# Create A Form

For our guestbook to be useful, we need a form for submitting new entries.

Our first order of business is to create the actual form class. To create the empty form class, execute:

    % zf create form Guestbook
    Creating a form at application/forms/Guestbook.php
    Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'

This will create the directory `application/forms/` with the classfile `Guestbook.php`. Open that file and update it so it reads as follows:

    // application/forms/Guestbook.php

    class Application_Form_Guestbook extends Zend_Form
    {
        public function init()
        {
            // Set the method for the display form to POST
            $this->setMethod('post');

            // Add an email element
            $this->addElement('text', 'email', array(
                'label'      => 'Your email address:',
                'required'   => true,
                'filters'    => array('StringTrim'),
                'validators' => array(
                    'EmailAddress',
                )
            ));

            // Add the comment element
            $this->addElement('textarea', 'comment', array(
                'label'      => 'Please Comment:',
                'required'   => true,
                'validators' => array(
                    array('validator' => 'StringLength', 'options' => array(0, 20))
                    )
            ));

            // Add a captcha
            $this->addElement('captcha', 'captcha', array(
                'label'      => 'Please enter the 5 letters displayed below:',
                'required'   => true,
                'captcha'    => array(
                    'captcha' => 'Figlet',
                    'wordLen' => 5,
                    'timeout' => 300
                )
            ));

            // Add the submit button
            $this->addElement('submit', 'submit', array(
                'ignore'   => true,
                'label'    => 'Sign Guestbook',
            ));

            // And finally add some CSRF protection
            $this->addElement('hash', 'csrf', array(
                'ignore' => true,
            ));
        }
    }

The above form defines five elements: an email address field, a comment field, a CAPTCHA for preventing spam submissions, a submit button, and a CSRF protection token.

Next, we will add a signAction() to our GuestbookController which will process the form upon submission. To create the action and related view script, execute the following:

    % zf create action sign Guestbook
    Creating an action named sign inside controller
        at application/controllers/GuestbookController.php
    Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'
    Creating a view script for the sign action method
        at application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml
    Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'

As you can see from the output, this will create a signAction() method in our controller, as well as the appropriate view script.

Let's add some logic into our guestbook controller's sign action. We need to first check if we're getting a POST or a GET request; in the latter case, we'll simply display the form. However, if we get a POST request, we'll want to validate the posted data against our form, and, if valid, create a new entry and save it. The logic might look like this:

    // application/controllers/GuestbookController.php

    class GuestbookController extends Zend_Controller_Action
    {
        // snipping indexAction()...

        public function signAction()
        {
            $request = $this->getRequest();
            $form    = new Application_Form_Guestbook();

            if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
                if ($form->isValid($request->getPost())) {
                    $comment = new Application_Model_Guestbook($form->getValues());
                    $mapper  = new Application_Model_GuestbookMapper();
                    $mapper->save($comment);
                    return $this->_helper->redirector('index');
                }
            }

            $this->view->form = $form;
        }
    }

Of course, we also need to edit the view script; edit `application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml` to read:

    <!-- application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml -->

    Please use the form below to sign our guestbook!

    <?php
    $this->form->setAction($this->url());
    echo $this->form;

Better Looking Forms

No one will be waxing poetic about the beauty of this form anytime soon. No matter - form appearance is fully customizable! See the decorators section in the reference guide for details.

Additionally, you may be interested in our tutorial on form decorators.

Checkpoint

Now browse to "http://localhost/guestbook/sign". You should see the following in your browser: