How to Create Lightweight Form

Out of the box, SilverStripe provides a robust and reusable set of HTML markup for FormField, however this can sometimes produce markup which is unnecessarily bloated.

For example, a basic search form. We want to use the Form API to handle the form but we may want to provide a totally custom template to meet our needs. To do this, we'll provide the class with a unique template through setTemplate.

mysite/code/Page.php


	<?php

	public function SearchForm() {
		$fields = new FieldList(
			TextField::create('q')
		);

		$actions = new FieldList(
			FormAction::create('doSearch', 'Search')
		);

		$form = new Form($this, 'SearchForm', $fields, $actions);
		$form->setTemplate('SearchForm');

		return $form;
	}

mysite/templates/Includes/SearchForm.ss


	<form $FormAttributes>
		<fieldset>
			$Fields.dataFieldByName(q)
		</fieldset>
		
		<div class="Actions">
			<% loop $Actions %>$Field<% end_loop %>
		</div>
	</form>

SearchForm.ss will be executed within the scope of the Form object so has access to any of the methods and properties on Form such as $Fields and $Actions.

To understand more about Scope or the syntax for custom templates, read the [Templates](../../templates) guide.

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How to Create Lightweight Form

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