Complex rendering solution for https://github.com/caolan/forms

README.md

NOT for the faint of heart :)

Notes:

• This was for sails/waterline, so I pushed as much as I could into the view layer so I wouldn't have to re-lift sails. Anything in the controller or server required a server restart.
• This is also totally geared for Bootstrap/horizontal forms. However, it can handle any rendering, just change formDefaults.json
• The project was already using lodash (though underline might work as well), so I do use that for simplicity. You will need that to use this
• This also has the added benefit of allowing you to pass in default values for fields
• I was also integrating JQuery form validation (client-side), so I needed a client error message. So, the system can handle error_message (which it sends down for the first time), or error (from forms itself). It sends down the most relevant (error, if present, then error_message)
• You can also hide HTML tags by making the tag '@' (I tried '', but ended up needing something else)

Files:

• formDefaults.json: The template to use to render the form widget
• FormService.js: A custom rendering function to apply this template to a form
• userFormParams.json: An example form for a user
• UserController.js: A snipped of the edit controller to render the form
• edit.ejs: The view rendering the form

Here was one example of a field in a form:

This was using Labelauty to style buttons.

    "dueDaymap": {
        "label": "Due Days:",
        "classes": ["form-control", "labelauty-cb", "labelauty-days"],
        "label_class": "col-sm-1",
        "inner_class": "col-sm-11 labelauty-holder labelauty-holder labelauty-holder-dueDaymap",
        "choices": {
            "Su": "Sun",
            "Mo": "Mon",
            "Tu": "Tue",
            "We": "Wed",
            "Th": "Thu",
            "Fr": "Fri",
            "Sa": "Sat"
        },
        "value": ["Su","Mo","Tu","We","Th","Fr","Sa"],
        "error_message": "Please select 1 day minimum",
        "error_class": "dueDaymap-error alert alert-danger text-center"
    },

edit.ejs

<form role="form" id="user" action="<%= url %>" method="post" class="form-horizontal">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="page-header"><h1>User</h1></div>
        <div class="clearfix"></div>
        <%- form.fields['firstname'].toHTML('firstname', render) %>
        <%- form.fields['lastname'].toHTML('lastname', render) %>
        <%- form.fields['username'].toHTML('username', render) %>
        <%- form.fields['email'].toHTML('email', render) %>
        <%- form.fields['phone'].toHTML('phone', render) %>
        <%- form.fields['accountAffiliation'].toHTML('accountAffiliation', render) %>
        <%- form.fields['id'].toHTML('id', render) %>
    </div>
    <div class="clearfix"></div>
    <div class="btn-group">
        <input data-key="submit" class="btn btn-primary" type="submit" id="submitButton"
               name="submitButton"
               value="Submit">
        <input data-key="cancel" class="btn btn-warning" type="button" value="Cancel"
               id="cancelButton" onclick="window.location='<%= abort %>'"/>
    </div>
</form>

formDefaults.json

{
    "outer_open": "<{OUTER_TAG} class='{OUTER_CLASS} {NAME}-holder'>",
    "outer_close": "</{OUTER_TAG}>",
    "inner_open": "<{INNER_TAG} class='{INNER_CLASS}'>",
    "inner_close": "</{INNER_TAG}>",
    "label_template": "<{LABEL_TAG} class='{LABEL_CLASS}' for='{NAME}'>{LABEL}</{LABEL_TAG}>",
    "help_template": "<{HELP_TAG} class='{HELP_CLASS}'>{HELP}</{HELP_TAG}>",
    "error_template": "<{ERROR_TAG} class='{ERROR_CLASS} hidden'><b>{ERROR}</b></{ERROR_TAG}>",
    "template": "{OUTER_OPEN}{LABEL_TEMPLATE}{INNER_OPEN}{WIDGET}{HELP_TEMPLATE}{INNER_CLOSE}{ERROR_TEMPLATE}{OUTER_CLOSE}",
    "outer_tag": "div",
    "outer_class": "form-group",
    "label_tag": "label",
    "label_class": "col-sm-5 control-label",
    "inner_tag": "div",
    "inner_class": "col-sm-7",
    "help_tag": "span",
    "help_class": "help-block",
    "error_tag": "div",
    "error_class": "alert alert-danger text-center"
}

FormService.js

var forms = require('forms');
var  fields = forms.  fields,
    validators = forms.validators,
    widgets = forms.widgets;
var _ = require('lodash');
var fs = require('fs');

function repl(str,arr) {
    _.forOwn(arr,function(value,key) {
        var search = '{'+key+'}';
        while ( str.indexOf(search)>-1 ) {
            str = str.replace(search,value);
        }
    });
    return str;
}

module.exports = {
    render: function (name, object_init) {
        // NOTE:  I load this at runtime
        var file = __dirname + '/../../views/partials/forms/formDefaults.json';
        var json = fs.readFileSync(file).toString();
        var defaults = JSON.parse(json);
        var object = _.defaults(object_init, defaults);
        object.widget.classes = object.widget.classes || [];
        object.widget.classes.push('form-control');
        var widget = object.widget.toHTML(name, object);

        var hidden = (_.has(object, 'hidden') && object.hidden || object.widget.type == 'hidden  ');
        var outer_hidden = hidden || (_.has(object, 'outer_tag') && object.outer_tag == '@');
        var label_hidden = hidden || (_.has(object, 'label_tag') && object.label_tag == '@');
        var help_hidden = hidden || (!_.has(object, 'help') || (_.has(object, 'help_tag') && object.help_tag == '@'));
        var error_hidden = hidden || (!(_.has(object, 'error') || _.has(object, 'error_message')) || (_.has(object, 'error_tag') && object.error_tag == '@'));

        if (_.has(object, 'hidden') && object.hidden) {
            object.outer_tag = object.label_template = '@';
        }
        
        // IF you have some really bizarre requirements, you can tweak the widget here

        var template_replace = {
            OUTER_OPEN: !outer_hidden ? object.outer_open : '',
            OUTER_CLOSE: !outer_hidden ? object.outer_close : '',
            LABEL_TEMPLATE: !label_hidden ? object.label_template : '',
            INNER_OPEN: object.inner_open,
            INNER_CLOSE: object.inner_close,
            HELP_TEMPLATE: !help_hidden ? object.help_template : '',
            ERROR_TEMPLATE: !error_hidden ? object.error_template : ''
        };

        var tag_replace = {
            OUTER_TAG: object.outer_tag,
            OUTER_CLASS: object.outer_class,
            LABEL_TAG: object.label_tag,
            LABEL_CLASS: object.label_class,
            HELP_TAG: object.help_tag,
            HELP_CLASS: object.help_class,
            ERROR_TAG: object.error_tag,
            ERROR_CLASS: object.error_class,
            INNER_TAG: object.inner_tag,
            INNER_CLASS: object.inner_class
        };

        var data_replace = {
            LABEL: object.labelText(name),
            HELP_TAG: object.help_tag,
            HELP_CLASS: object.inner_class,
            HELP: object.help,
            ERROR_TAG: object.error_tag,
            ERROR_CLASS: object.error_class,
            ERROR: _.has(object, 'error') ? object.error : _.has(object, 'error_message') ? object.error_message : '',
            WIDGET: widget,
            NAME: name
        };
        var t = object.template;
        t = repl(t, template_replace);
        t = repl(t, tag_replace);
        t = repl(t, data_replace);
        return t;
    }
};

UserController.js

    edit: function(req, res) {
        if (req.param('id')) {
            User.findOne({
                id: req.param('id')
            }, function(err, user) {
                if (err) return res.serverError("Error uc22.");
                if (user) {
                    /* user.asFormDefault() returns:
                      { 
                        id:        { value: '542aa1f248fd080e00021878' },
                        firstname: { value: 'Mike' },
                        lastname: { value: 'Crowe' },
                        username: { value: 'drmikecrowe' },
                        email: { value: 'drmikecrowe@gmail.com' },
                        accountAffiliation: { value: 'Just Me' }
                      }
                    */
                    var form = userForm.form(user.asFormDefault());
                    var returninfo = {
                        url: '/user/update',
                        abort: '/user',
                        form: form,
                        render: FormsService.render
                    };
                    return res.view(returninfo);
                }
            });
        } else {
            return res.serverError("Error uc23.");
        }
    },

userform.js

var forms = require('forms');
var fields = forms.fields,
    validators = forms.validators,
    widgets = forms.widgets;
var fs = require('fs');

function repl(str, arr) {
    _.forOwn(arr, function (value, key) {
        var search = '{' + key + '}';
        while (str.indexOf(search) > -1) {
            str = str.replace(search, value);
        }
    });
    return str;
}

module.exports = {
    form: function (def) {
        def = def || {};
        // NOTE:  I load this at runtime 
        var file = __dirname + '/../../../views/user/partials/userFormParams.json';
        var json = fs.readFileSync(file).toString();
        var config = JSON.parse(json);
        var data = _.merge(config, def);

        var schema = {
            id:                 fields.string({ widget: widgets.hidden(), value: data.id, hidden: true}),
            firstname:          fields.string(data.firstname),
            lastname:           fields.string(data.lastname),
            username:           fields.string(data.username),
            email:              fields.string(data.email),
            phone:              fields.string(data.phone),
            accountAffiliation: fields.string(data.accountAffiliation)
        };
        return forms.create(schema);
    }
};

userFormParams.json

{
    "firstname": {
        "label": "First Name",
        "label_class": "col-sm-2"
    },
    "lastname": {
        "label": "Last Name",
        "label_class": "col-sm-2"
    },
    "username": {
        "label": "Username",
        "label_class": "col-sm-2"
    },
    "email": {
        "label": "Email",
        "label_class": "col-sm-2"
    },
    "phone": {
        "label": "Phone Number",
        "label_class": "col-sm-2"
    },
    "accountAffiliation": {
        "label": "Account",
        "label_class": "col-sm-2"
    }
}