[racket] Some more questions about using/composing Formlets

Thank you for the help. Much appreciated. It would've taken me many
hours to sort 'em out all.

jGc

For those reading this thread, mind the , near

(text-input #:attributes `((class ,(format "field text ~a" classes ....


On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 7:57 PM, Jay McCarthy <jay.mccarthy at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 2:42 PM, J G Cho <gcho at fundingmatters.com> wrote:
>> After tinkering with Formlets a bit, I have some questions for the experts.
>>
>> 1. I am trying to use Formlet with Template to piggy back
>> on some given CSS/JSs (from Wufoo in this instance),
>> which means I have to provide lots of #attributes and ((class "left
>> right large small"))
>> So, I am forced to do
>>
>>  (span
>>  ,{(to-string
>>     (required
>>      (text-input #:attributes '((class "field text fn") (size "8") ))))
>>    . => . first}
>>  (label "First"))
>>  (span
>>  ,{(to-string
>>     (required
>>      (text-input #:attributes '((class "field text ln")  (size "14") ))))
>>    . => . last}
>>  (label "Last")))
>>
>> instead of using input-string.
>>
>> Is there a way to pass in #:attribute to input-string?
>
> No, input-string was my original version that didn't have many hooks
> and made big assumptions about how you want to use it. text-input is
> more basic a building block.
>
>>
>> 2. Another consequence of using Formlets with given CSS/JSs is that
>> code gets rather long and
>> polluted with lots of ((class "blah blah blah")) and #:attributes (...)
>> At the end of the day, it makes me wonder if it's worth the effort
>> doing it this way
>> (https://github.com/racketeer/racketeering/blob/master/wufooing/emergency-contact.rkt).
>>
>> Maybe I am better off with just using templates, any thoughts/advice
>> on this?
>
> You should define a formlet like
>
> (define (classy-input-string [classes ""] [size "8"])
>        (to-string
>          (required
>           (text-input #:attributes `((class (format "field text ~a"
>        classes)) (size ,size) )))))
>
> and use that instead. In general, a function/identifier exists to not duplicate
> code, so whenever you would otherwise duplicate code... make a
> function, formlets are no different.
>
>>
>> 3. Say I have a Formlet like this to be used in different places.
>>
>> (define name-formlet
>>  (formlet
>>     (div
>>        (label "First Name")
>>        ,{input-string . => . first}
>>        (label "Last Name")
>>        ,{input-string . => . last})
>>     (list first last)))
>>
>>
>> ...some where
>>
>> (formlet
>>   (fieldset
>>      (legend "Guy")
>>      ,{name-formlet . =+ . guy}
>>      ,{phone-formlet ...
>>      ...
>>
>> ... else where
>>
>> (formlet
>>   (fieldset
>>      (legend "Gal")
>>      ,{name-formlet . =+ . gal}
>>      ,{phone-formlet ...
>>      ...
>>
>> I want the label and input tags to come out without div tag and become
>> children of fieldset tag so I end up with
>>
>> <fieldset>
>> <legend>
>> <label><input ....
>> <label><input ....
>>
>> instead of
>>
>> <fieldset>
>> <legend>
>> <div>
>> <label><input ....
>> <label><input ....
>>
>> Is there a way to do this? It seems I cannot define like this:
>> (define name-formlet
>>  (formlet
>>     (list-that-is-not-tag???
>>        (label "First Name")
>>        ,{input-string . => . first}
>>        (label "Last Name")
>>        ,{input-string . => . last})
>>     (list first last)))
>>
>> or like
>> (define name-formlet
>>  (formlet
>>        ;things, with last one being the bound names...
>>        (label "First Name")
>>        ,{input-string . => . first}
>>        (label "Last Name")
>>        ,{input-string . => . last}
>>       (list first last) ))
>
> This is exactly why formlets are rendered as xexpr forests and why the
> (#%# ...) form exists. You want...
>
> (define name-formlet
>  (formlet
>  (#%#
>   (label "First Name")
>   ,{input-string . => . first}
>   (label "Last Name")
>   ,{input-string . => . last})
>  (list first last)))
>
> Jay
>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> jGc
>> ____________________
>>  Racket Users list:
>>  http://lists.racket-lang.org/users
>
>
>
> --
> Jay McCarthy <jay at cs.byu.edu>
> Assistant Professor / Brigham Young University
> http://faculty.cs.byu.edu/~jay
>
> "The glory of God is Intelligence" - D&C 93