subform within a subform

Question

I'm working on a model using Zend Form. I have a subform called $product_item. I would like to add multiple instances of it to another subform called $items. How would I go about doing that? I'm not finding the Zend reference guide particularly helpful.

Answer 1

You can just add sub-forms to sub-forms:-

$form = new Application_Form_Test();
$subForm1 = new Application_Form_TestSubForm();
$subForm2 = new Application_Form_TestSubForm();
$subForm1->addSubForm($subForm2, 'sub2');
$form->addSubForm($subForm1, 'sub1');
$this->view->form = $form;

On submission the subform values will be available in arrays in the $_POST array. $value=$_POST['sub1']['sub2']['name'] for example.

http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.form.forms.html#zend.form.forms.subforms

To print or access elements in sub forms you have several options:-

If $subForm1 has an element declared thus:-

$email = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('email');

Then the email field can be rendered in the view like this:-

<?php echo $this->element->sub1->email; ?>

Remember that the elements are referenced by their names not by the variables you use to declare them.

Also, remember that $this->element is referencing an instance of Zend_Form so you have all of those methods available. That means you can do this:-

<?php
    $form = $this->element;
    $formElements = $form->getElements();
?>