How to create and display/handle a form in Joomla 3.x

Question

For my web site (joomla) I need a form which after submission is going to execute somme PHP code. I didn't found any form component in the joomla extensions so I tried to make my own component.

I have followed this tutorial but I am blocked because I don't understand how to display and to control my form.

Here is the structure of my component

see here

And here some code I have written. formff.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<extension type="component" version="3.0" method="upgrade">

    <name>Form FF!</name>
    <!-- The following elements are optional and free of formatting constraints -->
    <creationDate>Septembre 2019</creationDate>
    <author>Rémi</author>
    <authorEmail>contact@monsite.fr</authorEmail>
    <authorUrl>www.monsite.fr</authorUrl>
    <copyright>Copyright Info</copyright>
    <license>License Info</license>
    <!--  The version string is recorded in the components table -->
    <version>0.0.1</version>
    <!-- The description is optional and defaults to the name -->
    <description>Description of the Form FF component ...</description>

    <update> <!-- Runs on update; New since J2.5 -->
        <schemas>
            <schemapath type="mysql">sql/updates/mysql</schemapath>
        </schemas>
    </update>

    <!-- Site Main File Copy Section -->
    <!-- Note the folder attribute: This attribute describes the folder
        to copy FROM in the package to install therefore files copied
        in this section are copied from /site/ in the package -->
    <files folder="site">
        <filename>index.html</filename>
        <filename>formff.php</filename>
        <filename>controller.php</filename>
        <folder>views</folder>
    </files>

    <administration>
        <!-- Administration Menu Section -->
        <menu link='index.php?option=com_formff'>Form FF!</menu>
        <!-- Administration Main File Copy Section -->
        <!-- Note the folder attribute: This attribute describes the folder
            to copy FROM in the package to install therefore files copied
            in this section are copied from /admin/ in the package -->
        <files folder="admin">
            <!-- Admin Main File Copy Section -->
            <filename>index.html</filename>
            <filename>formff.php</filename>
            <!-- SQL files section -->
            <folder>sql</folder>
        </files>
    </administration>

</extension>

There is no particular code in the admin folder since all the display is for the site. So I will just show the code in the site folder

formff.php

defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');

// Get an instance of the controller prefixed by FormFF
$controller = JControllerLegacy::getInstance('FormFF');

// Perform the Request task
$input = JFactory::getApplication()->input;
$controller->execute($input->getCmd('task'));

// Redirect if set by the controller
$controller->redirect();  

controller.php

defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');

class FormFFController extends JControllerLegacy
{
}  

view.html.php

defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');

class FormFFViewFormFF extends JViewLegacy
{
    /**
     * Display the From FF view
     *
     * @param   string  $tpl  The name of the template file to parse; automatically searches through the template paths.
     *
     * @return  void
     */
    function display($tpl = null)
    {
        // Assign data to the view
        $this->msg = 'Formulaire';

        // Display the view
        parent::display($tpl);
    }
}  

default.php

defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');
?>
<h1><?php echo $this->msg; ?></h1>

default.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<metadata>
    <layout title="COM_FORMFF_FORMFF_VIEW_DEFAULT_TITLE">
        <message>COM_FORMFF_FORMFF_VIEW_DEFAULT_DESC</message>
    </layout>
</metadata>

I understood I can build forms by usign this kind of xml file

default.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<form>
    <fields name="champs">
        <fieldset name="ident">
            <field
                    type="text"
                    name="clientnale"
                    id="clientnameff"
                    label="Name"
                    description="Enter your name"
                    size="80"
                    maxLength="255" />                     
        </fieldset>
    </fields>
</form>

But I really don't know what to do to display and handle the results of my form

Any ideas??

Remi

Answer 1

where is your models ? you control how your form is displayed via default.php, you can use JTable to map data to database

//In your  view.html.php $this->msg is your variable
$this->msg = 'Formulaire';
// In your default.php  $this->msg is  where your variable is being displayed
<h1><?php echo $this->msg; ?></h1>
//But is is better to use a standard controls to display your
// form for example you can add this to your default.php file
// you should replace 'msg' by your actual fields in your xml form
<div class="control-group">
      <div class="control-label"><?php echo $this->form->getLabel('msg');?></div>
      <div class="controls"><?php echo $this->form->getInput('msg'); ?></div>
</div>