blob 55 blob en 0 struct 56 struct en 0 Creating_a_Dashboard 57 Creating_a_Dashboard ==Creating a Dashboard for your Users== [[toc]] Xataface allows you to build powerful data-driven applications quickly, but these applications may be daunting to your users if they don't know what they can do with the application. Most applications provide some sort of dashboard or control panel with some introductory instructions and links to commonly used actions in the application. This makes the application more intuitive for users so that they can start using it right away, even without instruction from the developer. ===Characteristics of a Dashboard=== # Should be the default page when someone visits the application. # Should be customized to show menus and content that are relevant to the current user. (i.e. different users may see different links and content on their dashboard). # Should contain at least some basic instructions so that the user understands what the application does when he visits the dashboard for the first time. # Should contain links to frequently used actions. ===Strategies: 8 ways to skin the cat=== There are many viable strategies for adding a dashboard to your Xataface application. This article presents only one. It has been chosen because it satisfies all of the desired characteristics of a dashboard listed above, and it is easy to implement. This strategy involves the following components: # Create a dummy ''dashboard'' table. # Create a dashboard action and associated template. # Make sure our dashboard action is the default action for our application (more complex than just using the [[default_action]] directive in the [[conf.ini file]]. ==Our Sample Application== Consider our sample application, a publications management system for professors and research groups at a university. It allows users to manage their publications using either BibTex format or a web-based form, and embed those publications into their webpage in a slick sortable format. Currently, when the user accesses the application for the first time, they are shown the ''list'' tab of the ''bibliographies'' table. This isn't all that informative and it may not be obvious to the user that their first step should be to create a new bibliography via the ''new record'' button. Ideally we would like the user to go directly to a dashboard page with options to: # Add New Bibliography # Edit an Existing Bibliography # Embed a Bibliography into their Webpage And we want some basic instructions so that the user knows what to do when they first access the page. ==The Steps== To create this dashboard we will follow the steps listed below (and mentioned above in the ''strategies'' section. ===Step 1: Create a dummy ''dashboard'' table=== This may seem unorthodox but it just happens to make our lives easier in the long run. By creating a dummy table we are able to cause that table to be listed first in the ''_tables'' section of the [[conf.ini file]] and thus be the default table when users visit our application. <code> CREATE TABLE dashboard ( dashboard_id int(11) not null auto_increment primary key ); INSERT INTO dashboard values (1); </code> ===Step 2: Make ''dashboard'' table default=== We now modify the conf.ini file to list the ''dashboard'' table first: <code> [_tables] dashboard=Dashboard bibliographies=Bibliographies </code> ===Step 3: Create a Dashboard action and associated template=== This is the step where we actually create our dashboard action. There are three parts to this story: ====Creating Action PHP Class==== The actual action will be located in the ''actions/dashboard.php'' file of our application, and looks like: <code> <?php class actions_dashboard { function handle(&$params){ $bibs = df_get_records_array('bibliographies', array()); df_display(array('bibliographies'=>$bibs), 'dashboard.html'); } } </code> All this does is loads the ''bibliographies'' records owned by the current user. Elsewhere we are using security filters so that the user can only see ''his'' bibliographies, which is why we don't need to specify any query here in the ''df_get_records_array'' function. It then passes those bibliographies to the ''dashboard.html'' template that we create next. ====Creating the Action's Template==== The template for our action is located in the ''templates/dashboard.html'' file: <code> {use_macro file="Dataface_Main_Template.html"} {fill_slot name="main_column"} <h1>Welcome to the BibTeX Publication Management System (BPMS)</h1> <p>This system allows you to manage your publications and publish them on the web. Some common actions you may perform with this system include: <ul> <li><img src="{$ENV.DATAFACE_URL}/images/add_icon.gif"/> <a href="{$ENV.DATAFACE_SITE_HREF}?-table=bibliographies&-action=new"> Create New Bibliography</a> </li> <li><img src="{$ENV.DATAFACE_URL}/images/edit.gif"/> Edit existing bibliography: <select onchange="window.location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value"> <option value="">Select ...</option> {foreach from=$bibliographies item=bibliography} <option value="{$bibliography->getURL('-action=edit')}"> {$bibliography->getTitle()} </option> {/foreach} </select> </li> <li><img src="{$ENV.DATAFACE_URL}/images/file.gif"/> Embed your bibliography in a webpage: <select onchange="window.location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value"> <option value="">Select ...</option> {foreach from=$bibliographies item=bibliography} <option value="{$bibliography->getURL('-action=view')}#embed"> {$bibliography->getTitle()} </option> {/foreach} </select> </li> </ul> {/fill_slot} {/use_macro} </code> A few key things to notice in this template: # It extends the ''Dataface_Main_Template.html'' template placing its content in the ''main_column'' slot. This allows our action to still display within the header and footer of our application. # It makes use of the {$ENV.DATAFACE_SITE_URL} and {$ENV.DATAFACE_SITE_HREF} variables to refer to the site's base url and create links to the desired common actions. # It provides a direct link to the ''new bibliography record'' form. # It uses some slick javascript combined with select lists to allow the user to select any of his current bibliogaphies and edit them, or embed them into a webpage. ====Adding entry to the actions.ini file==== Currently our dashboard action has no permissions attached to it so users can see it whether they are logged in or not. In this particular application we want to require users to log in, and we have set permissions for all logged in users to NO_ACCESS(). Unfortunately this permission setting is only helpful if our action requires a particular permission to access it. We'll require the 'view' permission for this action, by adding the following to the actions.ini file: <code> [dashboard] permission=view </code> ===Step 4: Specify permissions=== We still want to specify permissions for our ''dashboard'' table to ensure that only logged in users can access the dashboard. So we create a delegate class for the ''dashboard'' table at ''tables/dashboard/dashboard.php'' with the following contents: <code> <?php class tables_dashboard { function getPermissions(&$record){ if ( getUser() ){ return Dataface_PermissionsTool::ALL(); } return null; } } </code> '''Note that we have defined the getUser() function elsewhere as a means of obtaining the current user and checking if a user is indeed logged in.''' Notice that this [[getPermissions]] method returns all permissions only if the user is logged in. Otherwise it returns null, which means that it should use the same permissions as the rest of the application as defined in the [[Application Delegate Class]]. ===Step 6: Make ''dashboard'' the default action for the ''dashboard'' table=== Now we just have one more detail that needs to be taken care of. We want the ''dashboard'' action to be the default action for the ''dashboard'' table only. By default we would see the ''list'' action which isn't helpful at all, so we will want to add a rule in our application delegate class to ensure that the user only sees our custom ''dashboard'' action if they access the ''dashboard'' table. We define a beforeHandleRequest() method in our conf/ApplicationDelegate.php (the application delegate class) file for this purpose: <code> <?php class conf_ApplicationDelegate { ... function beforeHandleRequest(){ ... $app =& Dataface_Application::getInstance(); $query =& $app->getQuery(); if ( $query['-table'] == 'dashboard' and ($query['-action'] == 'browse' or $query['-action'] == 'list') ){ $query['-action'] = 'dashboard'; } } ... } </code> This simply checks to see if the table is ''dashboard'' and changes the current action to ''dashboard'' if so. ===Step 7: Try it out=== At this point, we are ready to try out our new dashboard to see how it works. When we load our application it should now go to the dashboard action that we created. We should also see ''Dashboard'' listed as the first table in the tables menu. This dashboard presents a major improvement to our application as it is now much more user friendly. <nowiki> <img src="http://media.weblite.ca/files/photos/pub-dashboard.png?max_width=640"/> </nowiki> dashboard en 0 Selected_Records_Actions 58 Selected_Records_Actions ==Creating a Custom ''Selected Records'' Action== [[toc]] If you view the ''list'' tab in any of your Xataface applications, you'll notice that there is a checkbox next to each row of the list, and there are a number of actions listed at the bottom of the list that you can perform on the selected records. Xataface comes pre-built with only a few of these actions: # Delete selected # Update selected # Copy selected However it is quite easy to add your own actions here that are performed on selected records. This article describes exactly how to do this. ===What is a ''Selected Record'' action?=== A ''Selected Record'' action is no different than any other action in Xataface, except that it is meant to act on the records that have been selected in the list tab. ==Example Action: Approve Records== Consider a news site where news stories are automatically imported into the database en masse, but each news story has a field ''approved'' to indicate whether the store has been approved to appear on the site yet. The usage pattern of this application involves a lot of looking through lists of news stories and approving them. Therefore it would be convenient if the user could just select the rows that he wants to approve and click a button to approve them all. Out of the box Xataface would allow the user to select the records, click ''update selected records'', then update them all via the ''update selected records'' form. But avoiding this extra step will improve usability greatly. ===Step 1: Design the Action=== First we need to specifically decide how our action will work. In this case, the flow goes as follows: # User selects the news items they want to approve. # User clicks the ''Approve Selected'' button. (to be created) # Our action approves the selected records. # User is automatically redirected back to the list tab with a message stating how many records were successfully approved, and whether there were any errors. ===Step 2: Gather Our Tools=== Before we actually create the action, let's look at a few tools that we'll be using from the Xataface framework to make this happen. # In the [[actions.ini file]], the ''[[selected_result_actions]]'' category is reserved for actions that act on selected records of the list tab. E.g.<code> [delete_selected] ... category=selected_result_actions ... </code> # The [http://dataface.weblite.ca/df_get_selected_records df_get_selected_records()] function returns an array of [http://dataface.weblite.ca/Dataface_Record Dataface_Record] objects that represent the rows that were selected to initiate the action. E.g.<code> $app =& Dataface_Application::getInstance(); $query =& $app->getQuery(); $records = df_get_selected_records($query); foreach ($records as $record){ ... } </code> # The [http://dataface.weblite.ca/checkPermission Dataface_Record::checkPermission()] method allows us to see if the current user has access to a specific permission on the given record. We'll use this method to ensure that the user has permission to approve the news record. E.g.<code> if ( !$record->checkPermission('edit', array('field'=>'approved')) ){ return PEAR::raiseError("You don't have permission to edit the approved field for this record."); } </code> # The Xataface will pass the redirect URL where your action should send the user upon completion of the action as the ''--redirect'' attribute of the ''POST'' variables. This value is base64_encoded so you'll need to decode it before redirecting. E.g.:<code> if ( @$_POST['--redirect'] ) $url = base64_decode($_POST['--redirect']); $url .= '&--msg='.urlencode($updated.' records were deleted.'); header('Location: '.$url); exit; </code> ===Step 3: Create the Action=== We will call our action ''approve_news'' so we'll place it in the ''actions/approve_news.php'' file of our application: <code> <?php class actions_approve_news { function handle(&$params){ // First get the selected records $app =& Dataface_Application::getInstance(); $query =& $app->getQuery(); $records =& df_get_selected_records($query); $updated = 0; // Count the number of records we update $errs = array(); // Log the errors we encounter foreach ($records as $rec){ if ( !$rec->checkPermission('edit'), array('field'=>'approved')) ){ $errs[] = Dataface_Error::permissionDenied( "You do not have permission to approve '". $rec->getTitle(). "' because you do not have the 'edit' permission."); continue; } $rec->setValue('approved', 1); $res = $rec->save(true /*secure*/); if ( PEAR::isError($res) ) $errs[] = $res->getMessage(); else $updated++; } if ( $errs ){ // Errors occurred. Let's let the user know. // The $_SESSION['--msg'] content will be displayed to the user as a message // in the next page request. $_SESSION['--msg'] = 'Errors Occurred:<br/> '.implode('<br/> ', $errs); } else { $_SESSION['--msg'] = "No errors occurred"; } $url = $app->url('-action=list'); // A default URL in case no redirect was supplied if ( @$_POST['--redirect'] ) $url = base64_decode($_POST['--redirect']); $url .= '&--msg='.urlencode($updated.' records were deleted.'); // Redirect back to the previous page header('Location: '.$url); exit; } } </code> ===Step 4: Add the action to your actions.ini file=== The actions.ini file allows us to specify how and where this action is used, and by whom. We can specify permissions that are required to perform the action, conditions that are required to display the action, confirmation messages that are to be displayed to the user when they are about to perform the action, and more. Our [[actions.ini file]] entry looks like: <code> [approve_news] label="Approve" description="Approve selected records" permission = edit category=selected_result_actions confirm="Are you sure you want to approve the selected records?" icon="${dataface_site_url}/images/approve.gif" condition="$query['-table'] == 'news'" </code> This should be fairly straight forward. The only special items here are the ''category'' and ''confirm'' directives. The ''condition'' directive tells Xataface that this action should only be shown for the ''news'' table. The ''confirm'' directive defines a confirmation message that should be displayed to the user when they attempt to approve records. The ''icon'' directive allows you to specify the path to an icon to display for the action. In our case we have an icon located in the images directory of our application. ===Step 5: Trying it out=== Now when we go to the ''list'' tab of the ''news'' table there is an ''Approve'' button along the bottom where it says "With Selected". You we can click on this button to approve any of the selected rows. en 0 no_access_text 59 no_access_text Whenever the NO_ACCESS permission is given for a field, normally the text NO ACCESS appears. But we might want to display another text. Here is an example of the text subscribe is used instead of NO ACCESS whenever the NO_ACCESS permissions is given. <code>function no_access_text(&$record){ return "Subscribe"; } </code> en 0 widget:type_textarea 60 widget:type_textarea en 0 lookup 61 The Lookup Widget Return to [[widget:type]] page to see list of all widget types. Back to [[fields.ini file]] to see other fields.ini directives. [[toc]] ===Synopsis=== The lookup widget allows users to look a record from another table to insert into the field. It is like a select widget except that it doesn't use a vocabulary. Instead you just specify a table on which it should search using the widget:table directive. In order to use the lookup widget to edit a field, you should set the [[widget:type]] directive of the [[fields.ini file]] for the field to '''lookup''. I.e. <code> [fieldname] widget:type=lookup widget:table=mytable </code> '''Note that the lookup widget requires the [[widget:table]] directive to be set to the target table of the lookup or it will not work properly.''' ===Required Directives=== The following [[fields.ini file]] directives are required to accompany the field definition if a lookup widget is used: {| class="listing listing2" |- ! Name ! Description ! Version |- | widget:table | The name of the table in which the lookup widget should look up related records. | 1.0 |} ===Optional Directives=== The following additional optional directives may be used to customize the behaviour of the lookup widget: {| class="listing listing2" |- ! Name ! Description ! Version |- | widget:filters:-limit | Sets the number of records that are shown by default in the lookup widget. Default is 30 if this is omitted. E.g.<code>widget:filters:-limit=100</code> to show 100 records at a time. | 1.0 |- | widget:filters:-sort | Specifies the columns to sort the results on. E.g. <code>widget:filters:-sort=category_name asc, year desc</code> | 1.0 |- | widget:filters:* | Any valid Xataface directive can be used to filter the results by specifying widget:filters:param (where "param" is a valid Xataface GET parameter, which could include a column name to filter results on, or other filter directives). <code>widget:filters:country=Canada</code> To only show results with Country=Canada. | 1.0 |- | widget:filters:*=$* | Dynamic filters. Causes the options in the record browser to be filtered on the value of another field in the form. e.g. <code>widget:filters:country_id="$country_id"</code> would show only results with records having country_id matching the value of the 'country_id' field in the current form. | 1.3.1 |} See [[URL Conventions]] for an overview of the types of GET parameters Xataface can take. Any GET parameters that manipulate a query can be used with the widget:filters:* directive to modify the query results that are shown in the lookup widget. ===Example=== In this example we have a field named appointee that is supposed to reference the contacts table. So in the [[fields.ini file]] we would have: <pre> [appointee] widget:type=lookup widget:table=contacts </pre> Initially we just have a little find icon next to the field. If the user clicks it, a dialog pops up enabling them to search for the contact that they want: [[Image:http://media.weblite.ca/files/photos/Picture%2023.png?max_width=640]] ===Additional Tips=== Although the lookup widget does not use a vocabulary as indicated in the Synopsis above, it is still useful to define a vocabulary in the fields.ini file for this field. The reason is because the lookup widget is only used with the edit action, where you are inserting or editing data into the field. However, it is not used to the display the data in the view or list actions. Therefore, you must still have a vocabulary defined to properly display these values. In order to customize the display of the lookup widget's select list, you must edit the delegate class for the table which is referenced by the widget:table directive. There are two important points to note: # The items in the selection list are formatted based on the getTitle(&$record) delegate class function if it is defined. However, ... # The Search box will search on text in VARCHAR and TEXT fields. If you need to search for data in numeric fields, you can create a grafted field using a function such as CONCAT() to display numbers as text. Links: * [http://xataface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6723 Lookup widget on view with compound primary key] lookup widget, widget:filters, widget:-filters:limit, widget:table en 0 Customizing_the_look_and_feel_of_a_row_or_a_cell 62 Customizing_the_look_and_feel_of_a_row_or_a_cell ==How to customize the look and feel of elements in the list view== ===Create a method in a delegate class=== In the delegate class, the method ''css__tableRowClass'' is implemented, like in this example : <code>class tables_journal_interventions { function css__tableRowClass(&$record){ if ( !$record->val('fermeture')){ return 'intervention_close'; } else return ''; } } </code> Here the function tests a condition : is there a value in the field ''fermeture'' ? ===Add the class in a CSS stylesheet=== Now the class is created in a CSS stylesheet. <code>td.intervention_close { background-color: #FFE6E6 !important; } </code> This is a class for each cell, the <td> tag. The ''!important'' attribute is added to be sure that this information has precedence over all the others. It is better to add this class in a [http://xataface.com/documentation/how-to/custom_javascripts custom CSS stylesheet]. ===Remarks=== Beware that some versions of IE don't respect the background-color property on the <tr> tag, so it is probably better to write: <code> tr.intervention_close td { background-color: #FFE6E6; }</code> i.e. to apply the background color to the individual cells. en 0 How_to_granulate_permissions_on_each_field 63 How_to_granulate_permissions_on_each_field ==How to granulate permissions on each field== To reach this aim, there is the method fieldname__permissions to place into the delegate class of the table. ===Getting the role=== First it is necessary to know the user's role. For this, the method getUser() is added in the class : <code>function getUser(&$record){ $auth =& Dataface_AuthenticationTool::getInstance(); $user =& $auth->getLoggedInUser(); return $user; }</code> ===Setting up the permissions for each field=== Next, the permissions are built for each column or field where they are needed, like in this example where the method name is formed with the field name, followed by 2 underscores then by ''permissions'' : <code>function fieldname__permissions(&$record){ $the_user =$this->getUser($record); $user=$the_user->val('identifiant'); if ( !$user) return Dataface_PermissionsTool::NO_ACCESS(); if ( $user=='demande' ){ return Dataface_PermissionsTool::ALL(); } elseif ($user=='admin'){ return Dataface_PermissionsTool::ALL(); } else { return Dataface_PermissionsTool::READ_ONLY(); } }</code> === Also See === * [[viewable_editable_fields]] - How to make a field editable for some users and only viewable for some other users * [[no_access_text]] - Replace the default NO ACCESS permission text with another text. * [[__field__permissions]] - Returns the default permissions for a field of a given record. * [[Delegate_class_methods#toc5|Permissions]] - other Delegate class methods en 0 How_to_authenticate_users_with_LDAP_or_Active_Directory 64 How_to_authenticate_users_with_LDAP_or_Active_Directory ==How to authenticate users with LDAP or Active Directory== en 0 LDAP_or_Active_Directory 65 How to authenticate users with LDAP or Active Directory [[toc]] It is often easier to use the existing LDAP or Active Directory to authenticate users in Xataface than to create a new password for every user in the table users. ===In the conf.ini=== In the conf.ini file, in the [auth] part, you need to add your LDAP or AD configuration data : <code>[_auth] auth_type=ldap users_table = xata_users username_column = id ldap_host = "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" ldap_port = "389" ldap_base = "OU=blabla,DC=blablabla"</code> Here in the table users, you need the login but the password can be just ''PASS'', because the password will be fetched into the LDAP base. You need to add the [http://weblite.ca/svn/dataface/modules/Auth/ldap/trunk/ auth module] in the conf/modules directory. ===See Also=== * [[authentication]] - Overview of Authenthentication features in Xataface LDAP,Active Directory,Authentication en 0 table 66 table When using widget:type table, it will store the data as XML. So the field type must be TEXT (or varchar... but text is better). You can decide which columns you want in the table by creating sub-fields in your fields.ini file as follows: Suppose you want a column called 'name' and a column called 'url' <code> [myfield] widget:type=table [myfield:name] [myfield:url] </code> Now when you access the stored value using the Dataface API, the value of myfield will be stored as an array of associative arrays. e.g. <code> foreach ( $record->val('myfield') as $vals){ echo $vals['name'].' -- '.$vals['url']; } </code> en 0 grid 67 grid ==widget:type = grid== Suppose we have two tables, tbl_organisation and tbl_individuals, in the edit view for a record in the organisations table (tbl_organisations) we also want to be able to view and edit the individuals within this organisation we can use widget:type=grid In the /tables/tbl_organisation/fields.ini we create a transient field by adding: <code> [Individuals] widget:label = "Individuals" transient=1 relationship=individuals widget:type=grid widget:columns="ind_firstname,ind_lastname,ind_tel" </code> The above assumes we have a relationship entry in our /tables/tbl_organisation/relationships.ini that looks like this: <code> [individuals] __sql__ = "SELECT * FROM tbl_individual WHERE org_id='$org_id'" </code> The fields.ini will show the three columns shown in widget:columns from the table tbl_individual Correct permissions need to be set to enable editing and deletion etc of these records. en 0 relationship 68 The relationship fields.ini directive [[fields.ini file|Return to fields.ini file directives]] [[toc]] ===Synopsis=== Certain types of widgets (e.g. grid (v1.0) and checkbox (v1.2)) support the relationship directive which allows them to effectively add/remove records from a specified relationship. This directive only works with transient fields. ===Example 1: Checkboxes to add/remove categories=== (Note: This example requires Xataface 1.2 or higher to work) Suppose we have a database that keeps track of courses and the branch of research that they belong to. A course can be part of multiple branches. We want to be able to select the branches that a particular course belongs to on the edit form for that course using checkboxes. Table Structure: <code> courses: course_id : int (primary key) course_title : varchar branches: branch_id : int (primary key) branch_name : varchar branch_description: text course_branches: course_id : int branch_id : int </code> Relationship definition: (from the tables/courses/[[relationships.ini file]]): <code> [branches] course_branches.course_id="$course_id" course_branches.branch_id=branches.branch_id </code> Field definitions: (from tables/courses/[[fields.ini file]]): <code> [branches] transient=1 relationship=branches widget:type=checkbox </code> Things to notice: # This is a many-to-many relationship (hence the need for the course_branches join table. # The [branches] field is a transient field. # The relationship directive from the [[fields.ini file]] references our branches relationship that was defined in the [[relationships.ini file]]. # You can call the field anything that you like. There is no need for it to have the same name as the relationship. It just turned out that way in this example. ===Example 2: Using a grid widget=== Let's modify example 1 slightly to use a grid widget instead of checkboxes. The grid widget will allow us edit the records in a relationship using dynamic table. It automatically uses the correct widget for each column of the table according to the definition in the target table's [[fields.ini file]]. Most of the definition can remain the same. We only change the [[fields.ini file]] directive: <code> [branches] transient=1 relationship=branches widget:type=grid widget:columns="branch_name,branch_description" </code> In this case we are able to edit the branch name and description in each row of the grid. ===See Also=== * [[grid|The grid widget]] * [[checkbox|The checkbox widget]] * [[relationships.ini file|The relationships.ini file]] * [[fields.ini file|The fields.ini file]] grid widget, relationship, checkbox en 0 checkbox 69 checkbox ==The checkbox widget== In the [[fields.ini file]] you can specify a field to be edited using a checkbox widget by setting [[widget:type]] to [[checkbox]]. A checkbox widget can function in 2 different ways depending on the parameters that you assign to the field. [[toc]] ===Example 1: A TinyInt (boolean) field=== Suppose our table has a tinyint field named "Active" which specifies whether the record is currently in use. This field will store a value of either 0 or 1. So we configure this field in our [[fields.ini]] file to use a checkbox widget as follows: <code> [Active] widget:type=checkbox </code> Results: [[Image:http://media.weblite.ca/files/photos/Picture%2024.png?max_width=640]] ===Example 2: A repeating field (multiple checkboxes for one field=== Checkboxes can store multiple values in a single field by setting the [[vocabulary]] directive and applying it to a varchar or text field. In this case there will be one value saved per line. In this example, suppose we have a varchar field named '''categories''' which uses the '''categories''' [[valuelist]] to specify the different categories that can be checked at any given time. Our [[valuelists.ini file]] might look like: <code> [categories] __sql__ = "select id,name from categories" </code> And our [[fields.ini file]] looks like: <code> [categories] widget:type=checkbox vocabulary=categories </code> * Note that you don't need to name the field the same as the valuelist. It just worked out this way. Now if we save a record with categories 1, 3, and 5 checked, then the categories column of our row in the database will store something like: <code> 1 3 5 </code> i.e. one category id per line. Note that using this method, your database will not be normalized because you are storing multiple values in a single field. However in many applications this is sufficient. Results: [[Image:http://media.weblite.ca/files/photos/Picture%2025.png?max_width=640]] ===Example 3: Using a "Categories" relationship=== """(Note: This example requires Xataface version 1.2 or higher)""" Example 2 above shows how we can easily add and remove a record from multiple categories using checkboxes. However it required multiple pieces of information to be stored in a single database field which may or may not be advantageous for your database design. If you're looking for a more normalized database schema you would probably design your database as follows for this case: # Books table - Stores all of the books. # Categories table - Stores all of the categories # Book_Categories table - Stores mapping of books to categories. With out table structure we will first want to define a relationship from Books to Categories to reflect the connection between books and categories. The [[relationships.ini file]] for this might look like: <code> [categories] Books.Book_ID="$Book_ID" Book_Categories.Category_ID=Categories.Category_ID </code> And our [[fields.ini file]] for the Books table might look like: <code> [categories] widget:type=checkbox transient=1 relationship=categories </code> * Note that there is no need for our field to be named the same as our relationship. It just turned out this way. Also note that we used the transient=1 flag here because the Books table no longer has a categories field in the database. This field is defined purely for the benefit of the edit form so that we will get a checkbox group to select the book's categories. Results: [[Image:http://media.weblite.ca/files/photos/Picture%2025.png?max_width=640]] ==Related Parameters== # [[vocabulary]] - Assigns a valuelist to be used as the options for this checkbox group. # [[repeat]] - A boolean value indicating whether this field should be treated as a 'repeating field'. A repeating field is one with multiple checkboxes. By default the checkbox widget operates as a single checkbox that controls a boolean value. # [[relationship]] - (Only applicable to [[transient]] fields). If the [[relationship]] directive is set then this field can be used to add/remove records from a relationship. en 0