How to ajaxify Zend_Form validation - ajax

Question

I have a Zend_Form subclass. Some elements are set to belong to arrays.
class My_Form extends Zend_Form {
public function __construct() {
$elem = $this->createElement('text','PROJECT_NAME',
array(
'required' => true
));
$elem->setBelongsTo('project');
$this->addElement($elem);
$elem = $this->createElement(
'text','PLANNED_END_DATE',
array(
'required' => true
)
);
$elem->setBelongsTo('project');
$elem->addValidator(new Zend_Validate_Date(array('format'=>'yyyy-MM-dd')));
$this->addElement($elem);
//and so on
}
}
I have a universal validation controller which does create the form and checks for errors, and returns them in json format:
class ValidateController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
public function formAction()
{
$params = $this->_getAllParams();
if (isset($params['_frm'])) {
$formName = detect_the_form_class($params['_frm']);
if (class_exists($formName)) {
$form = new $formName();
if ($form instanceof Zend_Form) {
$result = $form->isValidPartial($params);
$messages = $form->getMessages();
$this->getResponse()
->setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json')
->setBody(json_encode(array(
'result' => $result,
'messages' => $messages
)));
} else {
$this->getResponse()->setHttpResponseCode(500);
}
}
}
}
}
This controller works great for non-array forms, but the form I now need to validate hase arrays, eg elements with name 'project[PROJECT_NAME]'.
But the $form->getMessages() returns messages indexed with base name of elements, without array prefix.
The actual result is:
{ result: false,
messages: {
PROJECT_NAME: {isEmpty: "Value is required"},
PROJECT_END_DATE: {isEmpty: "Value is required"}
}
}
The result I need is:
{ result: false,
messages: {
"project[PROJECT_NAME]": {isEmpty: "Value is required"},
"project[PROJECT_END_DATE]": {isEmpty: "Value is required"}
}
}
or something similar, so I can find the element the validation message is for.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

For subforms use Zend_Form_Subform class:
class My_Form extends Zend_Form
{
public function init()
{
$subForm = new Zend_Form_SubForm();
$elem = $this->createElement('text', 'PROJECT_NAME', array(
'required' => true
));
$subForm->addElement($elem);
$elem = $this->createElement('text', 'PLANNED_END_DATE', array(
'required' => true
));
$subForm->addElement($elem);
$this->addSubForm($subForm, 'project');
}
}
Response:
{
"project":{
"PROJECT_NAME":{"isEmpty":"Value is required and can't be empty"},
"PLANNED_END_DATE":{"isEmpty":"Value is required and can't be empty"}
}
}
For form config it is recommended to use init() method.
For json response you can use build-in action helper:
$this->_helper->json($form->getMessages());