:::{php:namespace} Atk4\Data :::

(Fields)=

:::{php:class} Field :::

Field

Field represents a model property that can hold information about your entity. In Agile Data we call it a Field, to distinguish it from object properties. Fields inside a model normally have a corresponding instance of Field class.

See {php:meth}Model::addField() on how fields are added. By default, persistence sets the property _defaultSeedAddField which should correspond to a field object that has enough capabilities for performing field-specific mapping into persistence-logic.

:::{php:class} Field :::

Field represents a property of your business entity or column if you think of your data in a tabular way. Once you have defined Field for your Model, you can set and read value of that field:

$model->addField('name');
$model->set('name', 'John');

echo $model->get('name'); // John

Purpose of Field

Implementation of Field in Agile Data is a very powerful and distinctive feature. While {php:attr}Model::$data store your field values, the job of {php:class}Field is to interpret that value, normalize it, type-cast it, validate it and decide on how to store or present it.

The implementation of Fields is tightly integrated with {php:class}Model and {php:class}Persistence.

Field Type

:::{php:attr} type :::

Probably a most useful quality of Field is that it has a clear type:

$model->addField('age', ['type' => 'integer']);
$model->set('age', '123');

var_dump($model->get('age')); // int(123)

Agile Data defines some basic types to make sure that values:

• can be safely stored and manipulated.
• can be saved (Persistence)
• can be presented to user (UI)

A good example would be a date type:

$model->addField('birth', ['type' => 'date']);
$model->set('birth', new DateTime('2014-01-10'));

$model->save();

When used with SQL persistence the value will be automatically converted into a format preferred by the database 2014-10-01. Because PHP has only a single type for storing date, time and datetime, this can lead to various problems such as handling of timezones or DST. Agile Data takes care of those issues for you automatically.

Conversions between types is what we call {ref}Typecasting and there is a documentation section dedicated to it.

Finally, because Field is a class, it can be further extended. For some interesting examples, check out {php:class}PasswordField. I'll explain how to create your own field classes and where they can be beneficial.

Valid types are: string, integer, boolean, datetime, date, time.

You can specify unsupported type too. It will be untouched by Agile Data so you would have to implement your own handling of a new type.

Persistence implements two methods:

• {php:meth}Persistence::typecastSaveRow()
• {php:meth}Persistence::typecastLoadRow()

Those are responsible for converting PHP native types to persistence specific formats as defined in fields. Those methods will also change name of the field if needed (see Field::actual)

Basic Properties

Fields have properties, which define its behavior. Some properties apply on how the values are handled or restrictions on interaction, other values can even help with data visualization. For example if {php:attr}Field::$enum is used with Agile UI form, it will be displayed as radio button or a drop-down:

$model->addField('gender', ['enum' => ['F', 'M']]);

// Agile UI code:
$app = new \Atk4\Ui\App('my app');
$app->initLayout('Centered');
Form::addTo($app)->setModel($model);

You will also not be able to set value which is not one of the enum values even if you don't use UI.

This allows you to define your data fields once and have those rules respected everywhere in your app - in your manual code, in UI and in API.

:::{php:attr} default :::

When no value is specified for a field, default value is used when inserting. This value will also appear pre-filled inside a Form.

:::{php:attr} enum :::

Specifies array containing all the possible options for the value. You can set only to one of the values (loosely typed comparison is used).

:::{php:attr} values :::

Specifies array containing all the possible options for the value. Similar with $enum, but difference is that this array is a hash array so array keys will be used as values and array values will be used as titles for these values.

:::{php:attr} nullable :::

Set this to false if field value must NOT be NULL. Attempting to set field value to "NULL" will result in exception. Example:

$model->set('age', 0);
$model->save();

$model->set('age', null); // exception

:::{php:attr} required :::

Set this to true for field that may not contain "empty" value. You can't use NULL or any value that is considered empty/false by PHP. Some examples that are not allowed are:

• empty string ''
• 0 numerical value or 0.0
• boolean false

Example:

$model->set('age', 0); // exception

$model->set('age', null); // exception

:::{php:attr} readOnly :::

Modifying field that is read-only through set() methods (or array access) will result in exception. {php:class}Field\SqlExpressionField is read-only by default.

:::{php:attr} actual :::

Specify name of the Table Row Field under which field will be persisted.

:::{php:attr} join :::

This property will point to {php:class}Join object if field is associated with a joined table row.

:::{php:attr} system :::

System flag is intended for fields that are important to have inside hooks or some core logic of a model. System fields will always be appended to {php:meth}Model::setOnlyFields, however by default they will not appear on forms or grids (see {php:meth}Field::isVisible, {php:meth}Field::isEditable).

Adding condition on a field will also make it system.

:::{php:attr} neverPersist :::

Field will never be loaded or saved into persistence. You can use this flag for fields that physically are not located in the database, yet you want to see this field in beforeSave hooks.

:::{php:attr} neverSave :::

This field will be loaded normally, but will not be saved in a database. Unlike "readOnly" which has a similar effect, you can still change the value of this field. It will simply be ignored on save. You can create some logic in beforeSave hook to read this value.

:::{php:attr} ui :::

This field contains certain arguments that may be needed by the UI layer to know if user should be allowed to edit this field.

:::{php:method} set :::

Set the value of the field. Same as $model->set($fieldName, $value);

:::{php:method} setNull :::

Set field value to NULL. This will bypass "nullable" and "required" checks and should only be used if you are planning to set a different value to the field before executing save().

If you do not set non-null value to a not-nullable field, save() will fail with exception.

Example:

$model['age'] = 0;
$model->save();

$model->getField('age')->setNull(); // no exception
$model->save(); // still getting exception here

:::{php:method} get :::

Get the value of the field. Same as $model->get($fieldName);

UI Presentation

Agile Data does not deal directly with formatting your data for the user. There may be various items to consider, for instance the same date can be presented in a short or long format for the user.

The UI framework such as Agile Toolkit can make use of the {php:attr}Field::$ui property to allow user to define default formats or input parsing rules, but Agile Data does not regulate the {php:attr}Field::$ui property and different UI frameworks may use it differently.

:::{php:method} isEditable :::

Returns true if UI should render this field as editable and include inside forms by default.

:::{php:method} isVisible :::

Returns true if UI should render this field in Grid and other readOnly display views by default.

:::{php:method} isHidden :::

Returns true if UI should not render this field in views.