Touch Forms
Many classes have shortcut names used when creating (instantiating) a class with a
configuration object. The shortcut name is referred to as an alias (or xtype if the
class extends Ext.Component). The alias/xtype is listed next to the class name of
applicable classes for quick reference.
Framework classes or their members may be specified as private or protected. Else,
the class / member is public. Public, protected, and private are access
descriptors used to convey how and when the class or class member should be used.
Public classes and class members are available for use by any other class or application code and may be relied upon as a stable and persistent within major product versions. Public classes and members may safely be extended via a subclass.
Protected class members are stable public members intended to be used by the
owning class or its subclasses. Protected members may safely be extended via a subclass.
Private classes and class members are used internally by the framework and are not intended to be used by application developers. Private classes and members may change or be omitted from the framework at any time without notice and should not be relied upon in application logic.
static label next to the
method name. *See Static below.Below is an example class member that we can disect to show the syntax of a class member (the lookupComponent method as viewed from the Ext.button.Button class in this case).
Let's look at each part of the member row:
lookupComponent in this example)( item ) in this example)Ext.Component in this case). This may be omitted for methods that do not
return anything other than undefined or may display as multiple possible values
separated by a forward slash / signifying that what is returned may depend on the
results of the method call (i.e. a method may return a Component if a get method calls is
successful or false if unsuccessful which would be displayed as
Ext.Component/Boolean).PROTECTED in
this example - see the Flags section below)Ext.container.Container in this example). The source
class will be displayed as a blue link if the member originates from the current class
and gray if it is inherited from an ancestor or mixed-in class.view source in the example)item : Object in the example).undefined a "Returns" section
will note the type of class or object returned and a description (Ext.Component in the
example)Available since 3.4.0 - not pictured in
the example) just after the member descriptionDefaults to: false)The API documentation uses a number of flags to further commnicate the class member's function and intent. The label may be represented by a text label, an abbreviation, or an icon.
classInstance.method1().method2().etc();false is returned from
an event handler- Indicates a framework class
- A singleton framework class. *See the singleton flag for more information
- A component-type framework class (any class within the Ext JS framework that extends Ext.Component)
- Indicates that the class, member, or guide is new in the currently viewed version
- Indicates a class member of type config
- Indicates a class member of type property
- Indicates a class member of type
method
- Indicates a class member of type event
- Indicates a class member of type
theme variable
- Indicates a class member of type
theme mixin
- Indicates that the class, member, or guide is new in the currently viewed version
Just below the class name on an API doc page is a row of buttons corresponding to the types of members owned by the current class. Each button shows a count of members by type (this count is updated as filters are applied). Clicking the button will navigate you to that member section. Hovering over the member-type button will reveal a popup menu of all members of that type for quick navigation.
Getting and setter methods that correlate to a class config option will show up in the methods section as well as in the configs section of both the API doc and the member-type menus just beneath the config they work with. The getter and setter method documentation will be found in the config row for easy reference.
Your page history is kept in localstorage and displayed (using the available real estate) just below the top title bar. By default, the only search results shown are the pages matching the product / version you're currently viewing. You can expand what is displayed by clicking on the button on the right-hand side of the history bar and choosing the "All" radio option. This will show all recent pages in the history bar for all products / versions.
Within the history config menu you will also see a listing of your recent page visits. The results are filtered by the "Current Product / Version" and "All" radio options. Clicking on the button will clear the history bar as well as the history kept in local storage.
If "All" is selected in the history config menu the checkbox option for "Show product details in the history bar" will be enabled. When checked, the product/version for each historic page will show alongside the page name in the history bar. Hovering the cursor over the page names in the history bar will also show the product/version as a tooltip.
Both API docs and guides can be searched for using the search field at the top of the page.
On API doc pages there is also a filter input field that filters the member rows using the filter string. In addition to filtering by string you can filter the class members by access level, inheritance, and read only. This is done using the checkboxes at the top of the page.
The checkbox at the bottom of the API class navigation tree filters the class list to include or exclude private classes.
Clicking on an empty search field will show your last 10 searches for quick navigation.
Each API doc page (with the exception of Javascript primitives pages) has a menu view of metadata relating to that class. This metadata view will have one or more of the following:
Ext.button.Button class has an alternate class name of Ext.Button). Alternate class
names are commonly maintained for backward compatibility.Runnable examples (Fiddles) are expanded on a page by default. You can collapse and expand example code blocks individually using the arrow on the top-left of the code block. You can also toggle the collapse state of all examples using the toggle button on the top-right of the page. The toggle-all state will be remembered between page loads.
Class members are collapsed on a page by default. You can expand and collapse members using the arrow icon on the left of the member row or globally using the expand / collapse all toggle button top-right.
Viewing the docs on narrower screens or browsers will result in a view optimized for a smaller form factor. The primary differences between the desktop and "mobile" view are:
The class source can be viewed by clicking on the class name at the top of an API doc page. The source for class members can be viewed by clicking on the "view source" link on the right-hand side of the member row.
This guide shows how to build a simple Sencha Touch form in Architect and attach an event handler for form submission. It also gives detailed descriptions of all the containers and field components available for building forms.
For similar information regarding forms in Ext JS, see Building Ext JS Forms in Architect.
Almost all forms consist of the same basic parts: a Form Panel containing one or more form fields and (at least) a submit button with an event handler to validate and submit the form. As a quick demonstration of this common case, let's build one of the simplest forms possible: a login form.
Start a new Sencha Touch project and set its URL Prefix in Project Settings. See Writing Your First Mobile App for details. Find the Form Panel component in the Toolbox and double-click it, or drag it to the Canvas, to add it to your project.
Drag a FieldSet component onto the form panel,
double-click its title in the Canvas,
and change its title to Login.
It is usually recommended to wrap your form's fields
in one or more FieldSet containers,
as it provides the grouping title
and gives your fields rounded corners and margins between groups.
Double-click the label of the first field and change it to "Username".
Change its name config to "username", and its labelWidth to "35%".
Right-click the second field and select Transform-->Ext.field.Password to
change it into a password field, which means the browser running the form
obscures the letters of the password as the user enters them. Double-click
its label and change it to Password. Change its name config to password,
and its labelWidth to 35% to match the username field.
Drag a Button onto the form panel. Double-click its label and change it
to Login. Change its Config to confirm.
The final step is to add logic to handle the user submitting the form.
Select the Login button and find its Events item in Config.
Click the add button ("+") to create a news event,
select Basic Event Binding, and choose tap as the event type.
Notice there is now a tap event in the Inspector as a child of the button.
Double-click the tap event it to open the code editor for the event.
Insert the following code in the editor:
var values = this.getValues();
if (values.username && values.password) {
this.submit({
url: 'login.php',
method: 'POST',
success: function(form, result) {
Ext.Msg.alert('', 'Login Successful!');
},
failure: function(form, result) {
Ext.Msg.alert('', 'Login Failed!');
}
});
} else {
Ext.Msg.alert('Error', 'Both username and password are required.');
}
This code checks that the user has entered values for both fields.
If both fields do not contain values, an alert message is displayed.
If both values are entered, the form is submitted to the server-side
script at the url login.php. The contents of that server-side script
are beyond the scope of this tutorial, but the above code shows how to
handle both success and failure responses. It uses a simple alert
message but you would write whatever logic you want.
Let's try the simple form. Save and preview the project in a browser. Click the Login button without entering any values and the error message should be displayed. Fill in values and submit again and, assuming the login.php script does not exist, you should see the failure message. If you did have a login.php script and it returned a success response then you would see the success message.
Next let's explore all the container and field types you can use to build more complex forms than the example just described. The name of each is linked to its corresponding API documentation.
Sencha Touch provides specialized containers for forms and grouping of form fields:
Action Sheet -- Displays a list of buttons in a popup dialog.
Carousel -- Allows a user to swipe through multiple full-screen pages. A Carousel shows only one of its pages at a time, but allows you to swipe through with your finger.
Container -- Provides all the abilities of a Component, but lets you render and arrange other Components inside the Container.
Form Panel -- The main outermost container for every form. It supports all the features of Container but has special configuration properties and methods for loading and submitting the values of its constituent form fields.
Ext.form.FieldSet -- A container that groups a set of related fields together, with an optional title and instructional text.
Menu -- A menu can be linked with any side of the screen (top, left, bottom or right) and simply describes the contents of your menu.
Panel -- Panels are most useful as Overlays - containers that float over your application. They contain extra styling such that when you showBy another component, the container appears in a rounded black box with a 'tip' pointing to a reference component.
Sheet -- A general sheet class. This renderable container provides base support for orientation-aware transitions for popup or side-anchored sliding Panels.
Tab Panel -- Tab Panels are a great way to allow a user to switch between several pages that are all full screen. Each Component in the Tab Panel gets its own Tab, which shows the Component when tapped on. Tabs can be positioned at the top or the bottom of the Tab Panel, and can optionally accept title and icon configurations.
The following form field components
appear under the Form Fields group in the Toolbox.
You will usually want to set the name config
for each field you add in your form;
that name is used as the name of the field's parameter
when the form is submitted.
All fields also allow a label
which can be aligned to any side of the field
via the labelAlign config,
and have its width set via the labelWidth config.
Ext.field.Checkbox -- A single checkbox field.
DatePicker -- A field that lets the user select a date from a date picker that pops up when the field is tapped.
Email Field -- A text field that accepts an email address as its value. Some devices provide a customized virtual keyboard for email entry.
File Field -- Creates an HTML file input field on the page. You can use this to upload files to a remote server.
Hidden Field -- A form field whose name/value is included in the form submit parameters but does not display in the user interface.
Number Field -- A text field that accepts numeric values. Some devices provide a customized virtual keyboard for numeric entry.
Password Field -- A text field that obscures its entered characters.
Radio Button -- A single radio button. In apps with radio buttons that share the same name config, only one radio button can be checked at a time.
Search Field -- A text field commonly used for searches. Includes an "x" button to clear its value.
Select Field -- A field that enables selecting from one of several possible values. The values are presented in a popup Picker when the user taps the field.
Slider Field -- A numeric field presented as a draggable slider.
Spinner Field -- A numeric field whose value can be changed with increment/decrement buttons.
Text Field -- A simple single-line text field.
TextArea -- A multiline text field.
Toggle Field -- A field that supports toggling between only two values.
URL Field -- A text field that accepts a URL as its value. Some devices provide a customized virtual keyboard for URL entry.
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