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<td><h1>CodeIgniter User Guide Version 2.1.3</h1></td>
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<p>The Form Helper file contains functions that assist in working with forms.</p>
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<h2>Loading this Helper</h2>
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<p>This helper is loaded using the following code:</p>
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<code>$this->load->helper('form');</code>
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<p>The following functions are available:</p>
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<p>Creates an opening form tag with a base URL <strong>built from your config preferences</strong>. It will optionally let you
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add form attributes and hidden input fields, and will always add the attribute <kbd>accept-charset</kbd> based on the charset value in your config file.</p>
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<p>The main benefit of using this tag rather than hard coding your own HTML is that it permits your site to be more portable
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in the event your URLs ever change.</p>
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<p>Here's a simple example:</p>
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<code>echo form_open('email/send');</code>
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<p>The above example would create a form that points to your base URL plus the "email/send" URI segments, like this:</p>
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<code><form method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http:/example.com/index.php/email/send" /></code>
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<h4>Adding Attributes</h4>
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<p>Attributes can be added by passing an associative array to the second parameter, like this:</p>
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$attributes = array('class' => 'email', 'id' => 'myform');<br />
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echo form_open('email/send', $attributes);</code>
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<p>The above example would create a form similar to this:</p>
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<code><form method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http:/example.com/index.php/email/send" class="email" id="myform" /></code>
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<h4>Adding Hidden Input Fields</h4>
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<p>Hidden fields can be added by passing an associative array to the third parameter, like this:</p>
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$hidden = array('username' => 'Joe', 'member_id' => '234');<br />
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echo form_open('email/send', '', $hidden);</code>
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<p>The above example would create a form similar to this:</p>
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<code><form method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" action="http:/example.com/index.php/email/send"><br />
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<input type="hidden" name="username" value="Joe" /><br />
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<input type="hidden" name="member_id" value="234" /></code>
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<h2>form_open_multipart()</h2>
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<p>This function is absolutely identical to the <dfn>form_open()</dfn> tag above except that it adds a multipart attribute,
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which is necessary if you would like to use the form to upload files with.</p>
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<h2>form_hidden()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate hidden input fields. You can either submit a name/value string to create one field:</p>
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<code>form_hidden('username', 'johndoe');<br />
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// Would produce:<br /><br />
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<input type="hidden" name="username" value="johndoe" /></code>
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<p>Or you can submit an associative array to create multiple fields:</p>
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<code>$data = array(<br />
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'name' => 'John Doe',<br />
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'email' => 'john@example.com',<br />
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'url' => 'http://example.com'<br />
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);<br />
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echo form_hidden($data);<br />
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// Would produce:<br /><br />
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<input type="hidden" name="name" value="John Doe" /><br />
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<input type="hidden" name="email" value="john@example.com" /><br />
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<input type="hidden" name="url" value="http://example.com" /></code>
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<h2>form_input()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate a standard text input field. You can minimally pass the field name and value in the first
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and second parameter:</p>
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<code>echo form_input('username', 'johndoe');</code>
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<p>Or you can pass an associative array containing any data you wish your form to contain:</p>
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<code>$data = array(<br />
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'name' => 'username',<br />
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'id' => 'username',<br />
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'value' => 'johndoe',<br />
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'maxlength' => '100',<br />
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'size' => '50',<br />
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'style' => 'width:50%',<br />
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);<br />
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echo form_input($data);<br />
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// Would produce:<br /><br />
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<input type="text" name="username" id="username" value="johndoe" maxlength="100" size="50" style="width:50%" /></code>
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<p>If you would like your form to contain some additional data, like Javascript, you can pass it as a string in the
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<code>$js = 'onClick="some_function()"';<br />
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echo form_input('username', 'johndoe', $js);</code>
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<h2>form_password()</h2>
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<p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_input()</dfn> function above
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except that is sets it as a "password" type.</p>
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<h2>form_upload()</h2>
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<p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_input()</dfn> function above
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except that is sets it as a "file" type, allowing it to be used to upload files.</p>
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<h2>form_textarea()</h2>
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<p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_input()</dfn> function above
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except that it generates a "textarea" type. Note: Instead of the "maxlength" and "size" attributes in the above
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example, you will instead specify "rows" and "cols".</p>
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<h2>form_dropdown()</h2>
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<p>Lets you create a standard drop-down field. The first parameter will contain the name of the field,
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the second parameter will contain an associative array of options, and the third parameter will contain the
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value you wish to be selected. You can also pass an array of multiple items through the third parameter, and CodeIgniter will create a multiple select for you. Example:</p>
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<code>$options = array(<br />
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'small' => 'Small Shirt',<br />
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'med' => 'Medium Shirt',<br />
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'large' => 'Large Shirt',<br />
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'xlarge' => 'Extra Large Shirt',<br />
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);<br />
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$shirts_on_sale = array('small', 'large');<br />
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echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, 'large');<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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<select name="shirts"><br />
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<option value="small">Small Shirt</option><br />
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<option value="med">Medium Shirt</option><br />
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<option value="large" selected="selected">Large Shirt</option><br />
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<option value="xlarge">Extra Large Shirt</option><br />
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</select><br />
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echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, $shirts_on_sale);<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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<select name="shirts" multiple="multiple"><br />
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<option value="small" selected="selected">Small Shirt</option><br />
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<option value="med">Medium Shirt</option><br />
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<option value="large" selected="selected">Large Shirt</option><br />
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<option value="xlarge">Extra Large Shirt</option><br />
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</select></code>
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<p>If you would like the opening <select> to contain additional data, like an <kbd>id</kbd> attribute or JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the
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fourth parameter:</p>
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<code>$js = 'id="shirts" onChange="some_function();"';<br />
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echo form_dropdown('shirts', $options, 'large', $js);</code>
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<p>If the array passed as $options is a multidimensional array, form_dropdown() will produce an <optgroup> with the array key as the label.</p>
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<h2>form_multiselect()</h2>
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<p>Lets you create a standard multiselect field. The first parameter will contain the name of the field,
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the second parameter will contain an associative array of options, and the third parameter will contain the
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value or values you wish to be selected. The parameter usage is identical to using <kbd>form_dropdown()</kbd> above,
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except of course that the name of the field will need to use POST array syntax, e.g. <samp>foo[]</samp>.</p>
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<h2>form_fieldset()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate fieldset/legend fields.</p>
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<code>echo form_fieldset('Address Information');<br />
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echo "<p>fieldset content here</p>\n";<br />
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echo form_fieldset_close();
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<legend>Address Information</legend>
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<p>form content here</p>
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</fieldset></code>
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<p>Similar to other functions, you can submit an associative array in the second parameter if you prefer to set additional attributes. </p>
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<p><code>$attributes = array('id' => 'address_info', 'class' => 'address_info');<br />
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echo form_fieldset('Address Information', $attributes);<br />
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echo "<p>fieldset content here</p>\n";<br />
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echo form_fieldset_close(); <br />
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<fieldset id="address_info" class="address_info"> <br />
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<legend>Address Information</legend> <br />
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<p>form content here</p> <br />
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</fieldset></code></p>
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<h2>form_fieldset_close()</h2>
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<p>Produces a closing </fieldset> tag. The only advantage to using this function is it permits you to pass data to it
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which will be added below the tag. For example:</p>
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<code>$string = "</div></div>";<br />
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echo form_fieldset_close($string);<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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</fieldset><br />
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</div></div></code>
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<h2>form_checkbox()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate a checkbox field. Simple example:</p>
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<code>echo form_checkbox('newsletter', 'accept', TRUE);<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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<input type="checkbox" name="newsletter" value="accept" checked="checked" /></code>
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<p>The third parameter contains a boolean TRUE/FALSE to determine whether the box should be checked or not.</p>
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<p>Similar to the other form functions in this helper, you can also pass an array of attributes to the function:</p>
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<code>$data = array(<br />
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'name' => 'newsletter',<br />
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'id' => 'newsletter',<br />
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'value' => 'accept',<br />
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'checked' => TRUE,<br />
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'style' => 'margin:10px',<br />
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);<br />
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echo form_checkbox($data);<br />
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// Would produce:<br /><br />
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<input type="checkbox" name="newsletter" id="newsletter" value="accept" checked="checked" style="margin:10px" /></code>
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<p>As with other functions, if you would like the tag to contain additional data, like JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the
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fourth parameter:</p>
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<code>$js = 'onClick="some_function()"';<br />
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echo form_checkbox('newsletter', 'accept', TRUE, $js)</code>
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<h2>form_radio()</h2>
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<p>This function is identical in all respects to the <dfn>form_checkbox()</dfn> function above except that is sets it as a "radio" type.</p>
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<h2>form_submit()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate a standard submit button. Simple example:</p>
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<code>echo form_submit('mysubmit', 'Submit Post!');<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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<input type="submit" name="mysubmit" value="Submit Post!" /></code>
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<p>Similar to other functions, you can submit an associative array in the first parameter if you prefer to set your own attributes.
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The third parameter lets you add extra data to your form, like JavaScript.</p>
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<h2>form_label()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate a <label>. Simple example:</p>
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<code>echo form_label('What is your Name', 'username');<br />
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<label for="username">What is your Name</label></code>
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<p>Similar to other functions, you can submit an associative array in the third parameter if you prefer to set additional attributes. </p>
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<p><code>$attributes = array(<br />
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'class' => 'mycustomclass',<br />
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'style' => 'color: #000;',<br />
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echo form_label('What is your Name', 'username', $attributes);<br />
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// Would produce: <br />
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<label for="username" class="mycustomclass" style="color: #000;">What is your Name</label></code></p>
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<h2>form_reset()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate a standard reset button. Use is identical to <dfn>form_submit()</dfn>.</p>
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<h2>form_button()</h2>
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<p>Lets you generate a standard button element. You can minimally pass the button name and content in the first and second parameter:</p>
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echo form_button('name','content');<br />
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// Would produce<br />
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<button name="name" type="button">Content</button>
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Or you can pass an associative array containing any data you wish your form to contain:
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'name' => 'button',<br />
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'id' => 'button',<br />
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'value' => 'true',<br />
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'type' => 'reset',<br />
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'content' => 'Reset'<br />
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echo form_button($data);<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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<button name="button" id="button" value="true" type="reset">Reset</button>
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If you would like your form to contain some additional data, like JavaScript, you can pass it as a string in the third parameter:
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$js = 'onClick="some_function()"';<br /><br />
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echo form_button('mybutton', 'Click Me', $js);
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<h2>form_close()</h2>
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<p>Produces a closing </form> tag. The only advantage to using this function is it permits you to pass data to it
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which will be added below the tag. For example:</p>
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<code>$string = "</div></div>";<br />
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echo form_close($string);<br />
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// Would produce:<br />
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</div></div></code>
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<p>Allows you to safely use HTML and characters such as quotes within form elements without breaking out of the form. Consider this example:</p>
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<code>$string = 'Here is a string containing <strong>"quoted"</strong> text.';<br />
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<input type="text" name="myform" value="<var>$string</var>" /></code>
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<p>Since the above string contains a set of quotes it will cause the form to break.
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The form_prep function converts HTML so that it can be used safely:</p>
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<code><input type="text" name="myform" value="<var><?php echo form_prep($string); ?></var>" /></code>
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<p class="important"><strong>Note:</strong> If you use any of the form helper functions listed in this page the form
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values will be prepped automatically, so there is no need to call this function. Use it only if you are
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creating your own form elements.</p>
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<p>Permits you to set the value of an input form or textarea. You must supply the field name via the first parameter of the function.
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The second (optional) parameter allows you to set a default value for the form. Example:</p>
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<code><input type="text" name="quantity" value="<dfn><?php echo set_value('quantity', '0'); ?></dfn>" size="50" /></code>
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<p>The above form will show "0" when loaded for the first time.</p>
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<h2>set_select()</h2>
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<p>If you use a <dfn><select></dfn> menu, this function permits you to display the menu item that was selected. The first parameter
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must contain the name of the select menu, the second parameter must contain the value of
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each item, and the third (optional) parameter lets you set an item as the default (use boolean TRUE/FALSE).</p>
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<select name="myselect"><br />
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<option value="one" <dfn><?php echo set_select('myselect', 'one', TRUE); ?></dfn> >One</option><br />
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<option value="two" <dfn><?php echo set_select('myselect', 'two'); ?></dfn> >Two</option><br />
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<option value="three" <dfn><?php echo set_select('myselect', 'three'); ?></dfn> >Three</option><br />
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<h2>set_checkbox()</h2>
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<p>Permits you to display a checkbox in the state it was submitted. The first parameter
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must contain the name of the checkbox, the second parameter must contain its value, and the third (optional) parameter lets you set an item as the default (use boolean TRUE/FALSE). Example:</p>
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<code><input type="checkbox" name="mycheck" value="1" <dfn><?php echo set_checkbox('mycheck', '1'); ?></dfn> /><br />
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<input type="checkbox" name="mycheck" value="2" <dfn><?php echo set_checkbox('mycheck', '2'); ?></dfn> /></code>
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<p>Permits you to display radio buttons in the state they were submitted. This function is identical to the <strong>set_checkbox()</strong> function above.</p>
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<code><input type="radio" name="myradio" value="1" <dfn><?php echo set_radio('myradio', '1', TRUE); ?></dfn> /><br />
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<input type="radio" name="myradio" value="2" <dfn><?php echo set_radio('myradio', '2'); ?></dfn> /></code>
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