Trying to pass a hash ref to a module

bradcathey has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Fellow Monasterians,

I'm I have gotten HTML::FillInForm to populate a form using a somewhat busy bunch of code:

my $q = new CGI; 
$q -> param(-name => 'choices', -value => '2');
$q -> param(-name => 'address', -value => '123 Main Street');

my $template = HTML::Template->new( filename => "../form.tmpl");
my $html = $template->output;
my $form = new HTML::FillInForm;
my $page = $form->fill(scalarref => \$html,
                                     fobject => $q);

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print $page;
[download]

The doc for HTML::FillInForm says that the fobject will accept a hash ref, but I this returns an "unblessed" error:

my $q = new CGI; 
my $info = [ { -name => 'address', -value => '123 Main' },
                    { -name => 'choices', -value => '2'} ];

my $template = HTML::Template->new( filename => "../form.tmpl");      
+                          
my $html = $template->output;
my $form = new HTML::FillInForm;
my $page = $form->fill(scalarref => \$html,
                                     fobject => $info);

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print $page;
[download]

I would like to loop through data from by db table to populate this hash. Is there a way to do this cleanly? Or am I just not getting this? Thanks!

Update: Please see my findings, which are under the review of the HTML::FillInForm module itself.

—Brad
"The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." George Eliot

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Re: Trying to pass a hash ref to a module by davido (Cardinal) on May 17, 2005 at 20:00 UTC
`my $page = $form->fill(scalarref => \$html, fobject => $info);` [download] Change '`fobject`' to '`fdat`'. The 'fobject' parameter expects an object ref. 'fdat' will accept a hashref or apparently an arrayref too (according to the docs). Dave	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Trying to pass a hash ref to a module by bradcathey (Prior) on May 17, 2005 at 21:23 UTC
davido, thanks for the lead I miss not be getting the hash right. How does one have a hash with lots of values that have the same key, other than using an Array of Hashes? Anyway, I tried this--no error, but nothing got populated on the form. `my $q = new CGI; my @info = { 'address' => '123 Main', 'choices' => '2' }; my $template = HTML::Template->new( filename => "../form.tmpl"); my $html = $template->output; my $form = new HTML::FillInForm; my $page = $form->fill(scalarref => \$html, fdat => \@info); print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; print $page;` [download] Ideas? —Brad "The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." George Eliot	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Trying to pass a hash ref to a module by djohnston (Monk) on May 18, 2005 at 07:45 UTC
Change @info and \@info to simply $info. `my $info = { address => '123 Main', choices => '2' };` and `my $page = $form->fill(scalarref => \$html, fdat => $info);` The docs for HTML::FillInForm states 'To pass multiple values using %fdat use an array reference'. At first read, this might lead you to think that you could pass an array reference instead of a hash reference, but what they actually mean is to use an array reference within the hash reference to specify multiple values for a given key. `my $info = { address => '123 Main', choices => [ '2', '3', '4' ] };`	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: Trying to pass a hash ref to a module by bradcathey (Prior) on May 18, 2005 at 11:16 UTC
Re: Trying to pass a hash ref to a module by jdporter (Paladin) on May 17, 2005 at 19:59 UTC
What it's talking about is a ref to an array of CGI objects. Specifically, fobject can either be a single CGI object, or an array(ref) of CGI objects.	[reply]
Re: Trying to pass a hash ref to a module by mrborisguy (Hermit) on May 17, 2005 at 19:57 UTC
you're getting an error because $info isn't a hash ref, it's an array ref with one element. try changing the square brackets in that line to curly brackets, and see what happens. Update: You know what... i'm an idiot, what i told you doesn't even make sense at all!	[reply]