the top level controller context.
This gives us the data to show the progression of the steps., (*36)
Putting it together, we might have something looking like this:, (*37)
<div id="content">
<% if $Content %> $Content <% end_if %> <% if $SurveyForm %> <% with
$SurveyForm %> <% include MultiFormProgressList %> <% end_with %>
$SurveyForm <% end_if %> <% if $Form %> $Form <% end_if %>
</div>
Feel free to play around with the progress indicators. If you need something
specific to your project, just create a new "Include" template inside your own
project templates directory, and include that instead. Some helpful methods to
use on the MultiForm would be:, (*38)
-
AllStepsLinear() (which also makes use of getAllStepsRecursive() to
produce a list of steps)
getCompletedStepCount()getTotalStepCount()getCompletedPercent()
The default progress indicators make use of the above functions in the
templates., (*39)
To use a custom method of your own, simply create a new method on your subclass
of MultiForm. In this example, SurveyForm would be the one to customise.
This new method you create would then become available in the progress indicator
template., (*40)
7. Loading values from other steps
There are several use cases where you want to pre-populate a value based on the submission value of another step.
There are two methods supporting this:, (*41)
-
getValueFromOtherStep() loads any submitted value from another step from the session
-
copyValueFromOtherStep() saves you the repeated work of adding the same lines of code again and again.
Here is an example of how to populate the email address from step 1 in step2 :, (*42)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Models\MultiFormStep;
use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
use SilverStripe\Forms\EmailField;
class Step1 extends MultiFormStep
{
private static $next_steps = Step2::class;
public function getFields()
{
return FieldList::create(
EmailField::create('Email', 'Your email')
);
}
}
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Models\MultiFormStep;
use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
use SilverStripe\Forms\EmailField;
class Step2 extends MultiFormStep
{
private static $next_steps = Step3::class;
public function getFields()
{
$fields = FieldList::create(
EmailField::create('Email', 'E-mail'),
EmailField::create('Email2', 'Verify E-Mail')
);
// set the email field to the input from Step 1
$this->copyValueFromOtherStep($fields, 'Step1', 'Email');
return $fields;
}
}
8. Finishing it up
Now that we've got a structure set up to collect form data along each step, and
progress through successfully, we need to customise what happens at the end of
the last step., (*43)
On the final step, the finish() method is called to finalise all the data
from the steps we completed. This method can be found on MultiForm. However,
we cannot automatically save each step, because we don't know where to save it.
So, we must write some code on our subclass of MultiForm, overloading
finish() to tell it what to do at the end., (*44)
Here is an example of what we could do here:, (*45)
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Forms\MultiForm;
use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
use SilverStripe\Forms\EmailField;
class SurveyForm extends MultiForm
{
private static $start_step = PersonalDetailsStep::class;
public function finish($data, $form)
{
parent::finish($data, $form);
$steps = MultiFormStep::get()->filter([
"SessionID" => $this->session->ID
]);
if ($steps) {
foreach ($steps as $step) {
if ($step->ClassName == PersonalDetailsStep::class) {
$member = Member::create();
$data = $step->loadData();
if ($data) {
$member->update($data);
$member->write();
}
}
if ($step->ClassName == OrganisationDetailsStep::class) {
$organisation = Organisation::create();
$data = $step->loadData();
if ($data) {
$organisation->update($data);
if ($member && $member->ID) {
$organisation->MemberID = $member->ID;
}
$organisation->write();
}
}
// Shows the step data (unserialized by loadData)
// Debug::show($step->loadData());
}
}
$this->controller->redirect($this->controller->Link() . 'finished');
}
}
9. Organisation data model
The class Organisation is mentioned in the above example but doesn't exist at
the moment (unlike the existing Member() class which looks after the member
groups in SilverStripe) so we need to create it:, (*46)
This example has been chosen as a separate DataObject but you may wish to change
the code and add the data to the Member class instead., (*47)
use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;
class Organisation extends DataObject
{
private static $db = [
// Add your Organisation fields here
];
}
Warning
If you're dealing with sensitive data, it's best to delete the session and step
data immediately after the form is successfully submitted., (*48)
You can delete it by calling this method on the finish() for your MultiForm
subclass:, (*49)
$this->session->delete();
This will also go through each of it's steps and delete them as well., (*50)
Customising
Because the multi-form system doesn't magically do everything for you, although
it does provide a sensible set of defaults, it means you need to customise
certain aspects of it. Here are some useful methods that can be customised
(although you can technically overload anything available on MultiForm and
MultiFormStep!):, (*51)
Templates
The best part about this system is the freedom to customise each form step
template., (*52)
In order, when you have a page with a multi-form rendering into it, it chooses
which template to render that form in this order, within the context of the
MultiForm class:, (*53)
- $this->getCurrentStep()->class (the current step class)
- MultiFormStep
- $this->class (your subclass of MultiForm)
- MultiForm
- Form
More than likely, you'll want the first one to be available when the form
renders. To that effect, you can start placing templates in the
templates/Includes directory for your project. You need to name them the same
as the class name for each step. For example, if you want MembershipForm, a
subclass of MultiFormStep to have it's own template, you would put
MembershipForm.ss into that directory, and run ?flush=1., (*54)
If you'd like a pre-existing template on how to customise the form step, have a
look at Form.ss that's found within the framework module. Use that template, as
a base for your new MembershipForm.ss template in your project templates., (*55)
For more information on this, please look at the Form documentation., (*56)
getNextStep()
If you are wanting to override the next step (for example if you want the next step to
be something different based on a user's choice of input during the step) you
can override getNextStep() on any given step to manually override what the next
step should be. An example:, (*57)
class MyStep extends MultiFormStep
{
...
public function getNextStep()
{
$data = $this->loadData();
if(isset($data['Gender']) && $data['Gender'] == 'Male') {
return TestThirdCase1Step::class;
} else {
return TestThirdCase2Step::class;
}
}
...
}
Validation
To define validation on a step-by-step basis, please define getValidator() and
return a Validator object, such as RequiredFields - for more information on form
validation see :form., (*58)
e.g., (*59)
class MyStep extends MultiFormStep
{
...
public function getValidator()
{
return RequiredFields::create(array(
'Name',
'Email'
));
}
...
}
finish()
finish() is the final call in the process. At this step, all the form data
would most likely be unserialized, and saved to the database in whatever way the
developer sees fit. By default, we have a finish() method on MultiForm which
serializes the last step form data into the database, and that's it., (*60)
finish() should be overloaded onto your subclass of MultiForm, and
parent::finish() should be called first, otherwise the last step form data
won't be saved., (*61)
For example:, (*62)
use SilverStripe\Dev\Debug;
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Forms\MultiForm;
use SilverStripe\MultiForm\Models\MultiFormStep;
class SurveyForm extends MultiForm
{
private static $start_step = PersonalDetailsStep::class;
public function finish($data, $form)
{
parent::finish($data, $form);
$steps = MultiFormStep::get()->filter(['SessionID' => $this->session->ID]);
if($steps) {
foreach ($steps as $step) {
// Shows the step data (unserialized by loadData)
Debug::show($step->loadData());
}
}
}
}
The above is a sample bit of code that simply fetches all the steps in the
database that were saved. Further refinement could include getting steps only
if the Data (serialized raw form data) is set, as the above example doesn't
respect branching of steps (multiple next steps on a given form step)., (*63)
Best practices
Delete session after submission
If you're dealing with sensitive data, such as credit card fields, or personal
fields that shouldn't be lying around in the session database, then it's a good
idea to immediately delete this data after the user has submitted., (*64)
This can be easily achieved by adding the following line at the end of your
finish() method on your MultiForm subclass., (*65)
$this->session->delete();
Expiring old session data
Included with the MultiForm module is a class called MultiFormPurgeTask. This
task can be used to purge expired session data on a regular basis. The date of
expiry can be customised, and is given a default of 7 days to delete sessions
after their creation., (*66)
You can run the task from the URL, by using http://mysite.com/dev/tasks/MultiFormPurgeTask?flush=1, (*67)
MultiFormPurgeTask is a subclass of BuildTask, so can be run using the SilverStripe CLI tools., (*68)
One way of automatically running this on a UNIX based machine is by cron., (*69)
TODO
-
Code example on how to use $form->saveInto() with MultiForm, as it doesn't have all steps in the $form context at finish(), (*70)
-
Allowing a user to click a link, and have an email sent to them with the current state, so they can come back and use the form exactly where they left off, (*71)
-
Possibly allow for different means to persist data, such as the browser session cache instead of the database., (*72)
-
Different presentation of the URL to identify each step., (*73)
-
Allow customisation of prev() and next() on each step. Currently you can only customise for the entire MultiForm subclass. There is a way to customise on a per step basis, which could be described in a small recipe., (*74)
-
More detailed explanation, and recipe example on how to make branched multistep forms. For example, clicking a different action takes you to an alternative next step than the one defined in $next_steps, (*75)
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