Outperform

Outperform is a form generator written in plain Javascript with zero dependencies. It supports and augments browser native form validation and offers automatic persistence of half-filled forms across page reloads while integrating with any and all web frameworks.

Requirements

It runs inside any webbrowser environment (starting at IE11 and up).

Features

• Zero dependencies.
• Less filling (unminified but gzipped: <2KB).
• Native browser form validation support for all HTML5+ input types.
• Custom validation seemlessly integrated.
• Compact form description format.
• Customisable nested HTML templates that allow seemless integration with any web framework (e.g. Bootstrap).
• Automatic and consistent persistence of forms across page reloads in all browsers.
• Convenience functions to easily retrieve and (pre)set all form data using javascript objects (ideal for custom processing of form submissions).
• Does not invade or mess up your id DOM-namespace by using form-relative name references internally exclusively.

Basic usage

 var fields = [
   [ "houseno", "number", "This is the description", {min:1, max:999}],
   [ "foo", "text", "This is the description",
      {validate:function(flds) {
        if (flds.foo.value != flds.foo2.value)
          return "Mismatch between foo en foo2 fields";
       }],
   [ "foo2", "password", "This is the description"],
   [ "bar", "select", "This is the description",
     {list:
      ["one",
       ["two", {class:"bright"}],
       ["three", "Three choices"],
       "four",
       ["five", "Five", {style:"display:none;"}],
      ]
     }
   ],
   [ "bar2", "checkbox", "This is the description",
     {list:
      ["one",
       ["two", {class:"bright", value:"2"}],
       ["Three choices"],
       "four",
       ["Five", {style:"display:none;", value:"5"}],
      ],
      template:"<fieldset><legend></legend><input /></fieldset>",
      labelsel:"legend",
     }
   ],
 ];
 var form = Outperform.create("form", {id:"hello"}, fields);
 document.body.appendChild(form);

 // on submit:
 if (form.reportValidity()) {
   console.log(JSON.stringify(Outperform.getfields(form)));
   Outperform.clearpersist(form);
 }

Reference documentation

Fielddescriptions are an array of values:

 [ name, type, description, options]

• name
  Is the name attribute for this input field.
• type
  Is the type attribute for this input field. All browser native types are supported. Special values are select or textarea, which generate corresponding input fields.
• description
  Should be the human readable description of this field.
• options
  Is an optional field that can contain an object. All values in this object will become attributes on the input field. Exception to this rule are a few special attributes:
  • template
    Defaults to:

     <label><span></span><input /></label>

    And can be specified per input field if so desired.
  • labelsel
    Defaults to: span And identifies the first element whose content shall be replaced by the human readable form of the description of the input field.
  • persist
    A boolean which determines if this field's content will persist accross browser reloads. Defaults to true for all types except password.
  • validate
    Can be defined to a function which performs custom validation checks. The function receives a single parameter which can be indexed by the name of an input element to reference the input element nodes.
  • node
    Can be defined to a function which is run once right after the template has been fully instantiated. The first parameter is a reference to the input element node itself, and the second parameter is a reference to the top element node in this templaterow.
  • list
    An array of values for a select, checkbox or radio element. Every entry needs to satisfy the following rules:
    • select values should contain one or two strings (separate value is optional) followed by an optional option object per row.
    • checkbox and radio values should contain a single string, or a single string followed by an option object, or a full fielddescription array (the latter can be used to recursively nest arbitrarily complex HTML structures in the form).

API

Specified parameters:

• form
  A reference to the current form node.
• fielddescription
  The description of an input field.
• fields
  An array of fielddescription fields.

Exposed API-list:

• Outperform.create(formtag, attributes, fields)
  Creates an HTML element using the tag in the string formtag (usually "form", unless you deviate from HTML5) adorned by the attributes listed in the attributes object. The form is filled using the fielddescriptions in the fields array. It returns a reference to the form node which should normally be inserted into the DOM.
• Outperform.clearpersist(form)
  Clears the persistent storage used to store half-filled form data. Intended to be used right after submitting the form successfully.
• Outperform.getvalues(form)
  Returns an object containing all entered values in the form.
• Outperform.setvalues(form, values)
  (Pre)sets all values in the form using the object in values.
• Outperform.obj2formdata(values)
  Returns the equivalent formData object.
• Outperform.field(form, fielddescription)
  Return a single node that is equivalent to the provided fielddescription (used internally by Outperform.create()). This method can be used to construct completely custom form elements, by inserting them manually into the form created by Outperform.create().

References

Card-carrying member of the zerodeps movement.