HTML FORM TEMPLATE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Darren Duncan CONTENTS * Preface * Keeping Up To Date * Requirements * Installation * Support * To Do * Author PREFACE This distribution features the Perl 5 module named "HTML::FormTemplate". All of my modules have complete POD inside of them, so please refer to that for a description of the module itself. This Read Me document concerns itself mainly with installation and support issues, and also includes any "To Do" lists and the file manifest. KEEPING UP TO DATE My module set is constantly under development. You should be able to find the newest versions at my website, "http://www.DarrenDuncan.net", on the page called "Perl Libraries I Made" (name subject to change). They can also be found on CPAN under the author name of "DUNCAND". I am inclined to update the copies on my web site more often, but those intermediate versions are more likely to have been tested less, and the modules may be updated day by day without increasing the version numbers. However, the copies on CPAN are guaranteed to have unique version numbers when the module has changed. REQUIREMENTS All of my modules require Perl 5.004 or newer, even though only some of them need it, in the interest of consistency. That said, Perl 5.004 is already 3 years old, is available as a binary on practically every OS that supports Perl at all, and is a very solid release, so I see no reason to support anything older. Modules in this distribution require modules in these following distributions: Class-ParamParser-1.041.tar.gz - by Darren Duncan (DUNCAND) - Class::ParamParser 1.041 is required by: - HTML::FormTemplate (as a parent class; parses method arguments) HTML-EasyTags-1.071.tar.gz - by Darren Duncan (DUNCAND) - HTML::EasyTags 1.071 is required by: - HTML::FormTemplate (makes form field HTML) Data-MultiValuedHash-1.081.tar.gz - by Darren Duncan (DUNCAND) - Data::MultiValuedHash 1.081 is required by: - HTML::FormTemplate (stores form field definitions) CGI-MultiValuedHash-1.081.tar.gz - by Darren Duncan (DUNCAND) - CGI::MultiValuedHash 1.081 is required by: - HTML::FormTemplate (stores and parses/url-decodes user-input) INSTALLATION To install this module, cd to the directory that contains all of the extracted distribution files, including this ReadMe file, and type the following: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install The last step probably won't work if you are not the administrator of your machine; in that case you either need to get your administrator to install this for you, or put it in a your own local directory instead. The Makefile.PL can do this for you if you substitute something like the following for the first line above: perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/tmp/myperl5 or: perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/home/me/myperl5 If you are on a Mac system that is older than Mac OS X (Mac OS 9 or earlier) and/or you are otherwise having problems with the Makefile, you can still install this module the old fashioned way, by copying. Every file in the "lib" folder of this distribution goes in its corresponding location within the "lib" folder that came with your Perl 5 distribution. Or alternately, put them anywhere you want, but you will need to have that location added to your include path by your main program using something like this: use lib '/home/me/myperl5/lib'; Then you would want to run the included test programs to make sure the modules are installed correctly. Call them like this: perl -w t/HTML-FormTemplate.t Any existing POD is embedded in the module itself. The Makefile probably extracted it for you in the usual manner, or you can run a POD extractor on it yourself to the same effect. You can also find an HTMLized copy of the POD on CPAN and other public source archives; I link to one copy of it on my web site. SUPPORT Currently I don't have any support arranged with other people, lists, newsgroups, or otherwise. Feel free to ask me if you can't figure things out on your own, or another person whom you know has used this. I may start a mailing list for support issues later, so that users of my modules can help each other with them. TO DO * Correct remaining issues related to output html so that it validates completely against W3C's XHTML spec. * Add a battery of tests to ensure that the module is working properly. * Allow echo reports to show the selection field labels for the user input instead of the "values" that are actually passed behind the scenes. * Add field attribute read_only, allowing once-editable field data to share screen space with still-editable field data. * Allow individual editing of internally stored field definitions, rather than requiring that they are all defined at once. * Customize validation error messages so they give a better idea what about the entry was inappropriate (eg: wrong number of selections). * Add support for customizing the appearance of forms more, such as having literal text/html appearing between elements of @definitions. * Make a utility program that utilizes this module's abilities to let users create form definitions for it with a web browser. * Add more field types and JavaScript support where appropriate. * Add support for "callback" or "closure" subroutines where appropriate. * I have few more ideas in this regard, but am open to suggestions. * Get my other modules done. AUTHOR Copyright (c) 1999-2004, Darren R. Duncan. All rights reserved. This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. However, I do request that this copyright information and credits remain attached to the file. If you modify this module and redistribute a changed version then please attach a note listing the modifications. This module is available "as-is" and the author can not be held accountable for any problems resulting from its use. I am always interested in knowing how my work helps others, so if you put this module to use in any of your own products or services then I would appreciate (but not require) it if you send me the website url for said product or service, so I know who you are. Also, if you make non-proprietary changes to the module because it doesn't work the way you need, and you are willing to make these freely available, then please send me a copy so that I can roll desirable changes into the main release. Address comments, suggestions, and bug reports to perl@DarrenDuncan.net. Share and Enjoy!