Zebra_Form, a jQuery augmented PHP library for HTML form building and validation

Dependencies

Notice how the elements from the "Add new person" section are validated *only* when the "Add new" button is clicked

try clicking on the submit button without filling the form and then, as you fill the form, to see the JavaScript validation in action
for each example, notice how the PHP code of the form remains basically unchanged, despite the template variations
disable JavaScript to see the server-side validation in action
although in all my examples I use HTML output, you can switch to XHTML output by using the doctye method
try the example in another browser and see that it works, out of the box. including IE6!

<?php

     // include the Zebra_Form class
    require 'path/to/Zebra_Form.php';

    // instantiate a Zebra_Form object
    $form = new Zebra_Form('form');

    // add the "name" element
    $form->add('label', 'label_name', 'name', 'Name');
    $obj = $form->add('text', 'name');

    // set rules
    $obj->set_rule(array(
        'required'  => array('error', 'Name is required!'),
    ));

    // add the "surname" element
    $form->add('label', 'label_surname', 'surname', 'Surname');
    $obj = $form->add('text', 'surname');

    // set rules
    $obj->set_rule(array(
        'required'  => array('error', 'Surname is required!'),
    ));

    // elements for adding a new person

    // add the "name" element
    $form->add('label', 'label_add_name', 'add_name', 'Name');
    $obj = $form->add('text', 'add_name');

    // set rules
    // validate *only* if the "Add new" button is clicked
    $obj->set_rule(array(
        'required'  => array('error', 'Name is required!'),
        'dependencies'  =>  array(
            'btnadd'    =>  'click',
        ),
    ));

    // add the "surname" element
    $form->add('label', 'label_add_surname', 'add_surname', 'Surame');
    $obj = $form->add('text', 'add_surname');

    // set rules
    $obj->set_rule(array(
        'required'  => array('error', 'Surname is required!'),
        'dependencies'  =>  array(
            'btnadd'    =>  'click',
        ),
    ));

    // "add"
    $form->add('submit', 'btnadd', 'Add new');

    // "submit"
    $form->add('submit', 'btnsubmit', 'Finish');

    // if the form is valid
    if ($form->validate()) {

        // show results
        show_results();

    // otherwise
    } else

        $form->render('path/to/custom-template.php');

?>

<?php echo (isset($zf_error) ? $zf_error : (isset($error) ? $error : ''))?>

<div class="row">
    <div class="cell"><?php echo $label_name . $name?></div>
    <div class="cell"><?php echo $label_surname . $surname?></div>
</div>

<div class="row even">
    <h6><strong>Add new person</strong></h6><br>
    <div class="cell"><?php echo $label_add_name . $add_name?></div>
    <div class="cell"><?php echo $label_add_surname . $add_surname?></div>
    <div class="cell"><br><?php echo $btnadd?></div>
</div>

<div class="row last"><?php echo $btnsubmit?></div>

<!-- must be in strict mode! -->
<!doctype html>

<html>

    <head>

        <meta charset="utf-8">

        <title>Zebra_Form Example</title>

        <!-- load Zebra_Form's stylesheet file -->
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="path/to/zebra_form.css">

    </head>

    <body>

        <!--

            the content from the "PHP Source" tab goes here

        -->

        <!-- we're loading the JavaScript files at the bottom of the page so we don't delay page rendering -->

        <!-- try to load jQuery from CDN server and fallback to local source if not available -->
        <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
        <script>window.jQuery || document.write('<script src="path/to/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"><\/script>')</script>

        <!-- load Zebra_Form's JavaScript file -->
        <script src="path/to/zebra_form.js"></script>

    </body>

</html>