Dynamically generating Preside form definitions

As of Preside v10.6.0, the Forms service provides a createForm() method for dynamically creating forms without the need for an XML definition file. This can be useful in scenarios where the form can take on many different fields that will differ depending on the current user context.

Example usage:

var newFormName = formsService.createForm( function( formDefinition ){

	formDefinition.setAttributes(
		i18nBaseUri = "forms.myform:"
	);

	formDefinition.addField(
		  tab       = "default"
		, fieldset  = "default"
		, name      = "title"
		, control   = "textinput"
		, maxLength = 100
		, required  = true
	);

	formDefinition.addField(
		  tab      = "default"
		, fieldset = "default"
		, name     = "body"
		, control  = "richeditor"
		, required = true
	);

} );

As seen in the example above, the method works by supplying a closure that takes a FormDefinition object as its argument. You can then use the FormDefinition object to build your form definition (see FormDefinition for full API documentation).

Extending existing forms

As well as creating forms from scratch, you can also extend an existing form by supplying the basedOn argument:

var newFormName = formsService.createForm( basedOn="existing.form", generator=function( formDefinition ){

	formDefinition.addField(
		  tab       = "default"
		, fieldset  = "default"
		, name      = "title"
		, control   = "textinput"
		, maxLength = 100
		, required  = true
	);

	// ...
} );

Specifying a form name

By default, a form name will be generated for you and returned. If you wish, however, you can supply your own form name for the dynamically generated form:

formsService.createForm( basedOn="existing.form", formName="my.new.form", generator=function( formDefinition ){

	formDefinition.addField(
		  tab       = "default"
		, fieldset  = "default"
		, name      = "title"
		, control   = "textinput"
		, maxLength = 100
		, required  = true
	);

	// ...
} );

Warning

Be careful when specifying a form name. Should two dynamically generated forms share the same name but have different form definitions, you will run into problems. Form names should be unique per distinct definition.