ASP Autofill RFC [WAS Re: Sticky forms for Apache::ASP]

[Joshua Chamas <jo...@chamas.com>]

Paul Lindner wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> We've worked out a solution to get sticky form fields inside Apache::ASP
> 
> We use HTML::FillinForm and a custom tag to get the desired behaviour.
> Put this is in global.asa:
> 

I have thought about integrating this form autofill functionality
into Apache::ASP with the help of HTML::FillInForm, and 
think that the best "standardized" way would model the ASP+
method as Paul mentions below with 

<form ... runat="server">
 ...
</form>

At output time then the buffer will be inspected for
these forms, and autofilled.  Note that this will 
probably be a little less efficient than using an 
XMLSubsMatch to compile the form tag as a subroutine,
but will be more flexible by not conflicting with
XMLSubs functionality, and allowing ASP code to generate
the runat=server on the fly and affect then fill in
properties in this way.

What do you all think?

--Joshua

_________________________________________________________________
Joshua Chamas			        Chamas Enterprises Inc.
NodeWorks >> free web link monitoring	Huntington Beach, CA  USA 
http://www.nodeworks.com                1-714-625-4051

Paul Lindner wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> We've worked out a solution to get sticky form fields inside Apache::ASP
> 
> We use HTML::FillinForm and a custom tag to get the desired behaviour.
> Put this is in global.asa:
> 
>  sub fillin {
>    my $args = shift;
>    my $html = shift;
>    my $fif = new HTML::FillInForm;
>    my $output = $fif->fill(
>                            scalarref => \$html,
>                            fdat      => $Apps::Param,
>                            );
>    $Response->Write($output);
>  }
> 
> Note $Apps::Param is set to either the querystring or form data.
> Replace with $Request->QueryString or $Request->Form if you wish.
> 
> Then put something like this in your apache configuration:
> 
>   XMLSubsMatch fillin
> 
> Finally, surround your forms like this:
> 
>   <fillin>
>     <form>
>       <input name="myfield">
>     </form>
>   </fillin>
> 
> And voila, instant filled in forms..
> 
> Note that a small variation to this technique allows for ASP3.0 style
> evaluation of forms.
> 
> Instead use a 'form' function
> 
>  sub form {
>   ...
>  }
> 
> Then check the args to see if the param 'runat' is set to 'server'.
> 
> If so, do the funky stuff, if not, just spit it out...
> 
> --
> Paul Lindner
> plindner@redhat.com
> Red Hat Inc.