[pmwiki-users] forms markup (was: Upgrading to 2.0 breaks Input recipe - how to proceed?)

[John Rankin]

On Wednesday, 7 September 2005 9:01 AM, Patrick R. Michaud <pmichaud at pobox.com> wrote:
>
>> >>* The core (:input:) markup doesn't do menus. I don't need them right 
>> >>now, and may not need them for some time to come, but I *will* need them.
>> >
>> >I'm still deciding what I want to use for a markup for this.
>> 
>> What are the options?
>
>I'm still working on it.  One is the (:input menu:) ... (:input menuend:)
>that you've developed, but I'd like to explore some alternatives.
>Another possibility is something like:
>
>   (:input menu 
>       "First item"
>       "Second item"
>       "Third item" :)

FWIW:

The wikiforms recipe went a completely different syntax route, but the 
requirements and markup chosen may have some useful input to the syntax.

3 requirements in particular (there are many others):
- set which value to check, eg in a set of radio buttons

  for example, offer page size A4 or US, with the A4 checked

- show one value on screen but pass a different value in the form

  for example pass align=left but display "gauche" in the French
  translation of the form

- support $Name substitutions in form item values

  for example replace $PSort with the value of $psort
  when outputting a hidden variable

Here is a possible example with the (:input:) directive

(:input menu
    "left|gauche"
    "*right|driot" :)

I haven't really delved into the input markup, so may have
misinterpreted its syntax...

If it's useful, I'm happy to point at some example form templates
and how they get displayed.

I would like to move to use the pmwiki markup instead of a local
customisation at some point, but it would have to meet all our 
requirements. It doesn't make sense to me to maintain 2 markups 
for the same function.

Would it be helpful to use our forms as test cases for proposed
syntax? They are real requirements, integrate with pmwiki and
are quite demanding. That is: here is an existing template, here
is the form produced, can pmwiki support this behaviour.

Fortunately, our version didn't break with pmwiki 2.

For more information and an example, this form template page:
http://intranet.affinity.co.nz/pmwiki2/index.php?n=Site.PrintTemplate

generates this form:
http://intranet.affinity.co.nz/pmwiki2/index.php?n=Wikipublisher.BasicFeatures?action=texprint

A first step would be to say: what would the template page
look like under proposed pmwiki markup syntax.

Just my 5¢...


-- 
JR
--
John Rankin