I was wondering, we have this front-end delivered by a third party. They made the design implemented this in a PHP website (Symphony based, irrelevant to my issue I believe).
The problem is, they used a lot of Javascript, which is nice for the dynamic parts. However when submitting the form, the data is being transferred through jQuery $.ajax or post too. Meaning the client side will never store the user's input for future use, which is actually something they'll want since this front end is designed for re-use ever x weeks or per month.
Anyone know if there is a way to make the form behave like if it's being posted?
As addition, the user is NOT logged in, and there could be multiple users allthough it's likely it's his private system, or shared at home. High chance it'll even be a mobile device.
You need to use cookies to save the form data, preferably after the submit. I like to use jquery.cookie when working with stuff like this. I would do something like this. This will only work on a single browser.
$( document ).ready(function() {
// Fetch the submit_form_input cookie that was set after submitting the form
var submit_form_input = JSON.parse($.cookie("submit_form_input"));
// Loop through the values inside the cookie
for (i = 0; i < submit_form_input.length; i++) {
// Find the form with the correct id and set the value on it
$("#" + submit_form_input[i].name).val(submit_form_input[i].value);
}
$("#submit_form").submit(function(ev) {
ev.preventDefault();
var url = $(this).attr('action');
var data = JSON.stringify($(this).serializeArray());
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: url,
data: $(this).serialize(), // serializes the form's elements.
success: function(response)
{
// Set the cookie
$.cookie("submit_form_input", data);
alert('Thank you for submitting the form.');
}
});
});
});
Here is a JSFiddle.
Related
Hello again StackOverflow.
I've been tasked with modifying a website that runs on Scala's Play! framework and Twitter Bootstrap. I've hit a roadblock concerning altering the DOM. I need to accomplish the following:
(The page being talked about takes user input and passes the server a Form, which if
valid writes the mapped Data in the Form to a database.)
Have the user choose a category from a drop-down. This particular drop-down has nothing to do with the Form.
Based on their choice, query the database for all objects of a certain type that relate to the chosen category via a foreign key.
Alter the DOM (that is, show without reloading the page) to display those objects for the user to select them. Their selections are added to the Form.
Submit the Form, write to the database, etc.
Questions:
Is this a good way to go about what I'm trying to accomplish?
If so, is there a way to alter the DOM via Scala/Play HTML templates without reloading the page?
If that's not possible, what ilk of manually written Javascript is necessary?
Admissions:
I have very little experience with web development other than Play.
I have very little experience with Javascript.
Resources I've been looking at:
This SO post
Play docs on Javascript routing
Scala.js
Thank you!
For anyone who might come upon this in future, the short answer is Javascript.
Long answer:
To do any AJAX work, you'll need a method like the following in your top-level Controller to set up Javascript routing:
def javascriptRoutes = Action { implicit request =>
Ok(
Routes.javascriptRouter("jsRoutes")(
SomeOtherController.someMethod // Returns a JsValue!
)
).as("text/javascript")
}
Then in the HTML template (*.scala.html) which will contain some AJAXy Javascript:
<script type="text/javascript" src="#routes.ApplicationController.javascriptRoutes"></script>
And finally in your actual JS file (assuming you're using jQuery):
$("someSelector").click(function() {
// Notice that this matches the method name that exists in Scala!
// Make sure to pass `someMethod` what it needs.
var req = jsRoutes.controllers.SomeOtherController.someMethod(...)
$.ajax({
url: req.url,
type: req.type,
success: function(json) {
// DOM manipulation, etc., here.
},
error: function(xhr, status, errorThrown) {
console.log( "Error: " + errorThrown );
console.log( "Status: " + status );
console.dir( xhr );
}
}); // ajax
}); // handler
Is it possible to run a MySQL query using jQuery? I'm trying to emulate the functionality of voting on SE sites.
The vote counter on SE automatically updates without the need to reload the page (which is what I currently have, a hidden form that re-submits to the current page but runs a small block on PHP that updates the score of a question in the database). I'm assuming that is being done using Javascript/jQuery seeing as it is dynamic.
How can I do this? Is there a library which makes it easy and simple (like PHP)?
You can use ajax to call a server page (PHP / ASP /ASP.NET/JSP ) and in that server page you can execute a query.
http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/
HTML
<input type='button' id='btnVote' value='Vote' />
Javascript
This code will be excuted when user clicks on the button with the id "btnVote". The below script is making use of the "ajax" function written in the jquery library.It will send a request to the page mentioned as the value of "url" property (ajaxserverpage.aspx). In this example, i am sending a querystring value 5 for the key called "answer".
$("#btnVote").click(function(){
$.ajax({
url: "ajaxserverpage.aspx?answer=5",
success: function(data){
alert(data)
}
});
});
and in your aspx page, you can read the querystring (in this example, answer=5) and
build a query and execute it againist a database. You can return data back by writing a Response.Write (in asp & asp.net )/ echo in PHP. Whatever you are returning will be coming back to the variable data. If your query execution was successful, you may return a message like "Vote captured" or whatever appropriate for your application. If there was an error caught in your try-catch block, Return a message for that.
Make sure you properly sanitize the input before building your query. I usually group my functionalities and put those into a single file. Ex : MY Ajax page which handles user related stuff will have methods for ValidateUser, RegisterUser etc...
EDIT : As per your comment,
jQuery support post also. Here is the format
$.post(url, function(data) {
alert("Do whatever you want if the call completed successfully")
);
which is equivalent to
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: url,
success: function(data)
{
alert("Do whatever you want if the call completed successfully")
}
});
This should be a good reading : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same_origin_policy
It's just a few lines in your favorite language.
Javascript
$.post('script.php', { id: 12345 }, function(data) {
// Increment vote count, etc
});
PHP (simplified)
$id = intval($_POST['id']);
mysql_query("UPDATE votes SET num = num + 1 WHERE id = $id");
There are many different ways to accomplish this.
I want to encrypt some data in a form using jQuery before it's sent to the server, it can be a MD5 hash. It is a small project, so I don't really need to use SSL.
I have the following JavaScript code where I use $.md5 in the password confirmation info:
$(document).ready(function() {
var dataToSend = {};
dataToSend['action'] = 'signup';
dataToSend['name'] = name.val();
dataToSend['email'] = email.val();
dataToSend['confsenha'] = $.md5(pass2.val());
var options = {
target: '#error',
url: 'insert.php',
beforeSubmit: validate,
data: dataToSend,
success: function(resposta) {
$('#message').html(resposta);
}
};
$('#customForm').ajaxForm(options);
});
The problem is that the data is being duplicated. I tought that overwriting the data being sent by using the var dataToSend would make ajaxForm send only data in that map. But besides sending data from dataToSend, it also sends data from the form, so what I wanted to encrypt using MD5 appears both encrypted and clean. This is an example of what goes in the request:
usuario=user&email=user%40email.com&senha=12345&confsenha=12345&send=&action=signup&name=user&email=user%40email.com&confsenha=d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
I know I have to define the a function beforeSerialize, but I don't know how to manipulate form data. Can anyone tell me how to do that?
As per the documentation on the plugin site:
data
An object containing extra data that should be submitted
along with the form.
The word along is the crux.
So when you pass data as a part of the options object that data is serialized and is sent along with any data/input elements values that are part of a form.
A better approach would be to hash the password value and assign it to the same field or another hidden field in the beforeSubmit handler(in your case the validate function) and remove the dataToSend object totally.
Something like:
Without any hidden element:
function validate(){
//Other Code
pass2.val($.md5(pass2.val()));
}
With a hidden element in the form:
function validate(){
//Other Code
$("#hdnPass").val($.md5(pass2.val()));
pass2.val("");
}
How to implement a periodical save of a form in the background? Same kinda thing that gmail does.
setInterval(function(){
var form = $('#my-form-id');
var method = form.attr('method').toLowerCase(); // "get" or "post"
var action = form.attr('action'); // url to submit to
$[method](action, form.serialize(), function(data){
// Do something with the server response data
// Or at least let the user know it saved
});
},10000); // do it every 10 seconds
If you don't want to use the method of the form, but always want to use 'post', then use:
$.post(action, form.serialize(), ... );
And, if you want to supply your own action for the autosave that is different from the action for the actual save:
$.post("/autosave/comments", form.serialize(), ... );
You would need a timed loop on the client side that would save the form every x seconds/minutes. A crude way of doing this would be to have a setTimeout javascript function that collects the form's field values and updates the model via an update (PUT in Rails' case) AJAX request.
Example
Here's a crude way of doing it (i.e. there might be a better way):
// repeat every 10 seconds
var repeatTime = 10 * 1000;
function updateModel(){
// get field values (using jQuery, etc.)
// make ajax request using these field values
//(make sure put parameters match model attribute names)
console.log('updated');
setTimeout(updateModel, repeatTime); // start call over again
}
setTimeout(updateModel, repeatTime);
I included the console.log so that you can test this out in Firebug right now and see that the updateModel executes every 10 seconds. I would recommend using jQuery to generate the PUT AJAX requests.
Why not do this purely on the client, using a local database (or whatever)? That should reduce complexity, server load and bandwidth usage.
Permanent or per-session storage -- whatever's appropriate -- and you can save after every keystroke: no need for setTimeout().
Sisyphus.js: Gmail-like client-side drafts and bit more. Plugin developed to save html forms data to LocalStorage to restore them after browser crashes, tabs closings and other disasters.
http://sisyphus-js.herokuapp.com
Smashing Magazine article: http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/12/05/sisyphus-js-client-side-drafts-and-more/
Version that works without jquery:
function urlencodeFormData(fd) {
var s = '';
function encode(s) { return encodeURIComponent(s).replace(/%20/g,'+'); }
for (var pair of fd.entries()) {
if(typeof pair[1]=='string') {
s += (s?'&':'') + encode(pair[0])+'='+encode(pair[1]);
}
}
return s;
}
setInterval(function() {
var form = document.getElementById('my-form-id');
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open(form.method, form.action);
request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type','application/x-www-form-urlencoded')
request.send(urlencodeFormData(new FormData(form)));
}, 10000);
If you need to do something with the server response see this post: https://blog.garstasio.com/you-dont-need-jquery/ajax/#posting
Hey all. I was fortunate enough to have Paolo help me with a piece of jquery code that would show the end user an error message if data was saved or not saved to a database. I am looking at the code and my imagination is running wild because I am wondering if I could use just that one piece of code and import the selector type into it and then include that whole json script into my document. This would save me from having to include the json script into 10 different documents. Hope I'm making sense here.
$('#add_customer_form').submit(function() { // handle form submit
The "add_customer_form" id is what I would like to change on a per page basis. If I could successfully do this, then I could make a class of some sort that would just use the rest of this json script and include it where I needed it. I'm sure someone has already thought of this so I was wondering if someone could give me some pointers.
Thanks!
Well, I hit a wall so to speak. The code below is the code that is already in my form. It is using a datastring datatype but I need json. What should I do? I want to replace the stupid alert box with the nice 100% wide green div where my server says all is ok.
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "body.php?action=admCustomer",
data: dataString,
success: function(){
$('#contact input[type=text]').val('');
alert( "Success! Data Saved");
}
});
Here is the code I used in the last question, minus the comments:
$(function() {
$('#add_customer_form').submit(function() {
var data = $(this).serialize();
var url = $(this).attr('action');
var method = $(this).attr('method');
$.ajax({
url: url,
type: method,
data: data,
dataType: 'json',
success: function(data) {
var $div = $('<div>').attr('id', 'message').html(data.message);
if(data.success == 0) {
$div.addClass('error');
} else {
$div.addClass('success');
}
$('body').append($div);
}
});
return false;
});
});
If I am right, what you are essentially asking is how you can make this piece of code work for multiple forms without having to edit the selector. This is very easy. As long as you have the above code included in every page with a form, you can change the $('#add_customer_form') part to something like $('form.json_response'). With this selector we are basically telling jQuery "any form with a class of json_response should be handled through this submit function" - The specific class I'm using is not relevant here, the point is you use a class and give it to all the forms that should have the functionality. Remember, jQuery works on sets of objects. The way I originally had it the set happened to be 1 element, but every jQuery function is meant to act upon as many elements as it matches. This way, whenever you create a form you want to handle through AJAX (and you know the server will return a JSON response with a success indicator), you can simply add whatever class you choose and the jQuery code will take over and handle it for you.
There is also a cleaner plugin that sort of does this, but the above is fine too.
Based on your question, I think what you want is a jQuery selector that will select the right form on each of your pages. If you gave them all a consistent class you could use the same code on each page:
HTML
<form id="some_form_name" class="AJAX_form"> ... </form>
Selector:
$('form.AJAX_form")