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Dynamicform

Yii2 Dynamic form widget for cloning form elements in a nested manner while maintaining accessibility.

Install / Use

/learn @yii2-extensions/Dynamicform
About this skill

Quality Score

0/100

Supported Platforms

Universal

README

Yii2 Extension for Making Dynamic Forms

Latest Version Software License Total Downloads

It is widget to yii2 framework to clone form elements in a nested manner, maintaining accessibility. yii2-dynamicform

Installation

The preferred way to install this extension is through composer.

Either run

composer require --prefer-dist yii2-extensions/dynamicform:"^1.0.0"

or add

"yii2-extensions/dynamicform": "^1.0.0"

to the require section of your composer.json file.

Extension Usage

Databases

To explain usage of this extension we are going to have a sample scenario where we are building address book for customers. Each customer can have multiple addresses. See the image below for further details.

Database

Models

With that database, our assumption is you have two models Customer and Address classes.

<?php

namespace app\models;

class Customer extends ActiveRecord
{
    public static function tableName()
    {
        return 'customer';
    }

    //....
    //normal Yii AR stuffs
}
<?php

namespace app\models;

class Address extends ActiveRecord
{
    public static function tableName()
    {
        return 'address';
    }

    //....
    //normal Yii AR stuffs
}

The Controller

1. Create Action

<?php

namespace app\controllers;

use Yii2\Extensions\DynamicForm\Models\Model; //Very important. Do not mix this with yii\base\Model

class CustomerController extends Controller
{
    
    public function actionCreate()
    {
        $modelCustomer = new Customer;
        $modelsAddress = [new Address];
        if ($modelCustomer->load(Yii::$app->request->post())) {

            $modelsAddress = Model::createMultiple(Address::classname());
            Model::loadMultiple($modelsAddress, Yii::$app->request->post());

            // ajax validation
            if (Yii::$app->request->isAjax) {
                Yii::$app->response->format = Response::FORMAT_JSON;
                return ArrayHelper::merge(
                    ActiveForm::validateMultiple($modelsAddress),
                    ActiveForm::validate($modelCustomer)
                );
            }

            // validate all models
            $valid = $modelCustomer->validate();
            $valid = Model::validateMultiple($modelsAddress) && $valid;
            
            if ($valid) {
                $transaction = \Yii::$app->db->beginTransaction();
                try {
                    if ($flag = $modelCustomer->save(false)) {
                        foreach ($modelsAddress as $modelAddress) {
                            $modelAddress->customer_id = $modelCustomer->id;
                            if (! ($flag = $modelAddress->save(false))) {
                                $transaction->rollBack();
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    if ($flag) {
                        $transaction->commit();
                        return $this->redirect(['view', 'id' => $modelCustomer->id]);
                    }
                } catch (Exception $e) {
                    $transaction->rollBack();
                }
            }
        }

        return $this->render('create', [
            'modelCustomer' => $modelCustomer,
            'modelsAddress' => (empty($modelsAddress)) ? [new Address] : $modelsAddress
        ]);
    } 
}

2. Update Action

<?php

namespace app\controllers;

use Yii2\Extensions\DynamicForm\Models\Model; //Very important. Do not mix this with yii\base\Model

class CustomerController extends Controller
{
    public function actionUpdate($id)
    {
        $modelCustomer = $this->findModel($id);
        $modelsAddress = $modelCustomer->addresses;

        // primary key of $modelsAddress
        $pkey = 'address_id';

        if ($modelCustomer->load(Yii::$app->request->post())) {

            $oldIDs = ArrayHelper::map($modelsAddress, $pkey, $pkey);
            $modelsAddress = Model::createMultiple(Address::classname(), $modelsAddress, $pkey);
            Model::loadMultiple($modelsAddress, Yii::$app->request->post());
            $deletedIDs = array_diff($oldIDs, array_filter(ArrayHelper::map($modelsAddress, $pkey, $pkey)));

            // ajax validation
            if (Yii::$app->request->isAjax) {
                Yii::$app->response->format = Response::FORMAT_JSON;
                return ArrayHelper::merge(
                    ActiveForm::validateMultiple($modelsAddress),
                    ActiveForm::validate($modelCustomer)
                );
            }

            // validate all models
            $valid = $modelCustomer->validate();
            $valid = Model::validateMultiple($modelsAddress) && $valid;

            if ($valid) {
                $transaction = \Yii::$app->db->beginTransaction();
                try {
                    if ($flag = $modelCustomer->save(false)) {
                        if (! empty($deletedIDs)) {
                            Address::deleteAll([$pkey => $deletedIDs]);
                        }
                        foreach ($modelsAddress as $modelAddress) {
                            $modelAddress->customer_id = $modelCustomer->id;
                            if (! ($flag = $modelAddress->save(false))) {
                                $transaction->rollBack();
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    if ($flag) {
                        $transaction->commit();
                        return $this->redirect(['view', 'id' => $modelCustomer->id]);
                    }
                } catch (Exception $e) {
                    $transaction->rollBack();
                }
            }
        }

        return $this->render('update', [
            'modelCustomer' => $modelCustomer,
            'modelsAddress' => (empty($modelsAddress)) ? [new Address] : $modelsAddress
        ]);
    }
}

The View

The View presents our complex form that will dynamically add or remove items. At the hear of it is the DynamicFormWidget The following are some details on widget profperties:

  • widgetContainer: Top container for the widget. Can only be alphanumeric plus a _ character. It is required
  • widgetBody : The Container that hosts rows of form elements. Its value must conform to css class. It is required
  • widgetItem : Represents single row of form line. If you are used to Bootstrap grid, widgetBody is similar to a container and widgetItem to a row. It is a required element and must be in the format of css class
  • limit : Maximum number of clones. It is an integer. Limits the number of times element can be cloned. Defaults to 999.
  • min : Minimum number of elements by default. Set it to 0 if you want empty sub-form elements or 1 to start with single row. Defaults to 1.
  • insertButton : Css class name for an element when clicked will add a row in the form.
  • deleteButton : Css class name for an element when clicked will delete a row in the form.
  • model : Sample model for the widget. If you are not sure, pass first element of the model rows. This requires your controller always send at least single model to the view.
  • formId : ID of your ActiveForm. Mismatching the two is a recipe for disaster. Be careful!

Sample view

<?php
use yii\helpers\Html;
use yii\widgets\ActiveForm;
use Yii2\Extensions\DynamicForm\DynamicFormWidget;
?>

<div class="customer-form">
    <?php $form = ActiveForm::begin(['id' => 'dynamic-form']); ?>
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <?= $form->field($modelCustomer, 'first_name')->textInput(['maxlength' => true]) ?>
        </div>
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <?= $form->field($modelCustomer, 'last_name')->textInput(['maxlength' => true]) ?>
        </div>
    </div>

    <div class="panel panel-default">
        <div class="panel-heading"><h4><i class="glyphicon glyphicon-envelope"></i> Addresses</h4></div>
        <div class="panel-body">
             <?php DynamicFormWidget::begin([
                'widgetContainer' => 'dynamicform_wrapper', // required: only alphanumeric characters plus "_" [A-Za-z0-9_]
                'widgetBody' => '.container-items', // required: css class selector
                'widgetItem' => '.item', // required: css class.
                'limit' => 4, // the maximum times, an element can be cloned (default 999)
                'min' => 1, // 0 or 1 (default 1)
                'insertButton' => '.add-item', // css class
                'deleteButton' => '.remove-item', // css class
                'model' => $modelsAddress[0],
                'formId' => 'dynamic-form',
                'formFields' => [
                    'full_name',
                    'address_line1',
                    'address_line2',
                    'city',
                    'state',
                    'postal_code',
                ],
            ]); ?>

            <div class="container-items"><!-- widgetContainer -->
            <?php foreach ($modelsAddress as $i => $modelAddress): ?>
                <div class="item panel panel-default"><!-- widgetBody -->
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                        <h3 class="panel-title pull-left">Address</h3>
                        <div class="pull-right">
                            <button type="button" class="add-item btn btn-success btn-xs"
View on GitHub
GitHub Stars6
CategoryDevelopment
Updated7mo ago
Forks3

Languages

JavaScript

Security Score

62/100

Audited on Sep 1, 2025

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