dojox.form.manager._NodeMixin ¶

Status:	Draft
Version:	1.3 (trunk)
Project owner:	Eugene Lazutkin
Available:	since 1.3

Contents

dojox.form.manager._NodeMixin

Introduction ¶

This class defines low-level primitives for form nodes. It is complimentary to and should be used together with dojox.form.manager._Mixin.

On startup this mixin inspects its body and registers all found form nodes (<input>, <select>, <textarea>, <button>) unless they are part of some form widget.

Methods and properties ¶

This section describes all public methods and properties of the dojox.form.manager._NodeMixin class.

Value access ¶

Methods in this category provide primitives for low-level access to values of individual form elements. For high-level access to values use _ValueMixin.

formNodeValue¶

This method allows to get/set values of controlled form nodes. It is modeled after dojox.form.manager._Mixin’s formWidgetValue(). It can be used two ways: with one parameter to get the value, and with two parameters to set the value:

// reading the value
var value = fm.formNodeValue("lastName");
// writing the value
fm.formNodeValue("lastName", "Smith");

The first parameter is a name of a controlled form element (a string). The optional second parameter is a value to be set. It is usually a string too.

The returned value is:

A form element's value for the getter version.
The form manager itself for the setter version providing easy chaining.

Inspection ¶

Methods in this category provide primitives to iterate over controlled elements. These methods are major building blocks for all other mixins. In most cases you should avoid using them directly relying on more high-level methods of other mixins. Do use them if you write your own mixins.

Note: this section is similar to This method allows to get/set values of controlled form nodes. It is modeled after dojox.form.manager._Mixin's inspectFormWidget().

inspectFormNodes¶

This method iterates over controlled elements:

var inspector = function(name, widget, value){
  var oldValue = this.formNodeValue(name);
  this.formNodeValue(name, value);
  return oldValue;
};

var state = ["firstName", "lastName"];

var defaultValue = "X";

fm.inspectFormNodes(inspector, state, defaultValue);

There are three ways to use this method:

state is an array of form names. In this case inspector is called with with the same 3rd parameter defaultValue for every node in the array. The above example uses this form of inspection: both lastName and firstName will be set to "X".
state is an object. In this case keys of the object are form names, while corresponding values are actual values to be passed to inspector as the 3rd parameter (in this case defaultValue is not used):

var state = {
  firstName: "Jill",
  lastName:  "Taylor"
};
fm.inspectFormNodes(inspector, state);
The above example sets lastName to "Taylor" and firstName to "Jill".

state is null or missing. In this case the method will iterate over all controlled nodes passing defaultValue as the value parameter to inspector.

fm.inspectFormNodes(inspector, null, "X");
The above example sets all controlled widgets to "X".

While iterating the method collects all returned values of inspector in an object keyed by corresponding widget names, and returns it as the result.

var state = {
  firstName: "Jill",
  lastName:  "Taylor"
};
var result = fm.inspectFormNodes(inspector, state);

console.log(result.firstName);              // Jane
console.log(result.lastName);               // Smith

console.log(fm.formNodeValue("firstName")); // Jill
console.log(fm.formNodeValue("lastName"));  // Taylor

inspector function is called for every inspected node in the context of the form manager. It has following signature:

var inspector = function(name, node, value){
  // ...
  return someValue;
};

name is the name of the inspected widget, node is the node itself, or an array of widgets for radio button nodes, value is the value passed to the function according to the above described rules. inspector's return value will be collected and returned as a part of the result object as described above.

What inspector does is up to you. It can modify or just read node values. It can return something meaningful or nothing at all. It is strongly suggested to use other form manager's methods to get/set node values rather than doing it manually.

Registration ¶

These functions can register/unregister form nodes. In most cases these methods are not used directly because dojox.form.manager._NodeMixin registers all children form nodes automatically. But if you create/delete nodes dynamically, you should register/unregister them manually.

Note: methods in this section are modeled on dojox.form.manager._Mixin's registration.

registerNode¶

This method registers a form node with a form manager, and connects its observers. This node is not required to be a descendant of the form manager it is being registered with. This method is modeled on dojox.form.manager._Mixin's registerWidget(). Two signatures are recognized:

fm.registerNode(id);

fm.registerNode(node);

unregisterNode¶

This method disconnects form node's observers, and removes it from internal structures of a form manager. This method is modeled on dojox.form.manager._Mixin's unregisterWidget(). The only way to unregister a form node is by its form name:

fm.unregisterNode(name);

registerNodeDescendants¶

This method calls registerNode for every descendant form node of a given DOM node. This method is useful when you add several form nodes dynamically. These nodes do not need to be descendants of the form manager they are being registered with.

This method is modeled on dojox.form.manager._Mixin's registerWidgetDescendants().

Like with registerNode two signatures are recognized:

fm.registerNodeDescendants(id);

fm.registerNodeDescendants(node);

unregisterNodeDescendants¶

This method calls unregisterNode for every descendant form node of a given DOM node. Its signature is the same as registerNodeDescendants's signature (both variants).

This method is modeled on dojox.form.manager._Mixin's unregisterWidgetDescendants().

Lifecycle ¶

Lifecycle methods are part of every widget. They are used to initialize and destroy a widget. If you mix dojox.form.manager._Mixin in your own widget, make sure that these methods are not overwritten. If you overwrite them, make sure to call this.inherited(arguments) at the appropriate place, so they can initialize/destroy the widget properly.

destroy¶

This is the standard method of any widget. It is responsible for tearing up internal widget structures preparing the widget for the garbage collection. Usually it detaches event handlers, and kills references to DOM nodes. For more details, see dijit._Widget.

Additional functions ¶

dojox.form.manager.changeEvent ¶

This is the low-level helper function, which returns an appropriate change event for a give DOM node.

var button = dojo.doc.createElement("button"),
    select = dojo.doc.createElement("select");

console.log(dojox.form.manager.changeEvent(button)); // onclick
console.log(dojox.form.manager.changeEvent(select)); // onchange

dojox.form.manager._NodeMixin