[Form] Added documentation for Form Events

components/form/form_events.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,398 @@
+.. index::
+    single: Forms; Form Events
+
+Form Events
+===========
+
+The Form component provides a structured process to let you customize your
+forms, by making use of the :doc:`EventDispatcher </components/event_dispatcher/introduction>`
+component. Using form events, you may modify information or fields at
+different steps of the workflow: from the population of the form to the
+submission of the data from the request.
+
+Registering an event listener is very easy using the Form component.
+
+For example, if you wish to register a function to the
+``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT`` event, the following code lets you add a field,
+depending on the request' values::
+
+    // ...
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Form\FormEvent;
+    use Symfony\Component\Form\FormEvents;
+
+    $listener = function (FormEvent $event) {
+        // ...
+    };
+
+    $form = $formFactory->createBuilder()
+        // add form fields
+        ->addEventListener(FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT, $listener);
+
+    // ...
+
+The Form Workflow
+-----------------
+
+The Form Submission Workflow
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. image:: /images/components/form/general_flow.png
+    :align: center
+
+1) Pre-populating the Form (``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA`` and ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA``)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. image:: /images/components/form/set_data_flow.png
+    :align: center
+
+Two events are dispatched during pre-population of a form, when
+:method:`Form::setData() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::setData>`
+is called: ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA`` and ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA``.
+
+A) The ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA`` Event
+.........................................
+
+The ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA`` event is dispatched at the beginning of the
+``Form::setData()`` method. It can be used to:
+
+* Modify the data given during pre-population;
+* Modify a form depending on the pre-populated data (adding or removing fields dynamically).
+
+:ref:`Form Events Information Table<component-form-event-table>`
+
++-----------------+-----------+
+| **Data type**   | **Value** |
++-----------------+-----------+
+| Model data      | ``null``  |
++-----------------+-----------+
+| Normalized data | ``null``  |
++-----------------+-----------+
+| View data       | ``null``  |
++-----------------+-----------+
+
+.. caution::
+
+    During ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA``,
+    :method:`Form::setData() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::setData>`
+    is locked and will throw an exception if used. If you wish to modify
+    data, you should use
+    :method:`FormEvent::setData() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\FormEvent::setData>`
+    instead.
+
+.. sidebar:: ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA`` in the Form component
+
+    The ``collection`` form type relies on the
+    :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\Core\\EventListener\\ResizeFormListener`
+    subscriber, listening to the ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA`` event in order
+    to reorder the form's fields depending on the data from the pre-populated
+    object, by removing and adding all form rows.
+
+B) The ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` Event
+..........................................
+
+The ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` event is dispatched at the end of the
+:method:`Form::setData() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::setData>`
+method. This event is mostly here for reading data after having pre-populated
+the form.
+
+:ref:`Form Events Information Table<component-form-event-table>`
+
++-----------------+------------------------------------------------------+
+| **Data type**   | **Value**                                            |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------------------+
+| Model data      | Model data injected into ``setData()``               |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------------------+
+| Normalized data | Model data transformed using a model transformer     |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------------------+
+| View data       | Normalized data transformed using a view transformer |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------------------+
+
+.. sidebar:: ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` in the Form component
+
+    The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\DataCollector\\EventListener\\DataCollectorListener`
+    class is subscribed to listen to the ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` event
+    in order to collect information about the forms from the denormalized
+    model and view data.
+
+2) Submitting a Form (``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT``, ``FormEvents::SUBMIT`` and ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT``)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. image:: /images/components/form/submission_flow.png
+    :align: center
+
+Three events are dispatched when
+:method:`Form::handleRequest() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::handleRequest>`
+or :method:`Form::submit() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::submit>` are
+called: ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT``, ``FormEvents::SUBMIT``,
+``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT``.
+
+A) The ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT`` Event
+.......................................
+
+The ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT`` event is dispatched at the beginning of the
+:method:`Form::submit() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::submit>` method.
+
+It can be used to:
+
+* Change data from the request, before submitting the data to the form.
+* Add or remove form fields, before submitting the data to the form.
+
+:ref:`Form Events Information Table<component-form-event-table>`
+
++-----------------+------------------------------------------+
+| **Data type**   | **Value**                                |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------+
+| Model data      | Same as in ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------+
+| Normalized data | Same as in ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------+
+| View data       | Same as in ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` |
++-----------------+------------------------------------------+
+
+.. sidebar:: ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT`` in the Form component
+
+    The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\Core\\EventListener\\TrimListener`
+    subscriber subscribes to the ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT`` event in order to
+    trim the request's data (for string values).
+    The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\Csrf\\EventListener\\CsrfValidationListener`
+    subscriber subscribes to the ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT`` event in order to
+    validate the CSRF token.
+
+B) The ``FormEvents::SUBMIT`` Event
+...................................
+
+The ``FormEvents::SUBMIT`` event is dispatched just before the
+:method:`Form::submit() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::submit>` method
+transforms back the normalized data to the model and view data.
+
+It can be used to change data from the normalized representation of the data.
+
+:ref:`Form Events Information Table<component-form-event-table>`
+
++-----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| **Data type**   | **Value**                                                                           |
++-----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Model data      | Same as in ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA``                                            |
++-----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Normalized data | Data from the request reverse-transformed from the request using a view transformer |
++-----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| View data       | Same as in ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA``                                            |
++-----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+.. caution::
+
+    At this point, you cannot add or remove fields to the form.
+
+.. sidebar:: ``FormEvents::SUBMIT`` in the Form component
+
+    The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\Core\\EventListener\\ResizeFormListener`
+    subscribes to the ``FormEvents::SUBMIT`` event in order to remove the
+    fields that need to be removed whenever manipulating a collection of forms
+    for which ``allow_delete`` has been enabled.
+
+C) The ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT`` Event
+........................................
+
+The ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT`` event is dispatched after the
+:method:`Form::submit() <Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Form::submit>` once the
+model and view data have been denormalized.
+
+It can be used to fetch data after denormalization.
+
+:ref:`Form Events Information Table<component-form-event-table>`
+
++-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
+| **Data type**   | **Value**                                                     |
++-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Model data      | Normalized data reverse-transformed using a model transformer |
++-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Normalized data | Same as in ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT``                        |
++-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
+| View data       | Normalized data transformed using a view transformer          |
++-----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+.. caution::
+
+    At this point, you cannot add or remove fields to the form.
+
+.. sidebar:: ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT`` in the Form component
+
+    The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\DataCollector\\EventListener\\DataCollectorListener`
+    subscribes to the ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT`` event in order to collect
+    information about the forms.
+    The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\Extension\\Validator\\EventListener\\ValidationListener`
+    subscribes to the ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT`` event in order to
+    automatically validate the denormalized object, and update the normalized
+    as well as the view's representations.
+
+Registering Event Listeners or Event Subscribers
+------------------------------------------------
+
+In order to be able to use Form events, you need to create an event listener
+or an event subscriber, and register it to an event.
+
+The name of each of the "form" events is defined as a constant on the
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\FormEvents` class.
+Additionally, each event callback (listener or subscriber method) is passed a
+single argument, which is an instance of
+:class:`Symfony\\Component\\Form\\FormEvent`. The event object contains a
+reference to the current state of the form, and the current data being
+processed.
+
+.. _component-form-event-table:
+
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+| **Name**           | ``FormEvents`` **Constant**   | **Event's data** |
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+| form.pre_set_data  | ``FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA``  | Model data       |
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+| form.post_set_data | ``FormEvents::POST_SET_DATA`` | Model data       |
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+| form.pre_bind      | ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT``    | Request data     |
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+| form.bind          | ``FormEvents::SUBMIT``        | Normalized data  |
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+| form.post_bind     | ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT``   | View data        |
++--------------------+-------------------------------+------------------+
+
+.. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+    Before Symfony 2.3, ``FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT``, ``FormEvents::SUBMIT``
+    and ``FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT`` were called ``FormEvents::PRE_BIND``,
+    ``FormEvents::BIND`` and ``FormEvents::POST_BIND``.
+
+.. caution::
+
+    The ``FormEvents::PRE_BIND``, ``FormEvents::BIND`` and
+    ``FormEvents::POST_BIND`` constants will be removed in version 3.0 of
+    Symfony.
+    The event names still keep their original values, so make sure you use the
+    ``FormEvents`` constants in your code for forward compatibility.
+
+Event Listeners
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+An event listener may be any type of valid callable.
+
+Creating and binding an event listener to the form is very easy::
+
+    // ...
+
+    use Symfony\Component\Form\FormEvent;
+    use Symfony\Component\Form\FormEvents;
+
+    $form = $formFactory->createBuilder()
+        ->add('username', 'text')
+        ->add('show_email', 'checkbox')
+        ->addEventListener(FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT, function (FormEvent $event) {
+            $user = $event->getData();
+            $form = $event->getForm();
+
+            if (!$user) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Check whether the user has chosen to display his email or not.
+            // If the data was submitted previously, the additional value that is
+            // included in the request variables needs to be removed.
+            if (true === $user['show_email']) {
+                $form->add('email', 'email');
+            } else {
+                unset($user['email']);
+                $event->setData($user);
+            }
+        })
+        ->getForm();
+
+    // ...
+
+When you have created a form type class, you can use one of its methods as a
+callback for better readability::
+
+    // ...
+
+    class SubscriptionType extends AbstractType
+    {
+        public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
+        {
+            $builder->add('username', 'text');
+            $builder->add('show_email', 'checkbox');
+            $builder->addEventListener(FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA, array($this, 'onPreSetData'));
+        }
+
+        public function onPreSetData(FormEvent $event)
+        {
+            // ...
+        }
+    }
+
+Event Subscribers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Event subscribers have different uses:
+
+* Improving readability;
+* Listening to multiple events;
+* Regrouping multiple listeners inside a single class.
+
+.. code-block:: php
+
+    use Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface;
+    use Symfony\Component\Form\FormEvent;
+    use Symfony\Component\Form\FormEvents;
+
+    class AddEmailFieldListener implements EventSubscriberInterface
+    {
+        public function getSubscribedEvents()
+        {
+            return array(
+                FormEvents::PRE_SET_DATA => 'onPreSetData',
+                FormEvents::PRE_SUBMIT   => 'onPreSubmit',
+            );
+        }
+
+        public function onPreSetData(FormEvent $event)
+        {
+            $user = $event->getData();
+            $form = $event->getForm();
+
+            // Check whether the user from the initial data has chosen to
+            // display his email or not.
+            if (true === $user->isShowEmail()) {
+                $form->add('email', 'email');
+            }
+        }
+
+        public function onPreSubmit(FormEvent $event)
+        {
+            $user = $event->getData();
+            $form = $event->getForm();
+
+            if (!$user) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Check whether the user has chosen to display his email or not.
+            // If the data was submitted previously, the additional value that
+            // is included in the request variables needs to be removed.
+            if (true === $user['show_email']) {
+                $form->add('email', 'email');
+            } else {
+                unset($user['email']);
+                $event->setData($user);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+To register the event subscriber, use the addEventSubscriber() method::
+
+    // ...
+
+    $form = $formFactory->createBuilder()
+        ->add('username', 'text')
+        ->add('show_email', 'checkbox')
+        ->addEventSubscriber(new AddEmailFieldListener())
+        ->getForm();
+
+    // ...