Sinatra::FormHelpers

There are one or two bugs in here at the moment, and I'm currently doing README-driven-development, which might make using master a real pain, especially with HAML. In the meanwhile, check out the docs for 1.9.1

This gem provide lightweight form helpers for Sinatra that will aid you create forms more easily.

Instead of writing this;

%label{ for: 'person_first_name' } First Name
%input{ name: 'person[first_name]' id: 'person_first_name' value: @person.first_name }

with this gem you'll be able to write this:

= label :person, :first_name
= input :person, :first_name

There are many more helpers to choose from, and there are even more benefits to using this. Scroll on!

Additional benefits

1. Helpers maintain correct state across form submissions. An erroneously filled form is still filled in when you show it to the user.
2. The helpers automatically generate labels, CSS ID's and the nested[names] that make ORMs happy.
3. No without Rails Ultra-Magic™. Just simple code that you can comprehend.
4. In the near future: Declare framework specific CSS classes to be used. Get Bootstrap or Foundation forms without the hassle.

Installation and usage

Install with Bundler by adding the following to your Gemfile:

gem 'sinatra-formhelpers-ng'

Then, include it in your Sinatra application:

require 'sinatra/form_helpers'

If you are subclassing Sinatra::Base, in what is referred to as the modular style, then you need to tell Sinatra where to find the helpers that this gem provides:

class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  helpers Sinatra::FormHelpers
  # ...
end

Using the helpers in your views

If you've followed the steps above, you are ready to use the helpers in your views to create the HTML elements. Below you will find a tutorial that also serves as an API reference. This is incomplete for now.

form(:action '/url', &block)

form(:action, "/url", &block) takes a string, an atom and a block and returns a string which will contain the form.

The action can be one of :create, :update or :delete. Again, the helper will open a form and even include the hidden parameter _method for you (which helps older browsers implement HTTP verbs like PUT).

The URL can be anything you want it to be. Just make sure to define an endpoint for it in your Sinatra app.

The block will be evaluated, and will be the content of your form.

= form('/users', :create) do |f|
 -# Form code goes here

Will return the following:

<form method="post" action="/url">
  <!-- Form content -->
</form>

fieldset(:model, &block)

This subsection and the rest of this section is a TODO.

Bugs and whishlist

• The fieldset helper currently does not return a <fieldset> tag properly, which makes the gem rather useless with HAML. This will get fixed very soon.
• Hooks for custom CSS classes to make it easier to utilize CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation.
• The tests are rather monolythic. These might benefit from being split up into multiple files.

Contributing

Contributions are most welcome! If you are experienced and you know what to do, get cracking!

If you're not, here's your game plan:

1. Fork and create a branch.
2. Write code, docs or tests and create commits.
3. Afterwards, do a git rebase -i master to reword commit messages, and resolve merge conflicts if any.

If you are unsure about any of the above, but still would like to do something, don't hesitate to send me an email. I can't promise an immediate reaction, but I don't bite.

Authors and maintainers

• Tom Wilson, 2009 - 2011 (old repo))
• Nate Wiger, 2011 - 2013
• Cymen Vig, 2013 - 2015 (old repo)
• Laurens Duijvesteijn, 2015 onwards

License

This project is licenced under the MIT license. You can find a copy in the LICENSE file.