Problem: db field uses type='list:reference *other_table*', multiple=True.
I need to an easy-to-use UI to search the referenced table, offer
auto-complete and create a separate input for each selection to make
selecting multiple options deliberate and obvious.
I started out with something along these lines:
db.define_table('book',
Field('f_title', type='string', label=T('Title'), required=True),
Field('f_author', type='string', label=T('Author'), required=True),
format='%(f_title)s'
)
db.define_table('student',
Field('f_name', type='string', label=T('Name'), required=True),
Field(...),
Field('f_reports', type='list:reference book', label=T('Selected books')),
format='%(f_name)s'
)
Using SQLFORM, it was easy to create a form for students to enter their
information and select one or more books they would do a report on.
Now that the book library has grown to hundreds of books, there are two new
problems.
1) Books can be hard to find based solely on their placement in the SELECT
according to the first letter, ("Grapes of Wrath" or "The Grapes of
Wrath"), and
2) Students have difficulties keeping track of what has been CMD/Ctrl
clicked. One loose click at the bottom of the list clears previously
selected books.
Changing db.book to the following:
db.define_table('book',
Field('f_title', type='string', label=T('Title'), required=True),
Field('f_author', type='string', label=T('Author'), required=True),
Field('f_search', type='string', label=T('Searchable')),
format='%(f_title)s'
)
allows me to add any string that might be helpful in finding the book, such
as author, common misspellings, subject, etc., into one searchable field.
This gives a head-start on solving Problem #1.
Is there a way to do something similar to the form created by field type
'list:integer/string', where multiple input fields are created as needed
(problem #2), but with autocomplete based on search (problem #1)?
Students are allowed to select an undefined number of books, so something
that adds fields dynamically would be much better than creating enough
fields to cover any eventuality.
As a proof of concept, I've been using Marco Polo by Justin Stayton
(https://github.com/jstayton/jquery-marcopolo) to create auto-completing
fields based on search. In the controller, I'm inserting fields to my form
(form[0].insert), hiding all but the first option, then un-hiding them with
jQuery when the previous has been edited. After the form passes
validation, then I use my inserted fields to build the list that gets saved
to the db.
Is this my best option? I looked at using list:integer/string, and
SQLFORM.factory, but am not sure how to integrate with Marco Polo as the
SQLFORM created/duplicated list input fields share the same id. ('
student_f_reports', etc).
--
Resources:
- http://web2py.com
- http://web2py.com/book (Documentation)
- http://github.com/web2py/web2py (Source code)
- https://code.google.com/p/web2py/issues/list (Report Issues)
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