Populating options in html select.

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

Yeah I know - it's asked and answered 100's of times. But I'm not happy with proposed solutions.

I know about HTML::FillInForm and other modules with similar functionality. But I haven't found any that would beside selecting right option in a <select> also dynamically make those.

To make it more clear. Inside my template (HTML::Template)

<select name="whatever">
Insert possible options here
and of course select the right one
</select>
[download]

I know about solution with CGI.pm that would generate the whole thing together with select but I use CGI::Simple - and I want to leave it possible for designer (or whoever) to say set class (CSS) for the particular select - or maybe add onChange JS event handler ...

Another solution would be :

<select name="whatever">
<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="whatever_select" -->
</select>
[download]

But then I end up with HTML generating code - which means I have html code inside my Perl code ...

<select name="whatever">
<!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME="whatever_select" -->
<option value="<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="id" -->" <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="checke
+d" -->><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="value" --></option>
<!-- /TMPL_LOOP -->
</select>
[download]

Also looks kinda funky :) And it also requires work inside my code.

I was thinking of simply passing array(ref) of possible values that would be used for filling options. And then HTML::FillInForm would easily select right option. Any module that does that? If not, I might try to write it myself - but I'm not that good with parsing ...

Have you tried freelancing? Check out Scriptlance - I work there.

Comment on Populating options in html select. Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Populating options in html select. by wfsp (Abbot) on Sep 29, 2005 at 04:33 UTC
I would still go with HTML::Template. You could change how it looked: `<select name="whatever"> <!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME="whatever_select" --> <option value="<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="id" -->" <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="checked" --> > <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="value" --> </option> <!-- /TMPL_LOOP --> </select>` [download] This would need an array ref anyway. `$array_ref = [ { id => id1, checked => 'selected', value => 'one', }, { id => id2, checked => '', value => 'two', }, { id => id3, checked => '', value => 'three', }, ];` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Populating options in html select. by jbrugger (Parson) on Sep 29, 2005 at 04:34 UTC
Another idea is to use HTML::Template::Expr and do something like this: `<option value="<!--TMPL_VAR NAME=yourOptionValue -->" <!--TMPL_IF +EXPR="yourPerlSelectFunction()" -->selected<!--/TMPL_IF -->> <!--TMPL +_VAR NAME=yourOptionText --></option>` [download] "We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise." - Larry Wall.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Populating options in html select. by Zed_Lopez (Chaplain) on Sep 29, 2005 at 06:26 UTC
Here's advice on using CGI::FormBuilder with HTML::Template for this. I've also done it by passing another template variable whose value is the selected option, and having a TMPL_IF in my TMPL_LOOP comparing each value to the selected option. That left a bad taste in my mouth, but it worked.	[reply]
Re: Populating options in html select. by techcode (Hermit) on Sep 29, 2005 at 14:48 UTC
What the tree of you suggested so far are basically just a bit modified solutions of those that I already wrote. I would feel much nicer to make a module that would do it for me (and everyone else). I guess that it would just implement that function, and reuse everything from HTML::FillInForm or similar (HTML::Defaultify) by inheritance. Or be included in it ... Speaking of letting all to be done by the module, wouldn't it be nice to just give it a name of table (fields : id = option value; text = option text) possibly a DBH and let all to be done for you ? Have you tried freelancing? Check out Scriptlance - I work there.	[reply]
Re: Populating options in html select. by rhesa (Vicar) on Oct 11, 2005 at 12:41 UTC
If your main concern is freedom for the designer, then using your third solution (with the html_loop) is by far the best. No other solution gives the designer the option to switch to a list of checkboxes or radio buttons, or style individual options. Here's an example of a styled select box: `<html> <style> .even { background-color: #ccc } .odd { font-weight: bold } </style> <body> <form> <select> <option class=odd> one <option class=even> two <option class=odd> one <option class=even> two <option class=odd> one <option class=even> two </select> </form> </body> </html>` [download] You could use HTML::Template's __odd__ and __even__ attributes for this, for example. But there's no way to do this with your FillInForm subclass idea.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Populating options in html select. by NetWallah (Canon) on Nov 03, 2005 at 21:37 UTC
To help future searchers on this info make better choices, here is a new, and IMHO, ultimate and preferred solution to this issue : HTML::Menu::Select. "Man cannot live by bread alone... He'd better have some goat cheese and wine to go with it!"	[reply]