I'm trying to create a means of user input calculation, where input fields and calculation formula are set dynamically. For example, a have Number of apples and Price for one apple inputs, so I multiply inputs to get the price. In another case I have length, width and height inputs to calculate volume.
I decided to store inputs, data and calculation function and reassemble the form form json with Alpacajs
But calculation fields are only a part of a bigger form.
So using
$("#alpacaForm").alpaca(window.alpacaForm.object);
adds a new form inside the alpacaForm
element.
Is there a way to append fields generated by alpacajs to an existing form?
The only way I've managed to do it is by rendering into a separate element and copying the elements over.
For example:
<form id="my-form">
<!-- My controls: -->
<label for="foo">Foo</label>
<input id="foo">
<label for="bar">Bar</label>
<input id="bar">
<!-- I want the schema-based controls to go into this div. -->
<div class="schema-control-container"></div>
</form>
The JavaScript (and jQuery):
var $myForm = $('#my-form');
var $schemaControlContainer = $myForm.find('.schema-control-container');
var mySchema = JSON.parse(mySchemaJson);
var $scratchpad = $('<div id="alpacaScratchpad"></div>').hide().
insertAfter($myForm);
function postRender (control) {
// I actually have multiple forms, so I need to make sure the IDs are unique.
$scratchpad.find('.alpaca-control').each(function (i, alpacaControl) {
alpacaControl.id = $myForm.attr('id') + '-' + alpacaControl.id;
});
$scratchpad.find('.alpaca-control-label').each(
function (i, alpacaControlLabel) {
alpacaControlLabel.htmlFor = $myForm.attr('id') + '-' +
alpacaControlLabel.htmlFor;
});
// Select elements we want to copy. Note that I haven't tried this with any
// particularly complicated JSON schemata, so this may be naïve.
var $goodies = $scratchpad.find('.alpaca-control,.alpaca-control-label');
// Optional: mark schema controls as such, and allow autocompletion.
$goodies.filter('.alpaca-control').addClass('my-schema-datum').
attr('autocomplete', null);
// Remove Alpaca classes and Bootstrap crap. (I hate Bootstrap, but the 'web'
// version of Alpaca doesn't seem to work right now. TODO: Update after
// https://github.com/gitana/alpaca/issues/507 is fixed.)
$goodies.removeClass('alpaca-control').removeClass('alpaca-control-label').
removeClass('form-control').removeClass('control-label');
// Move the goodies to the schema control container, in the form.
$schemaControlContainer.append($goodies);
// Clean up the clutter we don't need.
$scratchpad.empty();
}
// Have Alpaca render the schema into the scratchpad, and then run the function
// we just defined.
$scratchpad.alpaca({ schema: mySchema, postRender: postRender });
I was hoping to find an Alpaca option to prevent needing to do all this, but there doesn't seem to be one.