Pradoquickstart PDF

PRADO v3.2.
4 Quickstart
Tutorial 1
Qiang Xue and Wei Zhuo
August 26, 2014
Copyright 2004-2014. All Rights Reserved.
Contents
ii
Preface
Prado quick start doc
iii
iv
License
PRADO is free software released under the terms of the following BSD license.
Copyright 2004-2014, The PRADO Group (http://www.pradosoft.com) All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted
provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions
and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the PRADO Group nor the names of its contributors may be used
to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written
permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT
OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Chapter 1
Getting Started
1.1
Welcome to the PRADO Quickstart Tutorial
This Quickstart tutorial is provided to help you quickly start building your own Web applications
based on PRADO version 3.x.
If you are an existing PRADO 3.x user and would like to learn what enhancements are available
for each new version, please check out the new features page. Otherwise, the following sections are
helpful for newbies.
You may refer to the following resources if you find this tutorial does not fulfill all your needs.
PRADO Classes
PRADO API Documentation
PRADO Forum
PRADO Wiki
PRADO Issue Tracker
Chapter 1. Getting Started
1.2
What is PRADO?
PRADO is a component-based and event-driven programming framework for developing Web applications in PHP 5. PRADO stands for PHP Rapid Application Development Object-oriented.
A primary goal of PRADO is to enable maximum reusability in Web programming. By reusability,
we mean not only reusing ones own code, but also reusing other peoples code in an easy way. The
latter is more important as it saves the effort of reinventing the wheels and may cut off development
time dramatically. The introduction of the concept of component is for this purpose.
To achieve the above goal, PRADO stipulates a protocol of writing and using components to
construct Web applications. A component is a software unit that is self-contained and can be
reused with trivial customization. New components can be created by simple composition of
existing components.
To facilitate interacting with components, PRADO implements an event-driven programming
paradigm that allows delegation of extensible behavior to components. End-user activities, such as
clicking on a submit button, are captured as server events. Methods or functions may be attached
to these events so that when the events happen, they are invoked automatically to respond to the
events. Compared with the traditional Web programming in which developers have to deal with
the raw POST or GET variables, event-driven programming helps developers better focus on the
necessary logic and reduces significantly the low-level repetitive coding.
In summary, developing a PRADO Web application mainly involves instantiating prebuilt component types, configuring them by setting their properties, responding to their events by writing
handler functions, and composing them into pages for the application. It is very similar to RAD
toolkits, such as Borland Delphi and Microsoft Visual Basic, that are used to develop desktop GUI
applications.
1.2.1
Why PRADO?
PRADO is mostly quoted as a unique framework. In fact, it is so unique that it may turn your
boring PHP programming into a fun task. The following list is a short summary of the main
features of PRADO,
Reusability - Code following the PRADO component protocol are highly reusable. This
benefits development teams in the long run as they can reuse their previous work and integrate
1.2. What is PRADO?

other parties work easily.
Event-driven programming - End-user activities, such as clicking on a submit button, are
captured as server events so that developers have better focus on dealing with user interactions.
Team integration - Presentation and logic are separately stored. PRADO applications are
themable.
Powerful Web controls - PRADO comes with a set of powerful components dealing with Web
user interfaces. Highly interactive Web pages can be created with a few lines of code. For
example, using the datagrid component, one can quickly create a page presenting a data
table which allows paging, sorting, editing, and deleting rows of the data.
Strong database support - Since version 3.1, PRADO has been equipped with complete
database support which is natively written and thus fits seemlessly with the rest part of the
PRADO framework. According to the complexity of the business objects, one can choose to
use the simple PDO-based data access, or the widely known active record, or the complete
business object mapping scheme SqlMap.
Seamless AJAX support - Using AJAX in PRADO has never been easier with its innovative
active controls introduced since version 3.1. You can easily write an AJAX-enabled application without writing a single line of javascript code. In fact, using active controls is not
much different from using the regular non-AJAX enabled Web controls.
I18N and L10N support - PRADO includes complete support for building applications with
multiple languages and locales.
XHTML compliance - Web pages generated by PRADO are XHTML-compliant.
Accommodation of existing work - PRADO is a generic framework with focus on the presentational layer. It does not exclude developers from using most existing class libraries or
toolkits. For example, one can AdoDB or Creole to deal with DB in his PRADO application.
Other features - Powerful error/exception handling and message logging; generic caching and
selective output caching; customizable and localizable error handling; extensible authentication and authorization; security measures such as cross-site script (XSS) prevention, cookie
protection, etc.
1.2.2
What Is PRADO Best For?
PRADO is best suitable for creating Web applications that are highly user-interactive. It can be
used to develop systems as simple as a blog system to those as complex as a content management
system (CMS) or a complete e-commerce solution. Because PRADO promotes object-oriented
programming through its component-based methodology, it fits extremely well for team work and
enterprise development.
PRADO comes with a complete set of caching techniques which help accelerate PRADO Web
applications to accommodate high traffic requirement. Its modular architecture allows developers
to use or plug in different cache modules for different needs. The output caching enables one to
selectively choose to cache part of a rendered Web page.
1.2.3
How Is PRADO Compared with Other Frameworks?
PRADO is often quoted as a unique framework. Its uniqueness mainly lies in the component-based
and event-driven programming paradigm that it tries to promote. Although this programming
paradigm is not new in desktop application programming and not new in a few Web programming
languages, PRADO is perhaps the first PHP framework enabling it.
Most PHP frameworks mainly focuses on separating presentation and logic and promotes the MVC
(model-view-controller) design pattern. PRADO achieves the same goal naturally by requiring logic
be stored in classes and presentation in templates. PRADO does much more on aspects other than
MVC. It fills lot of blank area in PHP Web programming with its component-based programming
paradigm, its rich set of Web controls, its powerful database support, its flexible error handling
and logging feature, and many others.
1.2.4
Is PRADO Stable Enough?
Yes. PRADO was initially released in August 2004. Many test suites have been written and
conducted frequently to ensure its quality. It has been used by thousands of developers and many
Web applications have been developed based on it. Bugs and feature requests are managed through
GitHub and we have a great user community and development team to ensure all questions are
answered in a timely fashion.
1.3. Installing PRADO
1.2.5
History of PRADO
The very original inspiration of PRADO came from Apache Tapestry. During the design and
implementation, Qiang Xue borrowed many ideas from Borland Delphi and Microsoft ASP.NET.
The first version of PRADO came out in June 2004 and was written in PHP 4. Driven by the
Zend PHP 5 coding contest, Qiang rewrote PRADO in PHP 5, which proved to be a wise move,
thanks to the new object model provided by PHP 5. PRADO won the grand prize in the Zend
contest, earning the highest votes from both the public and the judges panel.
In August 2004, PRADO started to be hosted on SourceForge as an open source project. Soon
after, the project site xisc.com was announced to public. With the fantastic support of PRADO
developer team and PRADO users, PRADO evolved to version 2.0 in mid 2005. In this version,
Wei Zhuo contributed to PRADO with the excellent I18N and L10N support.
In May 2005, we decided to completely rewrite the PRADO framework to resolve a few fundamental
issues found in version 2.0 and to catch up with some cool features available in Microsoft ASP.NET
2.0. After nearly a years hard work with over 50,000 lines of new code, version 3.0 was finally
made available in April 2006.
In October 2008, the original development team released a new framework called Yii. Inheriting
most of the PRADO code, Yii left the pages/events concept, focusing on a pure MVC design
pattern. Since 2009 a lot of people contributed to PRADO fixing issues, developing new features
or backporting them from Yii.
To promote a model of community-driven development, the project repositories were moved first
on Google Code and then, in September 2013, on GitHub.
Starting from version 3.0, significant efforts are allocated to ensure the quality and stability of
PRADO. If we say PRADO v2.x and v1.x are proof-of-concept work, we can say PRADO 3.x has
grown up to a project that is suitable for serious business application development.
1.3
Installing PRADO
If you are viewing this page from your own Web server, you are already done with the installation.
The minimum requirement by PRADO is that the Web server support PHP 5.3.3. PRADO has
been tested with Apache Web server on Windows, MacOSX and various Linux distro. Highly
possibly it may also run on other platforms with other Web servers, as long as PHP 5.3.3 is

supported.
PRADO can be installed as a standalone package or using composer
Standalone package
1. Go to pradosoft.com to grab the latest version of PRADO.
2. Unpack the PRADO release file to a Web-accessible directory.
Your installation of PRADO is done and you can start to play with the demo applications included
in the PRADO release via URL http://web-server-address/prado/demos/. Here we assume
PRADO is unpacked to the prado subdirectory under the DocumentRoot of the Web server.
If you encounter any problems with the demo applications, please use the PRADO requirement
checker script, accessible via http://web-server-address/prado/requirements/index.php, to
check first if your server configuration fulfills the conditions required by PRADO.
div id=install-steps class=block-content
Composer install
1. If you dont have installed composer already, install it globally:
$ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php
$ php composer.phar install
2. Create a composer.json file for your project:

{
"require": {
"pradosoft/prado": "~3.2"
}
}
3. Now run the actual installation:

$ composer install
4. In your project include the autoloader, and you will have access to the library classes:
<?php
require_once(vendor/autoload.php);
1.4. New Features
1.4
New Features
This page summarizes the main new features that are introduced in each PRADO release.
1.4.1
Version 3.2.4
Added Adding toArray() and toJSON() to TActiveRecord

Dropped Markdown for Parsedown, supporting GitHub Flavored Markdowns extension
Web site administration tool (WSAT)
1.4.2
Version 3.2.3
Added THtmlArea4 control based on TinyMCE4

Added support for Behaviors, Class Behaviors, fx global events, and dy one to one events
Added the ability to set a priority (order) to event handlers
1.4.3
Version 3.2.2
TUrlMappingPattern support for constant parameters

Added EnableCache property to THttpRequest to enable caching of the TUrlManager and
any TMappingUrl pattern
Lazy module loading in application configuration
TEACache eAccellerator cache module
1.4.4
Version 3.2.1
TSecurityManager has been enhanced to support all the ciphers available in php
Added a new UrlFormat for TUrlManager: HiddenPath; works like the Path format, but
hides the entryscript.php name
Updated external packages
1.4.5
Version 3.2.0
Added methods quoteTableName, quoteColumnName, quoteColumnAlias to TDbMetaData

TDbConnection and added TDbConnection:getDbMetaData
Added THttpSession::regenerate()
Added method getHeaders to THttpRequest THttpResponse
Modified TThemeManager to allow custom subclassing of TTheme
Application configuration can be stored in PHP code
Added mouse coordinates and key status to drag drop controls event
Permit progressive rendering of a page and added TFlushOutput control to control it
Added TReCaptcha control
Added a new Clickable operating mode to TDatePicker
ActiveControlss Visible property is reflected clientside on ajax requests
Controls are able to automagically render their javascript dependencies on an ajax callback
1.4.6
Version 3.1.10
bugfix-only release/a
1.4.7
Version 3.1.9
Added documentation and samples to the quickstart tutorial for all the active controls
Added TTemplateControlInheritable control
Added TActiveDataGrid control
Added TActiveDataList control
Added TActiveMultiView control
Added TActiveRepeater control
Added TActiveTableRow control
Added TActiveTableCell control
1.4. New Features
1.4.8
Version 3.1.8
Updated external packages to support Internet explorer 9
1.4.9
Version 3.1.7
Added property ClientScriptManagerClass to TPageService

Added property TValidationSummary.ScrollToSummary to server-side control since property
exists on client-side
Added property TransactionClass (defaults to System.Data.TDbTransaction) to TDbConnection
Added ClientSide property to TDropContainer
Added Columns property to TInPlaceTextBox
1.4.10
Version 3.1.6
Added property TPage.EnableStateCompression and related modifications in TPageState-
Formatter since it is unnecessary to compress clientstate if TCachePageStatePersister/TSessionPageStatePersister

is used
Add property CssClass to TBrowserLog otuput and hide inline CSS
1.4.11
Version 3.1.5
Added support for namespaces in TXmlDocument

Added Registry for Prado generated clientside counterparts of serverside controls
TValidationSummary: new display mode HeaderOnly that only render value of HeaderText
property
TDbCache performance: new property FlushInterval to control how often expired items will
be removed
Added caching of message files to TException
Added a new log route subclass for FirePHP: TFirePhpLogRoute - FirePHP is ideally suited
for AJAX development where clean JSON and XML responses are required
1.4.12
Version 3.1.4
Added the ability to specify position of popup TDatePicker/TActiveDatePicker/a

Add wildcard support to TUrlMapping
1.4.13
Version 3.1.3
Added Drag and drop controls

Added TActiveDatePicker control
1.4.14
Version 3.1.2
Added a new active control TActivePager that allows to paginate a databound control with
an ajax callback.
Added TFirebugLogRoute to send logs to the Firebug console
1.4.15
Version 3.1.1
Added a new control TTabPanel that displays tabbed views.

Added a new control TKeyboard that displays a virtual keyboard for text input.
Added a new control TCaptcha that displays a CAPTCHA to keep spammers from signing
up for certain accounts online. A related validator TCaptchaValidator is also implemented.
Added a new control TSlider that displays a slider which can be used for numeric input.
Added a new control TConditional that conditionally displays one of the two kinds of content.
Added Oracle DB support to Active Record.
Added support to TDataGrid to allow grouping consecutive cells with the same content.
Added support to allow configuring page properties and authorization rules using relative
page paths in application and page configurations. Added support to allow authorization
based on remote host address.
Added a new page state persister TCachePageStatePersister. It allows page state to be
stored using a cache module (e.g. TMemCache, TDbCache, etc.)
10
1.5. Upgrading from v2.x and v1.x

Added support to the auth framework to allow remembering login.
Added support to display a prompt item in TDropDownList and TListBox (something like
Please select: as the first list item.)
Added support to column mapping in Active Record.
1.4.16
Version 3.1.0
Added seamless AJAX support. A whole array of AJAX-enabled controls, called active
controls, are introduced. The usage of these active controls is very similar to their nonAJAX counterparts, i.e., plug in and use. For more details, see the tutorial about active
controls.
Added complete database support.
Added new controls, modules and services, including TSoapService, TOutputCache, TSessionPageStatePersister, TFeedService, TJsonService, cache dependency classes, TXmlTransform.
Enhanced some data controls with renderers. Renderer enables reusing item templates that
are commonly found in TRepeater, TDataList and TDataGrid, and makes the configuration
on these controls much cleaner. For more details about renders, see the updated tutorials on
TRepeater, TDataList and TDataGrid.
Added support to allow including external application configurations. Enhanced template
syntax to facilitate subproperty configuration.
Added TDbUserManager and TDbUser to simplify authentication and authorization with
user accounts stored in a database.
1.5
Upgrading from v2.x and v1.x
PRADO v3.0 is NOT backward compatible with earlier versions of PRADO.

A good news is, properties and events of most controls remain intact, and the syntax of control templates remains largely unchanged. Therefore, developers knowledge of earlier versions of
PRADO are still applicable in v3.0.
11

We summarize in the following the most significant changes in v3.0 to help developers upgrade
their v2.x and v1.x PRADO applications more easily, if needed.
1.5.1
Component Definition
Version 3.0 has completely discarded the need of component specification files. It relies more on
conventions for defining component properties and events. In particular, a property is defined by
the existence of a getter method and/or a setter method, while an event is defined by the existence
of an on-method. Property and event names in v3.0 are both case-insensitive. As a consequence,
developers are now required to take care of type conversions when a component property is being
set. For example, the following code is used to define the setter method for the Enabled property
of TControl, which is of boolean type,
public function setEnabled($value)

{
$value=TPropertyValue::ensureBoolean($value);
$this->setViewState(Enabled,$value,true);
}
where TPropertyValue::ensureBoolean() is used to ensure that the input value be a boolean.

This is because when the property is configured in template, a string value is passed to the setter.
In previous versions, PRADO knows the property type based on the component specification files
and does the type conversion for you.
1.5.2
Application Controller
Application controller now implements a modular architecture. Modules can be plugged in and
configured in application specifications. Each module assumes a particular functionality, and they
are coordinated together by the application lifecycle. The concept of v2.x modules is replaced in
v3.0 by page directories. As a result, the format of v3.0 application specification is also different
from earlier versions.
12
1.5. Upgrading from v2.x and v1.x
1.5.3
Pages
Pages in v3.0 are organized in directories which may be compared to the module concept in v2.x.
Pages are requested using the path to them. For example, a URL index.php?page=Controls.Samples.Sample1
would be used to request for a page named Sample1 stored under the [BasePath]/Controls/Samples
directory, where [BasePath] refers to the root page path. The file name of a page template must be
ended with .page, mainly to differentiate page templates from non-page control templates whose
file names must be ended with .tpl.
1.5.4
Control Relationship
Version 3.0 redefines the relationships between controls. In particular, the parent-child relationship now refers to the enclosure relationship between controls presentation. And a new namingcontainer relationship is introduced to help better manage control IDs. For more details, see the
controls section.
1.5.5
Template Syntax
The syntax of control templates in v3.0 remains similar to those in earlier versions, with many
enhancements. A major change is about the databinding expression. In v3.0, this is done by the
following,
<com:MyComponent PropertyName=<%# PHP expression %> .../>
Expression and statement tags are also changed similarly. For more details, see the template
definition section.
1.5.6
Theme Syntax
Themes in v3.0 are defined like control templates with a few restrictions.
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1.6
Web Site Administration Tool
Web Site Administration Tool (WSAT) is a development tool which allows you to perform several
tedious tasks of a PRADO project in a GUI fashion. Its inspired in both Asp.Net - Web Site
Administration Tool and Yiis Gii. WSAT will continue gaining new features along the time, at
the moment it bring you the followings:
Generate one or all Active Record Classes.

Optionally generate all relationships in Active Record Classes.
Generate the magic
1.6.1
t oString()methodinallARClasses.
Requirements
To use WSAT, you need to add in your project configuration file: application.xml, in the services
section the wsat service like follows:
<services>
...
<service id="wsat" class="System.Wsat.TWsatService" Password="my_secret_password" />
</services>
1.6.2
Usage
Then you are ready to go to: http://localhost/yoursite/index.php?wsat=TWsatLogin and doing

so you should see the following page:
Where in the text field you need to type the password previosly specified in the service inclusion.
This is part of a basic security system to avoid undesirable persons to use this tool.
1.6.3
Active Record classes generation
In order to generate AR classes you need to go to: http://localhost/yoursite/index.php?wsat=TWsatGenerateAR

by clicking the proper links in the welcome page. Then you should see the following page:
14
1.7. Command Line Tool
In which you can find a basic usage documentation in a light green panel and then some proper
fields in order to generate active record classes. These fields are:
Table Name:
refers to the table name in your database for which you want to generate
an AR class. Let it as come by default with an * to generate them all.

Output Folder: refers to the folder where you want to save your generated classes. It only
accepts namespace format which means that you need to specify your path separated with
points in between. It default value is: Application.AppD ata.ARC lasseswhichref erencestheprotected/AppD ata
Class Suffix: refers to the suffix that you whish to specify at the end of every class name. Clear
the field to specify no suffix.
Build Relations: whether or not you want to add relationships to AR classes generation.
1.7
Command Line Tool
Note: With Prado version 3.2.3 prado-cli.php location changed from framework to bin directory.
If youre using Prado 3.2.2 or earlier, replace bin with framework in examples below.
The optional prado-cli.php PHP script file in the bin directory provides command line tools to
15
perform various tedious takes in Prado. The prado-cli.php can be used to create Prado project
skeletons, create initial test fixtures, and access to an interactive PHP shell.
16
1.7.1
Requirements
To use the command line tool, you need to use your command prompt, command console or
terminal. In addition, PHP must be able to execute PHP scripts from the command line.
1.7.2
Usage
If you type php path/to/bin/prado-cli.php, you should see the following information. Alternatively, if you are not on Windows, you may try to change the prado-cli.php into an executable
and execute it as a script
Command line tools for Prado 3.0.5.
usage: php prado-cli.php action <parameter> [optional]
example: php prado-cli.php -c mysite
actions:
-c <directory>
Creates a Prado project skeleton for the given <directory>.
-t <directory>
Create test fixtures in the given <directory>.
shell [directory]
Runs a PHP interactive interpreter. Initializes the Prado
application in the given [directory].
The parameter are required parameters and [optional] are optional parameters.
1.7.3
Creating a new Prado project skeleton
To create a Prado project skeleton, do the following:

1. Change to the directory where you want to create the project skeleton.
2. Type, php ../prado/bin/prado-cli.php -c helloworld, where helloworld is the directory name that you want to create the project skeleton files.
17

3. Type, php ../prado/bin/prado-cli.php -t helloworld to create the test fixtures for the
helloworld project.
1.7.4
Interactive Shell
The interactive shell allows you to evaluate PHP statements from the command line. The prado-cli.php
script can be used to start the shell and load an existing Prado project. For example, let us load
the blog demo project. Assume that your command line is in the prado distribution directory and
you type.
$: php bin/prado-cli.php shell demos/blog
The output should be

Command line tools for Prado 3.0.5.
** Loaded Prado application in directory "demos\blog\protected".
PHP-Shell - Version 0.3.1
(c) 2006, Jan Kneschke <[email protected]>
>> use ? to open the inline help
>>
Then we will get an instance of the Prado blog application, and from that instance we want an
instance of the data module. Notice that a semicolon at the end of the line suppresses the
output.
>> $app = Prado::getApplication();
>> $db = $app->getModule(data);
Lastly, we want to use the data module to query for a post with ID=1. Notice that we leave out
the semicolon to show the results.
>> $db->queryPostByID(1)
There should not be any errors and you should see the following.
18

PostRecord#1
(
[ID] => 1
[AuthorID] => 1
[AuthorName] => Prado User
[CreateTime] => 1148819691
[ModifyTime] => 0
[Title] => Welcome to Prado Weblog
[Content] => Congratulations! You have successfully installed Prado Blog -a PRADO-driven weblog system. A default administrator account has been created.
Please login with \textbf{admin/prado} and update your password as soon as possible.
[Status] => 0
[CommentCount] => 0
)
1.7.5
Creating Active Record Classes
In the blog demo project, we need to create two Active Record classes, UserRecord and PostRecord,
to represent data records in the users and posts tables, respectively. Active Record classes must
extend from the base class ActiveRecord, and must define property names that matches with the
field names of the corresponding table.
To better organize our directories, we create a new directory protected/database to hold the class
files. We also modify our application configuration by inserting the following lines. It is equivalent
to adding the directory protected/database to PHP includep ath, whichallowsustousetheclasseswithoutexplicitlyinclu

<paths>
<using namespace="Application.database.*" />
</paths>
At the prompt, enter the following two commands to create UserRecord and PostRecord classes:
>> generate users Application.database.UserRecord
>> generate posts Application.database.PostRecord
Here we used the namespace format again to specify the classes to be created. The path Application.database.UserRe
indicates that we want the UserRecord class file to be protected/database/UserRecord.php.
19
20
Chapter 2
Tutorials
2.1
My First PRADO Application
In this section, we guide you through creating your first PRADO application, the famous Hello
World application.
Hello World perhaps is the simplest iinteractive/i PRADO application that you can create.
It displays to end-users a page with a submit button whose caption is Click Me. After the user
clicks on the button, its caption is changed to Hello World.
There are many approaches that can achieve the above goal. One can submit the page to the
server, examine the POST variable, and generate a new page with the button caption updated.
Or one can simply use JavaScript to update the button caption upon its onclick client event.
PRADO promotes component-based and event-driven Web programming. The button is represented by a TButton object. It encapsulates the button caption as the Text property and associates
the user button click action with a server-side OnClick event. To respond to the user clicking on
the button, one simply needs to attach a function to the buttons OnClick event. Within the
function, the buttons Text property is modified as Hello World. The following diagram shows
the above sequence,
Our PRADO application consists of three files, index.php, Home.page and Home.php, which are
organized as follows,
21
Chapter 2. Tutorials
where each directory is explained as follows. Note, the above directory structure can be customized.
For example, one can move the protected directory out of Web directories. You will know how
to do this after you go through this tutorial.
assets - directory storing published private files. See assets section for more details. This
directory must be writable by the Web server process.
protected - application base path storing application data and private script files. This
directory should be configured as inaccessible to end-users.
runtime - application runtime storage path storing application runtime information, such
as application state, cached data, etc. This directory must be writable by the Web server
process.
pages - base path storing all PRADO pages.
Tip:You may also use the ttbin/prado-cli.php (framework/prado-cli.php for Prado

3.2.3)/tt command line script to create the Prado project directory structure. For example, type the command php path/to/prado-cli.php -c helloworld in the directory
where you want to create the helloworld project.
22
2.1. My First PRADO Application

The three files that we need are explained as follows.
index.php - entry script of the PRADO application. This file is required by all PRADO
applications and is the only script file that is directly accessible by end-users. Content in
index.php mainly consists of the following three lines,
require_once(path/to/prado.php);
// include the prado script
$application=new TApplication;
// create a PRADO application instance
$application->run();
// run the application
Home.page - template for the default page returned when users do not explicitly specify
the page requested. A template specifies the presentational layout of components. In this
example, we use two components, TForm and TButton, which correspond to the form and
input HTML tags, respectively. The template contains the following content,
<html>
<body>
<com:TForm>
<com:TButton Text="Click me" OnClick="buttonClicked" />
</com:TForm>
</body>
</html>
Home.php - page class for the Home page. It mainly contains the method responding to the
OnClick event of the button.
<?php
class Home extends TPage
{
public function buttonClicked($sender,$param)
{
// $sender refers to the button component
$sender->Text="Hello World!";
}
}
The application is now ready and can be accessed via: http://Web-server-address/helloworld/index.php,

assuming helloworld is directly under the Web DocumentRoot. Try to change TButton in Home.page
to TLinkButton and see what happens.
Complete source code of this demo can be found in the PRADO release. You can also try the
online demo.
23
Chapter 2. Tutorials
2.2
Sample: Hangman Game
Having seen the simple Hello World application, we now build a more complex application called
Hangman Game. In this game, the player is asked to guess a word, a letter at a time. If he
guesses a letter right, the letter will be shown in the word. The player can continue to guess as
long as the number of his misses is within a prespecified bound. The player wins the game if he
finds out the word within the miss bound, or he loses.
To facilitate the building of this game, we show the state transition diagram of the gaming process
in the following, br /br / To be continued...
Fundamentals.Samples.Hangman.Home Demo
24
Chapter 3
Tutorial: Currency Converter

3.1
Building a Simple Currency Converter
This tutorial introduces the Prado web application framework and teaches you how to build a
simple web application in a few simple steps. This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with
PHP and you have access to a web server that is able to serve PHP5 scripts.
In this tutorial you will build a simple web application that converts a dollar amount to an other
currency, given the rate of that currency relative to the dollar. The completed application is shown
bellow.
You can try the application locally or at Pradosoft.com. Notice that the application still functions
exactly the same if javascript is not available on the users browser.
25
Chapter 3. Tutorial: Currency Converter
3.2
Downloading and Installing Prado
To install Prado, simply download the latest version of Prado from http://www.pradosoft.com and
unzip the file to a directory not accessible by your web server (you may unzip it to a directory
accessible by the web server if you wish to see the demos and test). For further detailed installation,
see the Quickstart Installation guide.
3.3
Creating a new Prado web Application
The quickest and simplest way to create a new Prado web application is to use the command
tool prado-cli.php found in the framework directory of the Prado distribution. We create a new
application by running the following command in your command prompt or console. The command
creates a new directory named currency-converter in your current working directory. You may
need to change to the appropriate directory first. See the Command Line Tool for more details.
php prado/framework/prado-cli.php -c currency-converter
The above command creates the necessary directory structure and minimal files (including index.php and Home.page) to run a Prado web application. Now you can point your browsers
url to the web server to serve up the index.php script in the currency-converter directory. You
should see the message Welcome to Prado!
3.4
Creating the Currency Converter User Interface
We start by editing the Home.page file found in the currency-converter/protected/pages/

directory. Files ending with .page are page templates that contains HTML and Prado controls.
We simply add two textboxes, three labels and one button as follows.
<com:TForm>
<fieldset>
<legend>Currency Converter</legend>
<com:TLabel ForControl="currencyRate" Text="Exchange Rate per $1:" />
<com:TTextBox ID="currencyRate" />
26
3.4. Creating the Currency Converter User Interface
<com:TLabel ForControl="dollars" Text="Dollars to Convert:" />

<com:TTextBox ID="dollars" />
<span class="total-label">Amount in Other Currency:</span>

<com:TLabel ID="total" CssClass="result" />
<com:TButton Text="Convert" />

</fieldset>
</com:TForm>
If you refresh the page, you should see something similar to the following figure. It may not look
very pretty or orderly, but we shall change that later using CSS.
The first component we add is a TForm that basically corresponds to the HTML <form> element.
In Prado, only one TForm element is allowed per page.
The next two pair of component we add is the TLabel and TTextBox that basically defines a label
and a textbox for the user of the application to enter the currency exchange rate. The ForControl
property value determines which component that the label is for. This allows the user of the
application to click on the label to focus on the field (a good thing). You could have used a plain
HTML <label> element to do the same thing, but you would have to find the correct ID of the
textbox (or <input> in HTML) as Prado components may/will render the ID value differently in
the HTML output.
The next pair of components are similar and defines the textbox to hold the dollar value to be
converted. The TLabel with ID value total defines a simple label. Notice that the ForControl
property is absent. This means that this label is simply a simple label which we are going to use
to display the converted total amount.
27

The final component is a TButton that the user will click to calculate the results. The Text
property sets the button label.
3.5
Implementing Currency Conversion
If you tried clicking on the Convert button then the page will refresh and does not do anything
else. For the button to do some work, we need to add a Home.php to where Home.page is.
The Home class should extends the TPage, the default base class for all Prado pages.
<?php
{
}
Prado uses PHPs
autoload method to load classes. The convention is to use the class name
with .php extension as filename.

So far there is nothing interesting about Prado, we just declared some web components in some
template file named Home.page and created a Home.php file with a Home class. The more
interesting bits are in Prados event-driven architecture as we shall see next.
We want that when the user click on the Convert button, we take the values in the textbox, do
some calculation and present the user with the converted total. To handle the user clicking of the
Convert button we simply add an OnClick property to the Convert button in the Home.page
template and add a corresponding event handler method in the Home.php.
<com:TButton Text="Convert" OnClick="convert_clicked" />
The value of the OnClick, convert clicked, will be the method name in the Home.php that
will called when the user clicks on the Convert button.

{
public function convert_clicked($sender, $param)
{
28
3.6. Adding Validation

$rate = floatval($this->currencyRate->Text);
$dollars = floatval($this->dollars->Text);
$this->total->Text = $rate * $dollars;
}
}
If you run the application in your web browser, enter some values and click the Convert button
then you should see that calculated value displayed next to the Amount in Other Currency label.
In the convert clicked method the first parameter, $sender, corresponds to the object that
raised the event, in this case, the Convert button. The second parameter, $param contains any
additional data that the $sender object may wish to have added.
We shall now examine, the three lines that implements the simply currency conversion in the
convert clicked method.
The statement $this->currencyRate corresponds to the TTextBox component with ID value currencyRate in the Home.page template. The Text property of the TTextBox contains the value
that the user entered. So, we obtain this value by $this->currencyRate->Text which we convert
the value to a float value.
The next line does a similar things, it takes the user value from the TTextBox with ID value dollars
and converts it to a float value.
The third line calculates the new amount and set this value in the Text property of the TLabel
with ID="total". Thus, we display the new amount to the user in the label.
3.6
Adding Validation
The way we convert the user entered value to float ensures that the total amount is always a
number. So the user is free to enter what ever they like, they could even enter letters. The users
29

experience in using the application can be improved by adding validators to inform the user of the
allowed values in the currency rate and the amount to be calcuated.
For the currency rate, we should ensure that
1. the user enters a value,
2. the currency rate is a valid number,
3. the currency rate is positive.
To ensure 1 we add one TRequiredFieldValidator. To ensure 2 and 3, we add one TCompareValidator. We may add these validators any where within the Home.page template. Further details
regarding these validator and other validators can be found in the Validation Controls page.
<com:TRequiredFieldValidator
ControlToValidate="currencyRate"
ErrorMessage="Please enter a currency rate." />
<com:TCompareValidator
ControlToValidate="currencyRate"
DataType="Float"
ValueToCompare="0"
Operator="GreaterThan"
ErrorMessage="Please enter a positive currency rate." />
For the amount to be calculated, we should ensure that

1. the user enters a value,
2. the value is a valid number (not including any currency or dollar signs).
To ensure 1 we just add another TRequiredFieldValidator, for 2 we could use a TDataTypeValidator. For simplicity we only allow the user to enter a number for the amount they wish to
convert.
ControlToValidate="dollars"
ErrorMessage="Please enter the amount you wish to calculate." />
<com:TDataTypeValidator
30
3.7. Improve User Experience With Active Controls

ControlToValidate="dollars"
DataType="Float"
ErrorMessage="Please enter a number." />
Now if you try to enter some invalid data in the application or left out any of the fields the validators
will be activated and present the user with error messages. Notice that the error messages are
presented without reloading the page. Prados validators by default validates using both javascript
and server side. The server side validation is always performed. For the server side, we should
skip the calculation if the validators are not satisfied. This can done as follows.
public function convert_clicked($sender, $param)
{
if($this->Page->IsValid)
{
}
}
3.7
Improve User Experience With Active Controls
In this simple application we may further improve the user experience by increasing the responsiveness of the application. One way to achieve a faster response is calculate and present the results
without reloading the whole page.
We can replace the TButton with the Active Control counter part, TActiveButton, that can trigger
a server side click event without reloading the page. In addition, we can change the totals
TLabel with the Active Control counter part, TActiveLabel, such that the server side can update
the browser without reloading the page.
<span class="total-label">Amount in Other Currency:</span>

<com:TActiveLabel ID="total" CssClass="result" />
<com:TActiveButton Text="Convert" OnClick="convert_clicked" />
31
The server side logic remains the same, we just need to import the Active Controls name space as
they are not included by default. We add the following line to the begin of Home.php.
Prado::using(System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.*);
If you try the application now, you may notice that the page no longer needs to reload to calculate
and display the converted total amount. However, since there is not page reload, there is no
indication or not obvious that by clicking on the Convert button any has happened. We can
further refine the user experience by change the text of total label to calculating... when the
user clicks on the Convert button. The text of the total label will still be updated with the
new calculate amount as before.
To indicate that the calculation is in progress, we can change the text of the total label as
follows. We add a ClientSide.OnLoading property to the Convert button (since this button is
responsible for requesting the calculation).
<com:TActiveButton Text="Convert" OnClick="convert_clicked" >
<prop:ClientSide.OnLoading>
$(<%= $this->total->ClientID %>).innerHTML = "calculating..."
</prop:ClientSide.OnLoading>
</com:TActiveButton>
The ClientSide.OnLoading and various other properties accept a javascript block as their content or value.
The javascript code $(...)
is a javascript function that is equivalent to
document.getElementById(...) that takes a string with the ID of an HTML element. Since

Prado renders its componentss IDs, we need to use the rendered ID of the total label, that
is, $this->total->ClientID. We place this bit of code within a <%= %> to obtain the rendered
HTML ID for the total label. The rest of the javascript code innerHTML = calculating..."
simply changes the content of the total label.
3.8
Adding Final Touches
So far we have built a simple currency converter web application with little attention of the looks
and feel. Now we can add a stylesheet to improve the overall appearance of the application. We
32
3.8. Adding Final Touches

can simply add the stylesheet inline with the template code or we may create a theme.
To create and use a theme with Prado applications, we simply create a new directory themes/Basic
in the currency-converter directory. You may need to create the themes directory first. Any
directory within the themes are considered as a theme with the name of the theme being the
directory name. See the Themes and Skins for further details.
We simply create a CSS file named common.css and save it in the themes/Basic directory. Then
we add the following code to the beginning of Home.page (we add a little more HTML as well).
<%@ Theme="Basic" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" >
<com:THead Title="Currency Converter" />
<body>
The first line <%@ Theme="Basic" %> defines the theme to be used for this page. The THead
corresponds to the HTML <head> element. In addition to display the Title property by the
THead, all CSS files in the themes/Basic directory are also rendered/linked for the current page.
Our final currency converter web application looks like the following.
This completes introduction tutorial to the Prado web application framework.
33
34
Chapter 4
Tutorial: Building an AJAX Chat

Application
4.1
Building an AJAX Chat Application
This tutorial introduces the Prado web application frameworks ActiveRecord and Active Controls
to build a Chat web application. It is assumed that you are familiar with PHP and you have
access to a web server that is able to serve PHP5 scripts. This basic chat application will utilize
the following ideas/components in Prado.
Building a custom User Manager class.
Authenticating and adding a new user to the database.
Using ActiveRecord to interact with the database.
Using Active Controls and callbacks to implement the user interface.
Separating application logic and application flow.
In this tutorial you will build an AJAX Chat web application that allows multiple users to communicate through their web browser. The application consists of two pages: a login page that asks
the user to enter their nickname and the main application chat page. You can try the application
locally or at Pradosoft.com. The main application chat page is shown bellow.
35
Chapter 4. Tutorial: Building an AJAX Chat Application
4.2
Download, Install and Create a New Application
The download and installation steps are similar to those in the Currency converter tutorial. To
create the application, we run from the command line the following. See the Command Line Tool
for more details.
php prado/framework/prado-cli.php -c chat
The above command creates the necessary directory structure and minimal files (including index.php and Home.page) to run a Prado web application. Now you can point your browsers
URL to the web server to serve up the index.php script in the chat directory. You should see the
message Welcome to Prado!
4.3
Authentication and Authorization
The first task for this application is to ensure that each user of the chat application is assigned with
a unique (chosen by the user) username. To achieve this, we can secure the main chat application
page to deny access to anonymous users. First, let us create the Login page with the following
code. We save the Login.php and Login.page in the chat/protected/pages/ directory (there
should be a Home.page file created by the command line tool).
<?php
class Login extends TPage
36
4.3. Authentication and Authorization

{
}
<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>Prado Chat Demo Login</title>
</head>
<body>
<com:TForm>
<h1 class="login">Prado Chat Demo Login</h1>
<fieldset class="login">
<legend>Please enter your name:</legend>
<com:TLabel ForControl="username" Text="Username:" />
<com:TTextBox ID="username" MaxLength="20" />
ControlToValidate="username"
Display="Dynamic"
ErrorMessage="Please provide a username." />
<com:TButton Text="Login" />

</com:TForm>
</body>
</html>
The login page contains a TForm, a TTextBox, a TRequiredFieldValidator and a TButton. The
resulting page looks like the following (after applying some a style sheet).
If you click on the Login button without entering any text in the username textbox, an error
message is displayed. This is due to the TRequiredFieldValidator requiring the user to enter some
text in the textbox before proceeding.
37
4.3.1
Securing the Home page
Now we wish that if the user is trying to access the main application page, Home.page, before they
have logged in, the user is presented with the Login.page first. We add a chat/protected/application.xml
configuration file to import some classes that we shall use later.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<application id="Chat" Mode="Debug">
<paths>
<using namespace="System.Data.*" />
<using namespace="System.Data.ActiveRecord.*" />
<using namespace="System.Security.*" />
<using namespace="System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.*" />
</paths>
</application>
Next, we add a chat/protected/pages/config.xml configuration file to secure the pages directory.

<configuration>
<modules>
<module id="users" class="TUserManager" />
<module id="auth" class="TAuthManager" UserManager="users" LoginPage="Login" />
</modules>
<authorization>
<allow pages="Login" users="?" />
<allow roles="normal" />
<deny users="*" />
</authorization>
</configuration>
38
4.4. Active Record for chat users table

We setup the authentication using the default classes as explained in the authentication/authorization
quickstart. In the authorization definition, we allow anonymous users to access the Login page
(anonymous users is specified by the ? question mark). We allow any users with role equal to
normal (to be defined later) to access all the pages, that is, the Login and Home pages. Lastly,
we deny all users without any roles to access any page. The authorization rules are executed on
first match basis.
If you now try to access the Home page by pointing your browser to the index.php you will be
redirected to the Login page.
4.4
Active Record for chat users table
The TUserManager class only provides a read-only list of users. We need to be able to add or login
new users dynamically. So we need to create our own user manager class. First, we shall setup a
database with a chat users table and create an ActiveRecord that can work with the chat users
table with ease. For the demo, we use sqlite as our database for ease of distributing the demo.
The demo can be extended to use other databases such as MySQL or Postgres SQL easily. We
define the chat users table as follows.
CREATE TABLE chat_users
(
username VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
last_activity INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT "0"
);
Next we define the corresponding ChatUserRecord class and save it as chat/protected/App Code/ChatUserRecord.php
(you need to create the App Code directory as well). We also save the sqlite database file as
App Code/chat.db.
class ChatUserRecord extends TActiveRecord
{
const TABLE=chat_users;
public $username;
public $last_activity;
public static function finder($className=__CLASS__)
{
39

return parent::finder($className);
}
}
Before using the ChatUserRecord class we to configure a default database connection for ActiveRecord to function. In the chat/protected/application.xml we import classes from the App Code
directory and add an ActiveRecord configuration module.
<application id="Chat" Mode="Debug">
<paths>
<using namespace="Application.App_Code.*" />
<using namespace="System.Data.*" />
<using namespace="System.Data.ActiveRecord.*" />
<using namespace="System.Security.*" />
<using namespace="System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.*" />
</paths>
<modules>
<module class="TActiveRecordConfig" EnableCache="true"
Database.ConnectionString="sqlite:protected/App_Code/chat.db" />
</modules>
</application>
4.4.1
Custom User Manager class
To implement a custom user manager module class we just need to extends the TModule class and
implement the IUserManager interface. The getGuestName(), getUser() and validateUser()
methods are required by the IUserManager interface. We save the custom user manager class as
App Code/ChatUserManager.php.
class ChatUserManager extends TModule implements IUserManager
{
public function getGuestName()
{
return Guest;
}
public function getUser($username=null)
40
4.4. Active Record for chat users table

{
$user=new TUser($this);
$user->setIsGuest(true);
if($username !== null && $this->usernameExists($username))
{
$user->setIsGuest(false);
$user->setName($username);
$user->setRoles(array(normal));
}
return $user;
}
public function addNewUser($username)
{
$user = new ChatUserRecord();
$user->username = $username;
$user->save();
}
public function usernameExists($username)
{
$finder = ChatUserRecord::finder();
$record = $finder->findByUsername($username);
return $record instanceof ChatUserRecord;
}
public function validateUser($username,$password)
{
return $this->usernameExists($username);
}
}
The getGuestName() method simply returns the name for a guest user and is not used in our
application. The getUser() method returns a TUser object if the username exists in the database,
the TUser object is set with role of normal that corresponds to the <authorization> rules
defined in our config.xml file.
The addNewUser() and usernameExists() method uses the ActiveRecord corresponding to the
chat users table to add a new user and to check if a username already exists, respectively.
41

The next thing to do is change the config.xml configuration to use our new custom user manager
class. We simply change the <module> configuration with id="users".
<module id="users" class="ChatUserManager" />
4.5
Authentication
To perform authentication, we just want the user to enter a unique username. We add a TCustomValidator for validate the uniqueness of the username and add an OnClick event handler for
the login button.
<com:TCustomValidator
ControlToValidate="username"
Display="Dynamic"
OnServerValidate="checkUsername"
ErrorMessage="The username is already taken." />
...
<com:TButton Text="Login" OnClick="createNewUser" />
In the Login.php file, we add the following 2 methods.

function checkUsername($sender, $param)
{
$manager = $this->Application->Modules[users];
if($manager->usernameExists($this->username->Text))
$param->IsValid = false;
}
function createNewUser($sender, $param)
{
if($this->Page->IsValid)
{
$manager = $this->Application->Modules[users];
$manager->addNewUser($this->username->Text);
//do manual login
42
4.5. Authentication
$user = $manager->getUser($this->username->Text);
$auth = $this->Application->Modules[auth];
$auth->updateSessionUser($user);
$this->Application->User = $user;
$url = $this->Service->constructUrl($this->Service->DefaultPage);
$this->Response->redirect($url);
}
}
The checkUserName() method uses the ChatUserManager class (recall that in the config.xml
configuration we set the ID of the custom user manager class as users) to validate the username
is not taken.
In the createNewUser method, when the validation passes (that is, when the user name is not
taken) we add a new user. Afterward we perform a manual login process:
First we obtain a TUser instance from our custom user manager class using the $manager->getUser(...)
method.
Using the TAuthManager we set/update the user object in the current session data.
Then we set/update the Applications user instance with our new user object.
Finally, we redirect the client to the default Home page.
4.5.1
Default Values for ActiveRecord
If you try to perform a login now, you will receive an error message like iProperty ChatUserRecord::$last activity
must not be null as defined by column last activity in table chat users./i. This means
that the $last activity property value was null when we tried to insert a new record. We need
to either define a default value in the corresponding column in the table and allow null values or
set the default value in the ChatUserRecord class. We shall demonstrate the later by altering the
ChatUserRecord with the addition of a set getter/setter methods for the last activity property.
private $_last_activity;
public function getLast_Activity()
43

{
if($this->_last_activity === null)
$this->_last_activity = time();
return $this->_last_activity;
}
public function setLast_Activity($value)
{
$this->_last_activity = $value;
}
Notice that we renamed $last activity to $ last activity (note the underscore after the dollar
sign).
4.6
Main Chat Application
Now we are ready to build the main chat application. We use a simple layout that consist of one
panel holding the chat messages, one panel to hold the users list, a textarea for the user to enter
the text message and a button to send the message.
<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>Prado Chat Demo</title>
<style>
.messages
{
width: 500px;
height: 300px;
float: left;
border: 1px solid ButtonFace;
overflow: auto;
}
.user-list
{
margin-left: 2px;
float: left;
44
4.6. Main Chat Application

width: 180px;
height: 300px;
border: 1px solid ButtonFace;
overflow: auto;
font-size: 0.85em;
}
.message-input
{
float: left;
}
.message-input textarea
{
margin-top: 3px;
padding: 0.4em 0.2em;
width: 493px;
font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 0.85em;
height: 40px;
}
.send-button
{
margin: 0.5em;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<com:TForm>
\section{Prado Chat Demo}
<com:TPlaceHolder ID="messageList" />
<com:TPlaceHolder ID="userList" />
<com:TActiveTextBox ID="userinput"
Columns="40" Rows="2" TextMode="MultiLine" />
<com:TActiveButton ID="sendButton" CssClass="send-button"
Text="Send" />
45
</com:TForm>
</body>
</html>
We added two Active Control components: a TActiveTextBox and a TActiveButton. We also

added a TJavascriptLogger that will be very useful for understanding how the Active Controls
work.
4.6.1
Exploring the Active Controls
We should have some fun before we proceeding with setting up the chat buffering. We want to see
how we can update the current page when we receive a message. First, we add an OnClick event
handler for the Send button.
<com:TActiveButton ID="sendButton" CssClass="send-button"

Text="Send" OnClick="processMessage"/>
And the corresponding event handler method in the Home.php class (we need to create this new
file too).
{
function processMessage($sender, $param)
{
echo $this->userinput->Text;
}
}
If you now type something in the main application textbox and click the send button you should
see whatever you have typed echoed in the TJavascriptLogger console.
To append or add some content to the message list panel, we need to use some methods in the
TCallbackClientScript class which is available through the CallbackClient property of the current
TPage object. For example, we do can do
46
4.7. Active Record for chat buffer table

{
$this->CallbackClient->appendContent("messages", $this->userinput->Text);
}
This is one way to update some part of the existing page during a callback (AJAX style events)
and will be the primary way we will use to implement the chat application.
4.7
Active Record for chat buffer table
To send a message to all the connected users we need to buffer or store the message for each user.
We can use the database to buffer the messages. The chat buffer table is defined as follows.
CREATE TABLE chat_buffer
(
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
for_user VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
from_user VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
message TEXT NOT NULL,
created_on INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT "0"
);
The corresponding ChatBufferRecord class is saved as App Code/ChatBufferRecord.php.
class ChatBufferRecord extends TActiveRecord

{
const TABLE=chat_buffer;
public $id;
public $for_user;
public $from_user;
public $message;
private $_created_on;
public function getCreated_On()
{
if($this->_created_on === null)
$this->_created_on = time();
47

return $this->_created_on;
}
public function setCreated_On($value)
{
$this->_created_on = $value;
}
{
}
}
4.8
Chat Application Logic
We finally arrive at the guts of the chat application logic. First, we need to save a received message
into the chat buffer for all the current users. We add this logic in the ChatBufferRecord class.
public function saveMessage()
{
foreach(ChatUserRecord::finder()->findAll() as $user)
{
$message = new self;
$message->for_user = $user->username;
$message->from_user = $this->from_user;
$message->message = $this->message;
$message->save();
if($user->username == $this->from_user)
{
$user->last_activity = time(); //update the last activity;
$user->save();
}
}
}
We first find all the current users using the ChatUserRecord finder methods. Then we duplicate
the message and save it into the database. In addition, we update the message senders last
48
4.8. Chat Application Logic

activity timestamp. The above piece of code demonstrates the simplicity and succinctness of using
ActiveRecords for simple database designs.
The next piece of the logic is to retrieve the users messages from the buffer. We simply load all the
messages for a particular username and format that message appropriately (remember to escape
the output to prevent Cross-Site Scripting attacks). After we load the messages, we delete those
loaded messages and any older messages that may have been left in the buffer.
public function getUserMessages($user)

{
$content = ;
foreach($this->findAll(for_user = ?, $user) as $message)
$content .= $this->formatMessage($message);
$this->deleteAll(for_user = ? OR created_on < ?,
$user, time() - 300); //5 min inactivity
return $content;
}
protected function formatMessage($message)
{
$user = htmlspecialchars($message->from_user);
$content = htmlspecialchars($message->message);
return "\textbf{{$user}:}"
." <span>{$content}</span>";
}
To retrieve a list of current users (formatted), we add this logic to the ChatUserRecord class. We
delete any users that may have been inactive for awhile.
public function getUserList()

{
$this->deleteAll(last_activity < ?, time()-300); //5 min inactivity
$content = \begin{itemize};
foreach($this->findAll() as $user)
$content .= \item .htmlspecialchars($user->username).;
$content .= \end{itemize};
return $content;
}
49
Note: For simplicity we formatted the messages in these Active Record classes. For large
applications, these message formatting tasks should be done using Prado components (e.g.
using a TRepeater in the template or a custom component).
4.9
Putting It Together
Now comes to put the application flow together. In the Home.php we update the Send buttons
OnClick event handler to use the application logic we just implemented.
{
if(strlen($this->userinput->Text) > 0)
{
$record = new ChatBufferRecord();
$record->message = $this->userinput->Text;
$record->from_user = $this->Application->User->Name;
$record->saveMessage();
$this->userinput->Text = ;
$messages = $record->getUserMessages($this->Application->User->Name);
$this->CallbackClient->appendContent("messages", $messages);
$this->CallbackClient->focus($this->userinput);
}
}
We simply save the message to the chat buffer and then ask for all the messages for the current
user and update the client side message list using a callback response (AJAX style).
At this point the application is actually already functional, just not very user friendly. If you open
two different browsers, you should be able to communicate between the two users whenever the
Send button is clicked.
The next part is perhaps the more tricker and fiddly than the other tasks. We need to improve
the user experience. First, we want a list of current users as well. So we add the following method
to Home.php, we can call this method when ever some callback event is raised, e.g. when the Send
button is clicked.
protected function refreshUserList()
50
4.9. Putting It Together

{
$lastUpdate = $this->getViewState(userList,);
$users = ChatUserRecord::finder()->getUserList();
if($lastUpdate != $users)
{
$this->CallbackClient->update(users, $users);
$this->setViewstate(userList, $users);
}
}
Actually, we want to periodically update the messages and user list as new users join in and new
message may arrive from other users. So we need to refresh the message list as well.

{
...
$this->refreshUserList();
$this->refreshMessageList();
...
}
protected function refreshMessageList()
{
//refresh the message list
$finder = ChatBufferRecord::finder();
$content = $finder->getUserMessages($this->Application->User->Name);
if(strlen($content) > 0)
{
$anchor = (string)time();
$content .= "<a href=\"#\" id=\"{$anchor}\"> </a>";
$this->CallbackClient->appendContent("messages", $content);
$this->CallbackClient->focus($anchor);
}
}
The anchor using time() as ID for a focus point is so that when the message list on the client side
gets very long, the focus method will scroll the message list to the latest message (well, it works
in most browsers).
51

Next, we need to redirect the user back to the login page if the user has been inactive for some
time, say about 5 mins, we can add this check to any stage of the page life-cycle. Lets add it to
the onLoad() stage.
public function onLoad($param)
{
$username = $this->Application->User->Name;
if(!$this->Application->Modules[users]->usernameExists($username))
{
$auth = $this->Application->Modules[auth];
$auth->logout();
//redirect to login page.
$this->Response->Redirect($this->Service->ConstructUrl($auth->LoginPage));
}
}
4.10
Improving User Experience
The last few details are to periodically check for new messages and refresh the user list. We
can accomplish this by polling the server using a TTimeTriggeredCallback control. We add a
TTimeTriggeredCallback to the Home.page and call the refresh handler method defined in
Home.php. We set the polling interval to 2 seconds.
<com:TTimeTriggeredCallback OnCallback="refresh"
Interval="2" StartTimerOnLoad="true" />
function refresh($sender, $param)

{
$this->refreshUserList();
$this->refreshMessageList();
}
The final piece requires us to use some javascript. We want that when the user type some text in
the textarea and press the Enter key, we want it to send the message without clicking on the Send
button. We add to the Home.page some javascript.
52
4.10. Improving User Experience

<com:TClientScript>
Event.observe($("<%= $this->userinput->ClientID %>"), "keypress", function(ev)
{
if(Event.keyCode(ev) == Event.KEY_RETURN)
{
if(Event.element(ev).value.length > 0)
new Prado.Callback("<%= $this->sendButton->UniqueID %>");
Event.stop(ev);
}
});
</com:TClientScript>
Details regarding the javascript can be explored in the Introduction to Javascript section of the
quickstart.
This completes the tutorial on making a basic chat web application using the Prado framework.
Hope you have enjoyed it.
53
54
Chapter 5
Fundamentals
5.1
Architecture
PRADO is primarily a presentational framework, although it is not limited to be so. The framework
focuses on making Web programming, which deals most of the time with user interactions, to be
component-based and event-driven so that developers can be more productive. The following class
tree depicts some of the major classes provided by PRADO:
When a PRADO application is processing a page request, its static object diagram can be shown
as follows:
Once the main Application object gets created, it load the application configuration. The minimal
configuration defines a set of basic modules to parse the Request, create a proper Response, mantain the user Session, handle any Error and publish the needed Assets (images, css, javascript,
etc). These helpers module will be available from anywhere inside the application code. br/
Additionally, any 3rd-party or custom module can be loaded, and external Parameters can be
loaded from external configurations.
Once the basic infrastructure has been set up, the Request module parses the request trying to
identify the requested route. Different routes can be handled by different services, but the default
route for http requests is the Page Service. br/ The Page Services role is to instanciate the
requested Page, run it, apply any defined Theme and grab the result in order to build the Response.
A Page can be a simple script (.php), a Template (.page), or both. PRADO uses a very powerful
55
Chapter 5. Fundamentals
template engine where Controls can be instanciated directly. br/ A Control is an self-contained
widget that fullfills a specific task; they can be a simple script (.php), a Template (.page), or both.
5.2
Components: Part I
A component is an instance of TComponent or its child class. The base class TComponent implements
the mechanism of component properties and events.
56
5.2. Components: Part I
5.2.1
Component Properties
A component property can be viewed as a public variable describing a specific aspect of the
component, such as the background color, the font size, etc. A property is defined by the existence
of a getter and/or a setter method in the component class. For example, in TControl, we define
its ID property using the following getter and setter methods,
class TControl extends TComponent {
public function getID() {
...
}
public function setID($value) {
...
}
}
To get or set the ID property, do as follows, just like working with a variable,
$id = $component->ID;
$component->ID = $id;
This is equivalent to the following,

$id = $component->getID();
$component->setID( $id );
A property is read-only if it has a getter method but no setter method. Since PHP method names
are case-insensitive, property names are also case-insensitive. A component class inherits all its
ancestor classes properties.
Subproperties
A subproperty is a property of some object-typed property. For example, TWebControl has a Font
property which is of TFont type. Then the Name property of Font is referred to as a subproperty
(with respect to TWebControl).
To get or set the Name subproperty, use the following method,
57
$name = $component->getSubProperty(Font.Name);
$component->setSubProperty(Font.Name, $name);
This is equivalent to the following,

$name = $component->getFont()->getName();
$component->getFont()->setName( $name );
Js-friendly properties
A JavaScript-friendly property is a property that can accept both simple strings and raw javascript.
Prado automatically encodes all properties sent clientside inside javascript blocks to avoid security
problems (like injections or cross site scripting). If a property is known to always contain only
safe javascript code and its value needs to bypass this encoding, that property can be defined in a
special way that will make Prado mark its value as safe. Js-friendly properties are identified by
their name starting with js (case insensitive):
// getter, defines a readable property Text
function getJsText() {
// setter, defines a writable property Text, with $value being the value to be set to the property
function setJsText(TJavaScriptLiteral $value) {
Js-friendly properties can be accessed using both their Js-less name and their Js-enabled name:
// set some simple text as property value
$component->Text = text;
// set some javascript code as property value
$component->JsText = raw javascript;
In the first case, the property value will automatically gets encoded when sent clientside inside
a javascript block. In the second case, the property will be marked as being a safe javascript
statement and will not be encoded when rendered inside a javascript block. This special handling
makes use of the TJavaScriptLiteral class.
5.2.2
Component Events
Component events are special properties that take method names as their values. Attaching
(setting) a method to an event will hook up the method to the places at which the event is raised.
58
5.2. Components: Part I

Therefore, the behavior of a component can be modified in a way that may not be foreseen during
the development of the component.
A component event is defined by the existence of a method whose name starts with the word on.
The event name is the method name and is thus case-insensitve. For example, in TButton, we have
class TButton extends TWebControl {
public function onClick( $param ) {
...
}
}
This defines an event named OnClick, and a handler can be attached to the event using one of the
following ways,
$button->OnClick = $callback;
$button->OnClick->add( $callback );
$button->OnClick[] = $callback;
$button->attachEventHandler( OnClick , $callback );
The variable $callback contains the definition of the event handler that can be either a string
referring to a global function name, or an array whose first element refers to an object and second
element a method name/path that is reachable by the object, e.g.
buttonClicked : buttonClicked($sender,$param);
array($object,buttonClicked) : $object-buttonClicked($sender,$param);
array($object,MainContent.SubmitButton.buttonClicked) : $object-MainContent-SubmitButtonbuttonClicked($sender,$param);
5.2.3
Namespaces
A namespace refers to a logical grouping of some class names so that they can be differentiated
from other class names even if their names are the same. Since PHP does not support namespace
intrinsically, you cannot create instances of two classes who have the same name but with different
definitions. To differentiate from user defined classes, all PRADO classes are prefixed with a letter
59
T (meaning Type). Users are advised not to name their classes like this. Instead, they may
prefix their class names with any other letter(s).
A namespace in PRADO is considered as a directory containing one or several class files. A class
may be specified without ambiguity using such a namespace followed by the class name. Each
namespace in PRADO is specified in the following format,
<div class="source">
where PathAlias is an alias of some directory, while Dir1 and Dir2 are subdirectories under that directory. A class named MyClass defined under Dir2 may now be fully qualified as PathAlias.Dir1.Dir2.MyClass.
To use a namespace in code, do as follows,
Prado::using(PathAlias.Dir1.Dir2.*);
which appends the directory referred to by PathAlias.Dir1.Dir2 into PHP include path so that
classes defined under that directory may be instantiated without the namespace prefix. You may
also include an individual class definition by
Prado::using(PathAlias.Dir1.Dir2.MyClass);
which will include the class file if MyClass is not defined.

For more details about defining path aliases, see application configuration section.
5.2.4
Component Instantiation
Component instantiation means creating instances of component classes. There are two types of
component instantation: static instantiation and dynamic instantiation. The created components
are called static components and dynamic components, respectively.
Dynamic Component Instantiation

Dynamic component instantiation means creating component instances in PHP code. It is the
same as the commonly referred object creation in PHP. A component can be dynamically created
using one of the following two methods in PHP,
60
5.3. Components: Part II

$component = new ComponentClassName;
$component = Prado::createComponent(ComponentType);
where ComponentType refers to a class name or a type name in namespace format (e.g. System.Web.UI.TControl).
The second approach is introduced to compensate for the lack of namespace support in PHP.
Static Component Instantiation

Static component instantiation is about creating components via configurations. The actual creation work is done by the PRADO framework. For example, in an application configuration, one
can configure a module to be loaded when the application runs. The module is thus a static
component created by the framework. Static component instantiation is more commonly used in
templates. Every component tag in a template specifies a component that will be automatically
created by the framework when the template is loaded. For example, in a page template, the
following tag will lead to the creation of a TButton component on the page,
<com:TButton Text="Register" />
5.3
5.3.1
Components: Part II
Global events
With the addition of behaviors, a more expansive event model is needed. There are two new event
types (global and dynamic events) as well as a more comprehensive behavior model that includes
class wide behaviors.
A global event is defined by all events whose name starts with fx. The event name is potentially a
method name and is thus case-insensitive. All fx events are valid as the whole fx event/method
space is global in nature. Any object may patch into any global event by defining that event as
a method. Global events have priorities just like on events; so as to be able to order the event
execution. Due to the nature of all events which start with fx being valid, in effect, every object
has every fx global event. It is simply an issue of tapping into the desired global event.
A global event that starts with fx can be called even if the object does not implement the method of
the global event. A call to a non-existing fx method will, at minimal, function and return null. If a
method argument list has a first parameter, it will be returned instead of null. This allows filtering
61
and chaining. fx methods do not automatically install and uninstall. To install and uninstall an
objects global event listeners, call the objects listen and unlisten methods, respectively. An
object may auto-install its global event during
construct by overriding getAutoGlobalListen
and returning true.

As of PHP version 5.3, nulled objects without code references will still continue to persist in the
global event queue because destruct is not automatically called. In the common d estructmethod,if anobjectislisteningtogloba
An object that contains a method that starts with fx will have those functions automatically
receive those events of the same name after listen is called on the object.
An object may listen to a global event without defining an fx method of the same name by adding
an object method to the global event list. For example
$component->fxGlobalCheck=$callback;
// or $component->OnClick->add($callback);
$component->attachEventHandler(fxGlobalCheck,array($object, someMethod));
5.3.2
Events between Objects and their behaviors, Dynamic Events
An intra-object/behavior event is defined by methods that start with dy. Just as with fx global
events, every object has every dynamic event. Any call to a method that starts with dy will
be handled, regardless of whether it is implemented. These events are for communicating with
attached behaviors.
Dynamic events can be used in a variety of ways. They can be used to tell behaviors when a
non-behavior method is called. Dynamic events could be used as data filters. They could also be
used to specify when a piece of code is to be run, eg. should the loop process be performed on
a particular piece of data. In this way, some control is handed to the behaviors over the process
and/or data.
If there are no handlers for an fx or dy event, it will return the first parameter of the argument
list. If there are no arguments, these events will return null. If there are handlers an fx method
will be called directly within the object. Global fx events are triggered by calling raiseEvent.
For dynamic events where there are behaviors that respond to the dynamic events, a TCallChain
is developed. A call chain allows the behavior dynamic event implementations to call further
implementing behaviors within a chain.
If an object implements IDynamicMethods, all global and object dynamic events will be sent to
62
5.3. Components: Part II

dycall. In the case of global events, all global events will trigger this method. In the case of
behaviors, all undefined dynamic events which are called will be passed through to this method.
5.3.3
Behaviors
There are two types of behaviors. There are individual object behaviors and there are class wide
behaviors. Class behaviors depend upon object behaviors.
When a new class implements IBehavior or IClassBehavior or extends TBehavior or TClassBehavior,
it may be added to an object by calling the objects attachBehavior. The behaviors associated
name can then be used to enableBehavior or disableBehavior the specific behavior.
All behaviors may be turned on and off via enableBehaviors and disableBehaviors, respectively.
To check if behaviors are on or off a call to getBehaviorsEnabled will provide the variable.
Attaching and detaching whole sets of behaviors is done using attachBehaviors and detachBehaviors.
clearBehaviors removes all of an objects behaviors.
asa returns a behavior of a specific name. isa is the behavior inclusive function that acts as the
PHP operator instanceof. A behavior could provide the functionality of a specific class thus
causing the host object to act similarly to a completely different class. A behavior would then
implement IInstanceCheck to provide the identity of the different class.
Class behaviors are similar to object behaviors except that the class behavior is the implementation
for all instances of the class. A class behavior will have the object upon which is being called
be prepended to the parameter list. This way the object is known across the class behavior
implementation.
Class behaviors are attached using attachClassBehavior and detached using detachClassBehavior.
Class behaviors are important in that they will be applied to all new instances of a particular class.
In this way class behaviors become default behaviors to a new instances of a class in
construct.
Detaching a class behavior will remove the behavior from the default set of behaviors created for
an object when the object is instanced.
Class behaviors are also added to all existing instances via the global fx event mechanism. When a
new class behavior is added, the event fxAttachClassBehavior is raised and all existing instances
that are listening to this global event (primarily after listen is called) will have this new behavior
attached. A similar process is used when detaching class behaviors. Any objects listening to the
global fx event fxDetachClassBehavior will have a class behavior removed.
63
5.3.4
Dynamic Intra-Object Events
Dynamic events start with dy. This mechanism is used to allow objects to communicate with
their behaviors directly. The entire dy event space is valid. All attached, enabled behaviors that
implement a dynamic event are called when the host object calls the dynamic event. If there is no
implementation or behaviors, this returns null when no parameters are supplied and will return
the first parameter when there is at least one parameter in the dynamic event.
null == $this->dyBehaviorEvent();
5 == $this->dyBehaviorEvent(5); //when no behaviors implement this dynamic event
Dynamic events can be chained together within behaviors to allow for data filtering. Dynamic
events are implemented within behaviors by defining the event as a method.
class TObjectBehavior extends TBehavior {

public function dyBehaviorEvent($param1, $callchain) {
//Do something, eg:
$param1 += 13;
return $callchain->dyBehaviorEvent($param1);
}
}
This implementation of a behavior and dynamic event will flow through to the next behavior implementing the dynamic event. The first parameter is always return when it is supplied. Otherwise
a dynamic event returns null.
In the case of a class behavior, the object is also prepended to the dynamic event.
class TObjectClassBehavior extends TClassBehavior {

public function dyBehaviorEvent($hostobject, $param1, $callchain) {
//Do something, eg:
$param1 += $hostobject->getNumber();
return $callchain->dyBehaviorEvent($param1);
}
}
When calling a dynamic event, only the parameters are passed. The host object and the call chain
are built into the framework.
64
5.4. Controls
5.3.5
Global Event and Dynamic event catching
Given that all global fx events and dynamic dy events are valid and operational, there is a
mechanism for catching events called that are not implemented (similar to the built-in PHP method
call). When a dynamic or global event is called but a behavior does not implement it, yet
desires to know when an undefined dynamic event is run, the behavior implements the interface
IDynamicMethods and method dycall.
In the case of dynamic events,
dycall is supplied with the method name and its parameters.
When a global event is raised, via raiseEvent, the method is the event name and the parameters
are supplied.
When implemented, this catch-all mechanism is called for event global event event when implemented outside of a behavior. Within a behavior, it will also be called when the object to which the
behavior is attached calls any unimplemented dynamic event. This is the fall-back mechanism for
informing a class and/or behavior of when an global and/or undefined dynamic event is executed.
5.4
Controls
A control is an instance of class TControl or its subclass. A control is a component defined in

addition with user interface. The base class TControl defines the parent-child relationship among
controls which reflects the containment relationship among user interface elements.
5.4.1
Control Tree
Controls are related to each other via parent-child relationship. Each parent control can have one or
several child controls. A parent control is in charge of the state transition of its child controls. The
rendering result of the child controls are usually used to compose the parent controls presentation.
The parent-child relationship brings together controls into a control tree. A page is at the root of
the tree, whose presentation is returned to the end-users.
The parent-child relationship is usually established by the framework via templates. In code, you
may explicitly specify a control as a child of another using one of the following methods,
$parent->Controls->add($child);
$parent->Controls[]=$child;
65
where the property Controls refers to the child control collection of the parent.
5.4.2
Control Identification
Each control has an ID property that can be uniquely identify itself among its sibling controls.
In addition, each control has a UniqueID and a ClientID which can be used to globally identify
the control in the tree that the control resides in. UniqueID and ClientID are very similar. The
former is used by the framework to determine the location of the corresponding control in the tree,
while the latter is mainly used on the client side as HTML tag IDs. In general, you should not
rely on the explicit format of UniqueID or ClientID.
5.4.3
Naming Containers
Each control has a naming container which is a control creating a unique namespace for differentiating between controls with the same ID. For example, a TRepeater control creates multiple
items each having child controls with the same IDs. To differentiate these child controls, each
item serves as a naming container. Therefore, a child control may be uniquely identified using its
naming containers ID together with its own ID. As you may already have understood, UniqueID
and ClientID rely on the naming containers.
A control can serve as a naming container if it implements the INamingContainer interface.
5.4.4
ViewState and ControlState
HTTP is a stateless protocol, meaning it does not provide functionality to support continuing
interaction between a user and a server. Each request is considered as discrete and independent
of each other. A Web application, however, often needs to know what a user has done in previous
requests. People thus introduce sessions to help remember such state information.
PRADO borrows the viewstate and controlstate concept from Microsoft ASP.NET to provides
additional stateful programming mechanism. A value storing in viewstate or controlstate may be
available to the next requests if the new requests are form submissions (called postback) to the
same page by the same user. The difference between viewstate and controlstate is that the former
can be disabled while the latter cannot.
Viewstate and controlstate are implemented in TControl. They are commonly used to define
66
5.5. Pages
various properties of controls. To save and retrieve values from viewstate or controlstate, use
following methods,
$this->getViewState(Name,$defaultValue);
$this->setViewState(Name,$value,$defaultValue);
$this->getControlState(Name,$defaultValue);
$this->setControlState(Name,$value,$defaultValue);
where $this refers to the control instance, Name refers to a key identifying the persistent value,
$defaultValue is optional. When retrieving values from viewstate or controlstate, if the corresponding key does not exist, the default value will be returned.
5.5
Pages
Pages are top-most controls that have no parent. The presentation of pages are directly displayed
to end-users. Users access pages by sending page service requests.
Each page can have a template file. The file name suffix must be .page. The file name (without
suffix) is the page name. PRADO will try to locate a page class file under the directory containing
the page template file. Such a page class file must have the same file name (suffixed with .php) as
the template file. If the class file is not found, the page will take class TPage.
5.5.1
PostBack
A form submission is called ipostback/i if the submission is made to the page containing the
form. Postback can be considered an event happened on the client side, raised by the user. PRADO
will try to identify which control on the server side is responsible for a postback event. If one is
determined, for example, a TButton, we call it the postback event sender which will translate
the postback event into some specific server-side event (e.g. OnClick and OnCommand events for
TButton). br/ TPage has a IsPostBack property exposing whether the current request being
handled is the first request for this page or the consequence of a postback.
67
5.5.2
CallBack
A icallback/i is a special form submission that, instead of requiring a full page reload on the
browser, gets executed in the background through an ajax call. So, a callback is considered a
postback too, but not vice versa. br/ A callback is handled as a normal postback but, instead of
re-rendering the entire page, only the specific changes occured on the page gets sent back to the
client and merged with the current browser page. A typical callback response consists of:
1. one or more pieces of html code that will replace existing content on the page;
2. the javascript instructions needed to update the page;
3. some specific fields used by prado to mantain the pagestate and add the needed external
resources (stylesheets, javascript files, etc..).
TPage has a IsCallBack property exposing whether the current request being handled is the
consequence of a callback. Since a callback is also a postback, both IsPostBack and IsCallBack
are true during callback requests.
5.5.3
Page Lifecycles
Understanding the page lifecycles is crucial to grasp PRADO programming. Page lifecycles refer
to the state transitions of a page when serving this page to end-users. They can be depicted in the
following statechart,
5.6
Modules
A module is an instance of a class implementing the IModule interface. A module is commonly

designed to provide specific functionality that may be plugged into a PRADO application and
shared by all components in the application.
PRADO uses configurations to specify whether to load a module, load what kind of modules,
and how to initialize the loaded modules. Developers may replace the core modules with their
own implementations via application configuration, or they may write new modules to provide
additional functionalities. For example, a module may be developed to provide common database
logic for one or several pages. For more details, please see the configurations.
68
5.6. Modules
There are three core modules that are loaded by default whenever an application runs. They are
request module, response module, and error handler module. In addition, session module is loaded
when it is used in the application. PRADO provides default implementation for all these modules.
Custom modules may be configured or developed to override or supplement these core modules.
5.6.1
Request Module
Request module represents provides storage and access scheme for user request sent via HTTP. User
request data comes from several sources, including URL, post data, session data, cookie data, etc.
These data can all be accessed via the request module. By default, PRADO uses THttpRequest
as request module. The request module can be accessed via the Request property of application
and controls.
5.6.2
Response Module
Response module implements the mechanism for sending output to client users. Response module
may be configured to control how output are cached on the client side. It may also be used to send
cookies back to the client side. By default, PRADO uses THttpResponse as response module. The
response module can be accessed via the Response property of application and controls.
5.6.3
Session Module
Session module encapsulates the functionalities related with user session handling. Session module
is automatically loaded when an application uses session. By default, PRADO uses THttpSession
as session module, which is a simple wrapper of the session functions provided by PHP. The session
module can be accessed via the Session property of application and controls.
5.6.4
Error Handler Module
Error handler module is used to capture and process all error conditions in an application. PRADO
uses TErrorHandler as error handler module. It captures all PHP warnings, notices and exceptions,
and displays in an appropriate form to end-users. The error handler module can be accessed via
the ErrorHandler property of the application instance.
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5.6.5
Custom Modules
PRADO is released with a few more modules besides the core ones. They include caching modules
(TSqliteCache and TMemCache), user management module (TUserManager), authentication and
authorization module (TAuthManager), etc.
When TPageService is requested, it also loads modules specific for page service, including asset
manager (TAssetManager), template manager (TTemplateManager), theme/skin manager (TThemeManager).
Custom modules and core modules are all configurable via configurations.
5.7
Services
A service is an instance of a class implementing the IService interface. Each kind of service
processes a specific type of user requests. For example, the page service responds to users requests
for PRADO pages.
A service is uniquely identified by its ID property. By default when THttpRequest is used as the
request module, GET variable names are used to identify which service a user is requesting. If a
GET variable name is equal to some service ID, the request is considered for that service, and the
value of the GET variable is passed as the service parameter. For page service, the name of the GET
variable must be page. For example, the following URL requests for the Fundamentals.Services
page,
http://hostname/index.php?page=Fundamentals.Services
Developers may implement additional services for their applications. To make a service available,
configure it in application configurations.
5.7.1
Page Service
PRADO implements TPageService to process users page requests. Pages are stored under a
directory specified by the BasePath property of the page service. The property defaults to Pages
directory under the application base path. You may change this default by configuring the service
in the application configuration.
Pages may be organized into subdirectories under the BasePath. In each directory, there may be a
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5.8. Applications
page configuration file named config.xml, which contains configurations effective only when a page
under that directory or a sub-directory is requested. For more details, see the page configuration
section.
Service parameter for the page service refers to the page being requested. A parameter like
Fundamentals.Services refers to the Services page under the <BasePath>/Fundamentals directory. If such a parameter is absent in a request, a default page named Home is assumed. Using
THttpRequest as the request module (default), the following URLs will request for Home, About
and Register pages, respectively,
http://hostname/index.php
http://hostname/index.php?page=About
http://hostname/index.php?page=Users.Register
where the first example takes advantage of the fact that the page service is the default service and
Home is the default page.
More advanced url routes, like masking real page names and permitting the use of dynamic parameters can be created using the Url mapping module.
5.8
Applications
An application is an instance of TApplication or its derived class. It manages modules that

provide different functionalities and are loaded when needed. It provides services to end-users. It
is the central place to store various parameters used in an application. In a PRADO application,
the application instance is the only object that is globally accessible via Prado::getApplication()
function call.
Applications are configured via application configurations. They are usually created in entry scripts
like the following,
// load the prado entry script
require_once(/path/to/prado.php);
// or, if using composer:
require_once(vendor/autoload.php);
$application = new TApplication;
71
where the method run() starts the application to handle user requests.
5.8.1
Directory Organization
A minimal PRADO application contains two files: an entry file and a page template file. They
must be organized as follows,
wwwroot - Web document root or sub-directory.

index.php - entry script of the PRADO application.
assets - directory storing published private files. See assets section.
protected - application base path storing application data and private script files. This
directory should be configured inaccessible to Web-inaccessible, or it may be located outside
of Web directories.
runtime - application runtime storage path. This directory is used by PRADO to store
application runtime information, such as application state, cached data, etc.
pages - base path storing all PRADO pages. See services section.
Home.page - default page returned when users do not explicitly specify the page requested.
This is a page template file. The file name without suffix is the page name. The page class
is TPage. If there is also a class file Home.php, the page class becomes Home.
A product PRADO application usually needs more files. It may include an application configuration file named application.xml under the application base path protected. The pages may be
organized in directories, some of which may contain page configuration files named config.xml.
Fore more details, please see configurations section.
5.8.2
Application Deployment
Deploying a PRADO application mainly involves copying directories. For example, to deploy the
above minimal application to another server, follow the following steps,
1. Copy the content under wwwroot to a Web-accessible directory on the new server.
72
5.8. Applications
2. Modify the entry script file index.php so that it includes correctly the prado.php file.
3. Remove all content under assets and runtime directories and make sure both directories
are writable by the Web server process.
5.8.3
Application Lifecycles
Like page lifecycles, an application also has lifecycles. Application modules can register for the
lifecycle events. When the application reaches a particular lifecycle and raises the corresponding
event, the registered module methods are invoked automatically. Modules included in the PRADO
release, such as TAuthManager, are using this way to accomplish their goals.
The application lifecycles can be depicted as follows,
73
74
5.8. Applications
75
76
Chapter 6
Configurations
6.1
Configuration Overview
PRADO uses configurations to glue together components into pages and applications. There are
application configurations, page configurations, and templates.
Application and page configurations are optional if default values are used. Templates are mainly
used by pages and template controls. They are optional, too.
6.2
Templates: Part I
Templates are used to specify the presentational layout of controls. A template can contain static
text, components, or controls that contribute to the ultimate presentation of the associated control. By default, an instance of TTemplateControl or its subclass may automatically load and
instantiate a template from a file whose name is the same as the control class name. For page
templates, the file name suffix must be .page; for other regular template controls, the suffix is
.tpl.
The template format is like HTML, with a few PRADO-specifc tags, including component tags,
template control tags, comment tags, dynamic content tags, and dynamic property tags.
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Chapter 6. Configurations
6.2.1
Component Tags
A component tag specifies a component as part of the body content of the template control. If the
component is a control, it usually will become a child or grand child of the template control, and
its rendering result will be inserted at the place where it is appearing in the template.
The format of a component tag is as follows,
<com:ComponentType PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... EventName="EventHandler" ...>
body content
</com:ComponentType>
ComponentType can be either the class name or the dotted type name (e.g. System.Web.UI.TControl)
of the component. PropertyName and EventName are both case-insensitive. PropertyName can be
a property or subproperty name (e.g. Font.Name). Note, PropertyValue will be HTML-decoded
when assigned to the corresponding property. Content enclosed between the opening and closing
component tag are normally treated the body of the component.
It is required that component tags nest properly with each other and an opening component tag
be paired with a closing tag, similar to that in XML.
The following template shows a component tag specifying the Text property and OnClick event
of a button control,
<com:TButton Text="Register" OnClick="registerUser" />
Note, property names and event names are all case-insensitive, while component type names are
case-sensitive. Event names always begin with On.
Also note, initial values for properties whose name ends with Template are specially processed. In
particular, the initial values are parsed as TTemplate objects. The ItemTemplate property of the
TRepeater control is such an example.
To facilitate initializing properties with big trunk of data, the following property initialization
tag is introduced. It is equivalent to ...PropertyName="PropertyValue"... in every aspect.
Property initialization tags must be directly enclosed between the corresponding opening and
closing component tag.
<prop:PropertyName>
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6.2. Templates: Part I

PropertyValue
</prop:PropertyName>
Since version 3.1.0, the property initialization tag can also be used to initialize a set of subproperties who share the same parent property.
For example, the following is equivalent to
HeaderStyle.BackColor="black" and HeaderStyle.ForeColor="red".

<prop:HeaderStyle BackColor="black" ForeColor="red" />
Component IDs
When specified in templates, component ID property has special meaning in addition to its normal
property definition. A component tag specified with an ID value in template will register the
corresponding component to the template owner control. The component can thus be directly
accessed from the template control with its ID value. For example, in Home pages template, the
following component tag
<com:TTextBox ID="TextBox" Text="First Name" />
makes it possible to get the textbox object in code using $page->TextBox.
6.2.2
Template Control Tags
A template control tag is used to configure the initial property values of the control owning the
template. Its format is as follows,
<%@ PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... %>
Like in component tags, PropertyName is case-insensitive and can be a property or subproperty

name.
Initial values specified via the template control tag are assigned to the corresponding properties
when the template control is being constructed. Therefore, you may override these property values
in a later stage, such as the Init stage of the control.
Template control tag is optional in a template. Each template can contain at most one template
control tag. You can place the template control tag anywhere in the template. It is recommended
that you place it at the beginning of the template for better visibility.
79
6.2.3
Comment Tags
Comment tags are used to put in a template developer comments that will not display to end-users.
Contents enclosed within a comment tag will be treated as raw text strings and PRADO will not
attempt to parse them. Comment tags cannot be used within property values. The format of
comment tags is as follows,

Note: The new comment tag  has been introduced since PRADO version
--!> which was deprecated because some editors have
problems in syntax-highlighting such tags.
6.2.4
Include Tags
Since version 3.0.5, PRADO starts to support external template inclusion. This is accomplished
via include tags, where external template files are specified in namespace format and their file
name must be terminated as .tpl.
<%include path.to.templateFile %>
External templates will be inserted at the places where the include tags occur in the base template.
Note, nested template inclusion is not supported, i.e., you cannot have include tags in an external
template.
6.3
6.3.1
Templates: Part II
Dynamic Content Tags
Dynamic content tags are introduced as shortcuts to some commonly used component tags. These
tags are mainly used to render contents resulted from evaluating some PHP expressions or state-
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6.3. Templates: Part II

ments. They include expression tags, statement tags, databind tags, parameter tags, asset tags
and localization tags.
Expression Tags
An expression tag represents a PHP expression that is evaluated when the template control is in
PreRender stage. The expression evaluation result is inserted at the place where the tag resides in
the template. The context (namely $this) of the expression is the control owning the template.
The format of an expression tag is as follows,
<%= PhpExpression %>
For example, the following expression tag will display the current page title at the place,
<%= $this->Title %>
Statement Tags
Statement tags are similar to expression tags, except that statement tags contain PHP statements
rather than expressions. The output of the PHP statements (using for example echo or print in
PHP) are displayed at the place where the statement tag resides in the template. The context
(namely $this) of the statements is the control owning the template. The format of statement
tags is as follows,
<%%
PHP Statements
%>
The following example displays the current time in Dutch at the place,
<%%
setlocale(LC_ALL, nl_NL);
echo strftime("%A %e %B %Y",time());
%>
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Databind Tags
Databind tags are similar to expression tags, except that the expressions are evaluated only when
a dataBind() call is invoked on the controls representing the databind tags. The context (namely
$this) of a databind expression is the control owning the template. The format of databind tags
is as follows,
<%# PhpExpression %>
Parameter Tags
Parameter tags are used to insert application parameters at the place where they appear in the
template. The format of parameter tags is as follows,
<%$ ParameterName %>
Note, application parameters are usually defined in application configurations or page directory
configurations. The parameters are evaluated when the template is instantiated.
Asset Tags
Asset tags are used to publish private files and display the corresponding the URLs. For example,
if you have an image file that is not Web-accessible and you want to make it visible to end-users,
you can use asset tags to publish this file and show the URL to end-users so that they can fetch
the published image.
The format of asset tags is as follows,
<%~ LocalFileName %>
where LocalFileName refers to a file path that is relative to the directory containing the current
template file. The file path can be a single file or a directory. If the latter, the content in the whole
directory will be made accessible by end-users.
BE VERY CAUTIOUS when you are using asset tags as it may expose to end-users files that you
probably do not want them to see.
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6.4. Templates: Part III

Localization Tags
Localization tags represent localized texts. They are in the following format,
<%[string]%>
where string will be translated to different languages according to the end-users language preference. Localization tags are in fact shortcuts to the function call Prado::localize(string).
URL Tags
URL tags are used to insert the relative web url path to the Prado application in the template.
You can use it in the following format:
<%/ image.jpg %>
If your Prado application is deployed on http://localhost/pradoapp/, the tag above will produce
/pradoapp/image.jpg. This tag will help you to use the correct file path even with UrlFormat
set to Path, or if you are using url mappings.
6.4
6.4.1
Templates: Part III

Dynamic Property Tags
Dynamic property tags are very similar to dynamic content tags, except that they are applied to
component properties. The purpose of dynamic property tags is to allow more versatile component
property configuration. Note, you are not required to use dynamic property tags because what
can be done using dynamic property tags can also be done in PHP code. However, using dynamic
property tags bring you much more convenience at accomplishing the same tasks. The basic usage
of dynamic property tags is as follows,
<com:ComponentType PropertyName=DynamicPropertyTag ...>

body content
</com:ComponentType>
83
where you may enclose DynamicPropertyTag within single or double quotes for better readability.
Like dynamic content tags, we have expression tags, databind tags, parameter tags, asset tags and
localization tags. (Note, there is no statement tag here.)
Expression Tags
An expression tag represents a PHP expression that is evaluated when the control is in PreRender
stage. The expression evaluation result is assigned to the corresponding component property. The
format of expression tags is as follows,
<%= PhpExpression %>
In the expression, $this refers to the control owning the template. The following example specifies
a TLabel control whose Text property is initialized as the current page title when the TLabel
control is being constructed,
<com:TLabel Text=<%= $this->Page->Title %> />
Databind Tags
Databind tags are similar to expression tags, except that they can only be used with control
properties and the expressions are evaluated only when a dataBind() call is invoked on the controls
represented by the component tags. In the expression, $this refers to the control owning the
template. Databind tags do not apply to all components. They can only be used for controls.
The format of databind tags is as follows,
<%# PhpExpression %>
Since v3.0.2, expression tags and databind tags can be embedded within static strings. For example,
you can write the following in a template,
<com:TLabel>
<prop:Text>
Today is <%= date(F d, Y,time()) %>.
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6.4. Templates: Part III

The page class is <%= get_class($this) %>.
</prop:Text>
</com:TLabel>
Previously, you would have to use a single expression with string concatenations to achieve the
same effect.
Parameter Tags
Parameter tags are used to assign application parameter values to the corresponding component
properties. The format of parameter tags is as follows,
<%$ ParameterName %>
Note, application parameters are usually defined in application configurations or page directory
configurations. The parameters are evaluated when the template is instantiated.
Asset Tags
Asset tags are used to publish private files and assign the corresponding the URLs to the component
properties. For example, if you have an image file that is not Web-accessible and you want to make
it visible to end-users, you can use asset tags to publish this file and show the URL to end-users
so that they can fetch the published image. The asset tags are evaluated when the template is
instantiated.
The format of asset tags is as follows,
<%~ LocalFileName %>
where LocalFileName refers to a file path that is relative to the directory containing the current
template file. The file path can be a single file or a directory. If the latter, the content in the whole
directory will be made accessible by end-users.
BE VERY CAUTIOUS when you are using asset tags as it may expose to end-users files that you
probably do not want them to see.
85
Localization Tags
Localization tags represent localized texts. They are in the following format,
<%[string]%>
where string will be translated to different languages according to the end-users language preference. The localization tags are evaluated when the template is instantiated. Localization tags
are in fact shortcuts to the function call Prado::localize(string).
6.5
Application Configurations
Application configurations are used to specify the global behavior of an application. They include
specification of path aliases, namespace usages, module and service configurations, and parameters.
Configuration for an application is stored in an XML file named application.xml, which should
be located under the application base path. Its format is shown in the following. Complete
specification of application configurations can be found in the DTD and XSD files.
<application PropertyName="PropertyValue" ...>

<paths>
<alias id="AliasID" path="AliasPath" />
<using namespace="Namespace" />
</paths>
<modules>
<module id="ModuleID" class="ModuleClass"
PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</modules>
<parameters>
<parameter id="ParameterID" class="ParameterClass" PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</parameters>
<include file="path.to.extconfig" when="PHP expression" />
<services>
<service id="ServiceID" class="ServiceClass" PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</services>
</application>
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6.5. Application Configurations

The outermost element <application> corresponds to the TApplication instance. The
PropertyName="PropertyValue" pairs specify the initial values for the properties of TApplication.
The <paths> element contains the definition of path aliases and the PHP inclusion paths for
the application. Each path alias is specified via an <alias> whose path attribute takes an
absolute path or a path relative to the directory containing the application configuration file.
The <using> element specifies a particular path (in terms of namespace) to be appended
to the PHP include paths when the application runs. PRADO defines two default aliases:
System and Application. The former refers to the PRADO framework root directory, and
the latter refers to the directory containing the application configuration file.
The <modules> element contains the configurations for a list of modules. Each module is
specified by a <module> element. Each module is uniquely identified by the id attribute and
is of type class. The PropertyName="PropertyValue" pairs specify the initial values for
the properties of the module.
The <parameters> element contains a list of application-level parameters that are accessible
from anywhere in the application. You may specify component-typed parameters like specifying modules, or you may specify string-typed parameters which take a simpler format as
follows,
<parameter id="ParameterID" value="ParameterValue" />
Note, if the value attribute is not specified, the whole parameter XML node (of type
TXmlElement) will be returned as the parameter value. In addition, the System.Util.TParameterModule
module provides a way to load parameters from an external XML file. See more details in
its API documentation.
The <include> element allows one to include external configuration files. It has been introduced since v3.1.0. The file attribute specifies the external configuration file in namespace
format. The extension name of the file must be .xml. The when attribute contains a PHP
expression and is optional (defaults to true). Only when the expression evaluates true, will
the external configuration file be included. The context of the expression is the application,
i.e., $this in the expression would refer to the application object.
The <services> element is similar to the <modules> element. It mainly specifies the services
provided by the application. Within a <service> element, one can have any of the above
elements. They will be effective only when the corresponding service is being requested.
87
An external configuration file has the same format as described above. Although the name of
the root element does not matter, it is recommended to be <configuration>. External configurations will append to the main configuration. For example, if a path alias is specified in an
external configuration, it will become available in addition to those aliases specified in the main
configuration.
By default without explicit configuration, a PRADO application will load a few core modules,
such as THttpRequest, THttpResponse, etc. It will also provide the TPageService as a default
service. Configuration and usage of these modules and services are covered in individual sections
of this tutorial. Note, if your application takes default settings for these modules and service, you
do not need to provide an application configuration. However, if these modules or services are not
sufficient, or you want to change their behavior by configuring their property values, you will need
an application configuration.
By default PRADO instanciates all modules defined in the application configuration at the beginning of the application lifecycle. This can hit the application performance if you have a lot of
modules defined but not used at every request. Since version 3.2.2 you can set the lazy property
on modules defined in the application configuration to enable the lazy loading of that module.
<modules>
<module id="ModuleID" class="ModuleClass" lazy="true" PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</modules>
A module with the lazy property set wont be instanciated until the first time it gets actually
used by the application:
// requesting the lazy module to the application will instanciate it

Prado::getApplication()->getModule(ModuleID);
Since version 3.2 the application configuration can be stored in PHP array format in a file named
application.php. The format of the configuration file is exactly the same of its XML counterpart,
but following the PHP syntax.
<?php
return array(
application => array(
PropertyName => PropertyValue
88
6.6. Page Configurations

),
modules => array(
ModuleID => array(
class => ModuleClass,
properties => array(
),
),
),
services => array(
ServiceID => array(
class => ServiceClass,
properties => array(
),
),
),
);
The use of a PHP application configuration must be defined in the TApplication constructor,
tipically located in the index.php entry script:
$application=new TApplication(protected,false,TApplication::CONFIG_TYPE_PHP);
6.6
Page Configurations
Page configurations are mainly used by TPageService to modify or append the application configuration. As the name indicates, a page configuration is associated with a directory storing some
page files. It is stored as an XML file named config.xml.
When a user requests a page stored under <BasePath>/dir1/dir2, the TPageService will try to
parse and load config.xml files under <BasePath>, <BasePath>/dir1 and <BasePath>/dir1/dir2.
Paths, modules, and parameters specified in these configuration files will be appended or merged
into the existing application configuration. Here <BasePath> is as defined in page service.
The format of a page configuration file is as follows,
89
<configuration>
<paths>
<alias id="AliasID" path="AliasPath" />
<using namespace="Namespace" />
</paths>
<modules>
<module id="ModuleID" class="ModuleClass"
PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</modules>
<parameters>
<parameter id="ParameterID" class="ParameterClass" PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</parameters>
<include file="path.to.extconfig" when="PHP expression" />
<authorization>
<allow pages="PageID1,PageID2" users="User1,User2" roles="Role1,Role2" verb="get" />
<deny pages="PageID1,PageID2" users="User1,User2" roles="Role1,Role2" verb="post" />
</authorization>
<pages PropertyName="PropertyValue" ...>
<page id="PageID" PropertyName="PropertyValue" ... />
</pages>
</configuration>
The <paths>, <modules>, <parameters> and <include> are similar to those in an application
configuration. The <authorization> element specifies the authorization rules that apply to the
current page directory and all its subdirectories. For more details, see authentication and authorization section. The <pages> element specifies the initial values for the properties of pages.
Each <page> element specifies the initial property values for a particular page identified by the id
attribute. Initial property values given in the <pages> element apply to all pages in the current
directory and all its subdirectories.
Complete specification of page configurations can be found in the DTD and XSD files.
Since version 3.1.1, the id attribute in the page element can be a relative page path pointing
to a page in the subdirectory of the directory containing the page configuration. For example,
id="admin.Home" refers to the Home page under the admin directory. The id attribute can also
contain wildcard * to match all pages under the specified directory. For example, id="admin.*"
refers to all pages under the admin directory and its subdirectories. This enhancement allows
developers to centralize their page configurations (e.g. put all page initializations in the aplication
configuration or the root page configuration.)
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6.7. URL Mapping (Friendly URLs)
6.7
URL Mapping (Friendly URLs)
System.Web.TUrlMapping API Reference

The TUrlMapping module allows PRADO to construct and recognize friendly URLs based on
specific patterns.
TUrlMapping consists of a list of URL patterns which are used to match against the currently
requested URL. The first matching pattern will then be used to decompose the URL into request
parameters (accessible via $this->Request[paramname]). The patterns can also be used to
construct customized URLs. In this case, the parameters in an applied pattern will be replaced
with the corresponding GET variable values.
To use TUrlMapping, one must set the UrlManager property of the THttpRequest module as the
TUrlMapping module ID. See following for an example,
<modules>
<module id="request" class="THttpRequest" UrlManager="friendly-url" />
<module id="friendly-url" class="System.Web.TUrlMapping">
<url ServiceParameter="Posts.ViewPost" pattern="post/{id}/" parameters.id="\d+" />
<url ServiceParameter="Posts.ListPost" pattern="archive/{time}/" parameters.time="\d{6}"
<url ServiceParameter="Posts.ListPost" pattern="category/{cat}/" parameters.cat="\d+" />
</module>
</modules>
The above example is part of the application configuration of the blog demo in the PRADO release.
It enables recognition of the following URL formats:
/index.php/post/123 is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.ViewPost&id=123
/index.php/archive/200605 is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.ListPost&time=200605
/index.php/category/2 is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.ListPost&cat=2
The ServiceParameter and ServiceID (the default ID is page) set the service parameter and
service ID, respectively, of the Request module. The service parameter for the TPageService
service is the Page class name, e.g., for an URL index.php?page=Home, page is the service
ID and the service parameter is Home. Other services may use the service parameter and ID
differently. See Services for further details.
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Info: The TUrlMapping must be configured before the request module resolves the request.
This means delcaring the TUrlMapping outside of the <services> element in the application
configuration. Specifying the mappings in the per directory config.xml is not supported.
6.7.1
Specifying URL Patterns
TUrlMapping enables recognition of customized URL formats based on a list prespecified of URL
patterns. Each pattern is specified in a <url> tag.
The Pattern and Parameters attribute values are regular expression patterns that determine the
mapping criteria. The Pattern property takes a regular expression with parameter names enclosed
between a left brace { and a right brace }. The patterns for each parameter can be set using
Parameters attribute collection. For example,
<url ServiceParameter="ArticleView" pattern="articles/{year}/{month}/{day}"
parameters.year="\d{4}" parameters.month="\d{2}" parameters.day="\d+" />
The example is equivalent to the following regular expression (it uses the named group feature
in regular expressions available in PHP):
<url ServiceParameter="ArticleView"><![CDATA[
#articles/(?P<year>\d{4})/(?P<month>\d{2})/(?P<day>\d+)#u
]]></url>
In the above example, the pattern contains 3 parameters named year, month and day. The
pattern for these parameters are, respectively, {
. (1 or more
.4} (4 digits), {
.2} (2 digits) and +
digits). Essentially, the Parameters attribute name and values are used as substrings in replacing
the placeholders in the Pattern string to form a complete regular expression string.
For simple (not parameterized) regular expressions you can use the RegularExpression property:
<url ServiceParameter="ArticleView"
RegularExpression="/articles\/best-of/u" />
Note: If you intended to use the RegularExpression property or regular expressions in

CDATA sections, notice that you need to escape the slash, if you are using the slash as
regular expressions delimiter. br/ If you are using the iCDATA section/i version
all whitespaces like \n, \t, \r and so on will be removed automaticly.
92

Following from the above pattern example, an URL http://example.com/index.php/articles/2006/07/21
will be matched and valid. However, http://example.com/index.php/articles/2006/07/hello
is not valid since the day parameter pattern is not satisfied. In the default TUrlMappingPattern
class, the pattern is matched against the PATHI N F Opartof theU RLonly.F orexample, onlythe/articles/2006/07/2
The mapped request URL is equivalent to index.php?page=ArticleView&year=2006&month=07&day=21.
The request parameter values are available through the standard Request object. For
example, $this->Request[year].
The URL mapping are evaluated in order they are placed and only the first pattern
that matches the URL will be used. Cascaded mapping can be achieved by placing the
URL mappings in particular order. For example, placing the most specific mappings
first.
Since version 3.1.4, Prado also provides wildcard patterns to use friendly URLs for
a bunch of pages in a directory with a single rule. Therefore you can use the {*}
wildcard in your pattern to let Prado know, where to find the ServiceID in your
request URL. You can also specify parameters with these patterns if a lot of pages
share common parameters.
<url ServiceParameter="Posts.*" pattern="posts/{*}/{id}" parameters.id="\d+" />

<url ServiceParameter="Posts.*" pattern="posts/{*}" />
<url ServiceParameter="Static.Info.*" pattern="info/{*}" />
With these rules, any of the following URLs will be recognized:

/index.php/post/ViewPost/123 is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.ViewPost&id=123
/index.php/post/ListPost/123 is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.ListPost&id=123
/index.php/post/ListPost/123 is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.ListPost&id=123
/index.php/post/MyPost is recognized as /index.php?page=Posts.MyPost
/index.php/info/Conditions is recognized as /index.php?page=Static.Info.Conditions
/index.php/info/About is recognized as /index.php?page=Static.Info.About
As above, put more specific rules before more common rules as the first matching
rule will be used.
93
To make configuration of friendly URLs for multiple pages even easier, you can also
use UrlFormat="Path" in combination with wildcard patterns. In fact, this feature only
is available in combination with wildcard rules:/P
<url ServiceParameter="user.admin.*" pattern="admin/{*}" UrlFormat="Path"/>

<url ServiceParameter="*" pattern="{*}" UrlFormat="Path" />
Parameters will get appended to the specified patterns as name/value pairs, separated
by a /. (You can change the separator character with UrlParamSeparator.)
/index.php/list/cat/15/month/12 is recognized as /index.php?page=list&cat=15&month=12
/index.php/edit/id/12 is recognized as /index.php?page=list&id=12
/index.php/show/name/foo is recognized as /index.php?page=show&name=foo
/index.php/admin/edit/id/12 is recognized as /index.php?page=user.admin.edit&id=12
6.7.2
Constructing Customized URLs
Since version 3.1.1, TUrlMapping starts to support constructing customized URLs based
on the provided patterns. To enable this feature, set TUrlMapping.EnableCustomUrl to
true.
When THttpRequest.constrcutUrl() is invoked, the actual URL construction
work will be delegated to a matching TUrlMappingPattern instance. It replaces the parameters in the pattern with the corresponding GET variables passed to constructUrl().
A matching pattern is one whose ServiceID and ServiceParameter properties are the
same as those passed to constructUrl() and whose named parameters are found in
the GET variables. For example, constructUrl(Posts.ListPost,array(cat=>2)) will
use the third pattern in the above example.
By default, TUrlMapping will construct URLs prefixed with the currently requesting
PHP script path, such as /path/to/index.php/article/3. Users may change this behavior by explicitly specifying the URL prefix through its UrlPrefix property. For
example, if the Web server configuration treats index.php as the default script, we can
set UrlPrefix as /path/to and the constructed URL will look like /path/to/article/3.
94
Note: If you use constructUrl() with string parameters that contain slashes
(/) they will get encoded to %2F. By default most Apache installations give
a 404 Not found if a URL contains a %2F. You can add AllowEncodedSlashes
On to your VirtualHost configuration to resolve this. (Available since Apache
2.0.46).
95
96
Chapter 7
Control Reference : Standard

Controls
7.1
Standard Controls
Standard controls are the most basic controls in PRADO. They can represent a simple
html tag like an input or even more comple controls like a date picker or a WYSIWYG text area. Standard controls are in the System.Web.UI.WebControls namespace.
TAccordion displays an accordion consisting of multiple views. At any time, only
one view is visible.
TButton represents a click button on a Web page. It is mainly used to trigger
page postback.
TCaptcha displays a CAPTCHA to keep spammers from signing up for certain
accounts online.
TCheckBox represents a checkbox on a Web page. It can be used to collect
two-state user input.
TClientScript adds javascript code to the page.
TColorPicker represents an input field taking color values via a color dialog.
97
Chapter 7. Control Reference : Standard Controls

TConditional displays content corresponding to true or false result of a PHP
expression.
TDatePicker represents an input field taking date values via a calendar dialog.
TExpression accepts a PHP expression and displays the evaluation result on a
Web page.
TFileUpload represents a file upload field. It allows users to upload a file to
server.
TFlushOutput enables forced flushing of the current output buffer at (a) certain
point(s) in the page.
THead represents the head element on an HTML Web page. It is required by
a PRADO page should it use themes.
THiddenField represents a hidden input field on a Web page.
THtmlArea represents a WYSIWYG text input field taking user input that are
in HTML format.
THtmlArea4 is the counterpart of THtmlArea based on TinyMCE4.
THyperLink represents a hyperlink on a Web page.
TImage represents an image on a Web page.
TImageButton represents a click button that has an image as the background.
It is mainly used to trigger page postback.
TImageMap represents an image on a Web page with clickable hotspot regions.
TInlineFrame represents an iframe HTML element on a Web page.
TJavascriptLogger represents a logger on a Web page that can log various JavaScript
information.
TKeyboard displays a virtual keyboard for users to enter input into a text box.
TLabel represents a label on a Web page. The label can be customized via
various CSS attributes.
TLinkButton represents a hyperlink that can perform page postbacks.
98
7.1. Standard Controls

TLiteral represents a static text without any HTML tag surrounding it on a Web
page.
TMarkdown formats its body content following the Markdown syntax.
TMultiView represents a container for a group of TView controls, each of which
is container for other controls. At any time, at most one TView is visible.
TOutputCache enables caching portions of page output and may significantly
improve page response time.
TPager generates UI that allows users to interactively specify which page of data
to be displayed in a data-bound control.
TPanel represents a container for other controls on a Web page. In HTML, it is
displayed as a div element.
TPlaceHolder reserves a place on a control template. It inserts its body content
at that place.
TRadioButton represents a radiobutton on a Web page. It is mainly used in a
group from which users make a choice.
TSafeHtml displays its body content with assurance that the content contain no
harmful code (such as XSS).
TSlider represents a Slider control
TStatements accepts a few PHP statements and displays their standard output
on the Web page.
TTable represents an HTML table on a Web page. It is used together with
TTableRow and TTableCell.
TTabPanel displays a tabbed panel consisting of multiple tab views. At any time,
only one tab view is visible.
TTextBox represents a text input field on a Web page. It can collect single-line,
multi-line or password text input from users.
TTextHighlighter highlights its body content according to the specified syntax
highlighter, such as PHP, XML, PRADO, etc.
TWizard represents a multi-step form that can take user input step by step. It
resembles to Windows installation wizards.
99
7.2
TAccordion
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TAccordion API Reference

TAccordion displays an accordion control. Users can click on the view headers to
switch among different accordion views. Each accordion view is an independent panel
that can contain arbitrary content.
A TAccordion control consists of one or several TAccordionView controls representing
the possible accordion views. At any time, only one accordion view is visible (active),
which is specified by any of the following properties:
ActiveViewIndex - the zero-based integer index of the view in the view collection.
ActiveViewID - the text ID of the visible view.
ActiveView - the visible view instance.
If both ActiveViewIndex and ActiveViewID are set, the latter takes precedence.
TAccordion uses CSS to specify the appearance of the accordion headers and panels.
By default, an embedded CSS file will be published which contains the default CSS
for TAccordion. You may also use your own CSS file by specifying the CssUrl property.
The following properties specify the CSS classes used for elements in a TAccordion:
CssClass - the CSS class name for the outer-most div element (defaults to accordion);
HeaderCssClass - the CSS class name for nonactive accordion div elements (defaults to accordion-header);
ActiveHeaderCssClass - the CSS class name for the active accordion div element
(defaults to accordion-header-active);
ViewCssClass - the CSS class for the div element enclosing view content (defaults
to accordion-view);
To use TAccordion, write a template like following:
100
7.3. TButton
<com:TAccordion>
<com:TAccordionView Caption="View 1">
content for view 1
</com:TAccordionView>
content for view 2
content for view 3
</com:TAccordion>
Controls.Samples.TAccordion.Home Demo
7.3
TButton
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TButton API Reference

TButton creates a click button on a Web page.
The buttons caption is specified
by Text property. A button is used to submit data to a page. TButton raises two
server-side events, OnClick and OnCommand, when it is clicked on the client-side. The
difference between OnClick and OnCommand events is that the latter event is bubbled
up to the buttons ancestor controls. An OnCommand event handler can use CommandName
and CommandParameter associated with the event to perform specific actions.
Clicking on button can trigger form validation, if CausesValidation is true. And the
validation may be restricted within a certain group of validator controls according to
ValidationGroup.
Controls.Samples.TButton.Home Demo
TODO: custom attributes
7.4
TCaptcha
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TCaptcha API Reference
101

TCaptcha displays a CAPTCHA that can be used to determine if the input is entered
by a real user instead of some program. TCaptcha displays a token (a string consisting
of alphanumeric characters) as an image and the user is expected to repeat the token
in a text box. The token image is generated in a way such that it can be recognized
by a human being, but not a program.
To use TCaptcha, you must enable the PHP GD2 extension with TrueType font support. Unlike other CAPTCHA scripts, TCaptcha does not need session or cookie.
The token generated by TCaptcha can be configured in several ways. To specify the
length of characters in the token, set MinTokenLength and MaxTokenLength. To use caseinsensitive token comparison and generate upper-case-only token, set CaseSensitive
to false. More advanced users can try to set TokenAlphabet to specify which characters
may appear in the generated tokens.
The validation of the token is related with two properties: TestLimit (defaults to 5
times) and TokenExpiry (defaults to 600 seconds). The former specifies how many
times a token can be tested with on the server side, and the latter says when a
generated token will expire. If the validation fails in any of the two scenarios, a new
token will be automatically generated.
To specify the appearance of the generated token image, set TokenImageTheme to be
an integer between 0 and 63. You may try the following example to see how this
value affects the generated token image. The size of the generated token image is
determined by TokenFontSize. In particular, the image width is proportional to the
font size. You may also set Width to scale the generated image to your desired size,
but the scaled image may not look good. By setting ChangingTokenBackground to true,
the image background of the token will be variating even though the token is the
same during postbacks.
Upon postback, user input can be validated by calling the method TCaptcha.validate().
More easily, you can use a TCaptchaValidator to automate the validation work for you.
The TCaptchaValidator has the additional benefit of being able to validate the user
input on the client-side. By default, a generated token will remain unchanged during postbacks. A new token can be generated by calling TCaptcha.regenerateToken()
manually.
The following template shows a typical use of the TCaptcha control:
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7.5. TCheckBox
<com:TCaptcha ID="Captcha" />
<com:TTextBox ID="Input" />
<com:TCaptchaValidator CaptchaControl="Captcha"
ControlToValidate="Input"
ErrorMessage="You are challenged!" />
Controls.Samples.TCaptcha.Home Demo
7.5
TCheckBox
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TCheckBox API Reference

TCheckBox displays a check box on a Web page. A caption can be specified via Text and
displayed beside the check box. It can appear either on the right or left of the check
box, which is determined by TextAlign. You may further specify attributes applied
to the text by using LabelAttributes.
To determine whether the check box is checked, test the Checked property. A CheckedChanged
event is raised if the state of Checked is changed between posts to the server. If
AutoPostBack is true, changing the check box state will cause postback action. And if
CausesValidation is also true, upon postback validation will be performed for validators within the specified ValidationGroup.
Controls.Samples.TCheckBox.Home Demo
7.6
TClientScript
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TClientScript API Reference
7.6.1
Including Bundled Javascript Libraries in Prado
TClientScript allows Javascript code to be insert or linked to the page template.

PRADO is bundled with a large library of Javascript functionality including effects,
AJAX, basic event handlers, and many others. The bundled Javascript libraries can
103

be linked to the current page template using the PradoScripts property. Multiple
bundled Javascript libraries can be specified using comma delimited string of the
name of Javascript library to include on the page. For following example will include
the ajax and effects library.
<com:TClientScript PradoScripts="ajax, effects" />
The available bundled libraries included in Prado are

prado : basic prado javascript framework based on Prototype
effects : visual effects from script.aculo.us
ajax : ajax and callback related based on Prototype
validator : validation
logger : javascript logger and object browser
datepicker : datepicker
colorpicker : colorpicker
Many of the libraries, such as validator and datepicker will automatically when controls that uses these libraries are visible on the page. For example, all the validators
if they have their EnableClientScript set to true will include both the prado and
validator javascript libraries. The dependencies for each library are automatically
resolved. That is, specifying, say the ajax, will also include the prado library.
7.6.2
Including Custom Javascript Files
Custom Javascript files can be register using the ScriptUrl property. The following
example includes the Javascript file test.js to the page. In this case, the file test.js
is relative the current template you are using. Since the property value is dynamic
asset tag, the file test.js will be published automatically, that is, the file will be
copied to the assets directory if necessary.
<com:TClientScript ScriptUrl=<%~ test.js %> />
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7.7. TColorPicker
You can include Javascript files from other servers by specifying the full URL string
in the ScriptUrl property.
7.6.3
Including Custom Javascript Code Blocks
Any content within the TClientScript control tag will be considered as Javascript code
and will be rendered where it is declared.
7.7
TColorPicker
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TColorPicker API Reference

TColorPicker displays a text box for color input purpose. Next to the textbox theres
a button filled with the current chosen color. Users can write a color name directly
in the text box as an hex triplet (also known as HTML notation, eg: FF00FF).
br/Alternatively, if the ShowColorPicker property is enabled (it is by default), users
can click the button to have a color picker UI appear. A color chan be chosen directly
by clicking on the color picker.
TColorPicker has three different color picker UI Modes:
Simple - Grid with 12 simple colors.
Basic - Grid with the most common 70 colors. This is the default mode.
Full - Full-featured color picker.
The CssClass property can be used to override the CSS class name for the color picker
panel. The ColorStyle property changes the overall color picker style. The following
ColorStyle values are available:
default - The default color picker style.
If the Mode property is set to Full, the color picker panel will display an Ok and
Cancel buttons. You can customize the button labels setting the OKButtonText and
CancelButtonText properties.
105

Controls.Samples.TColorPicker.Home Demo
7.8
TConditional
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TConditional API Reference

TConditional displays appropriate content based on the evaluation result of a PHP
expression specified via Condition. If the result is true, it instantiates the template
TrueTemplate; otherwise, the template FalseTemplate is instantiated. The PHP expression is evaluated right before the onInit stage of the control lifecycle.
Since TConditional evaluates Condition at a very early stage, it is recommended you
set Condition in template only and the expression should not refer to objects that are
available on or after the onInit lifecycle.
TConditional is very light. It instantiates either TrueTemplate FalseTemplate, but never
both. And the condition is evaluated only once. A typical usage of TConditional is
shown as following:
<com:TConditional Condition="$this->User->IsGuest">
<prop:TrueTemplate>
\href{path/to/login}{Login}
</prop:TrueTemplate>
<prop:FalseTemplate>
\href{path/to/logout}{Logout}
</prop:FalseTemplate>
</com:TConditional>
Controls.Samples.TConditional.Home Demo
7.9
TDatePicker
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TDatePicker API Reference

TDatePicker displays a text box for date input purpose. When the text box receives
focus, a calendar will pop up and users can pick up from it a date that will be
106
7.9. TDatePicker
automatically entered into the text box. The format of the date string displayed
in the text box is determined by the DateFormat property. Valid formats are the
combination of the following tokens:
Character
Format Pattern (en-US)
--------------------------------------------------------------------d
day digit
dd
padded day digit e.g. 01, 02
month digit
MM
padded month digit
MMM
localized abbreviated month names, e.g. Mar, Apr
MMMM
localized month name, e.g. March, April
yy
2 digit year
yyyy
4 digit year
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The date of the date picker can be set using the Date or Timestamp properties. The Date
property value must be in the same format as the pattern specified in the DateFormat
property. The Timestamp property only accepts integers such as the Unix timestamp.
TDatePicker has three Mode to show the date picker popup.
Basic - Only shows a text input, focusing on the input shows the date picker.
Button - Shows a button next to the text input, clicking on the button shows the
date, button text can be by the ButtonText property.
ImageButton - Shows an image next to the text input, clicking on the image shows
the date picker, image source can be change through the ImageUrl property.
The CssClass property can be used to override the CSS class name for the date picker
panel. The CalendarStyle property changes the overall calendar style. The following
CalendarStyle values are available:
default - The default calendar style.
The InputMode property can be set to TextBox or DropDownList with default as
TextBox. In DropDownList mode, in addition to the popup date picker, three drop
107

down list (day, month and year) are presented to select the date . When InputMode
equals DropDownList, the order and appearance of the date, month, and year will
depend on the pattern specified in DateFormat property.
The popup date picker can be hidden by specifying ShowCalendar as false. Much of
the text of the popup date picker can be changed to a different language using the
Culture property.
The calendar picker year limit can be set using the FromYear and UpToYear properties
where FromYear is the starting year and UpToYear is the last year selectable.
The
starting day of the week can be changed by the FirstDayOfWeek property, with 0 as
Sunday, 1 as Monday, etc.
Note 1: If the InputMode is TextBox, the DateFormat should only NOT contain MMM
or MMMM patterns. The server side date parser will not be able to determine the correct
date if MMM or MMMM are used. When InputMode equals DropDownList, all patterns
can be used.
Note 2: When the TDatePicker is used together with a validator, the DateFormat property of the validator must be equal to the DateFormat of the TDatePicker AND must set
DataType=Date on the validator to ensure correct validation. See TCompareValidator, TDataTypeValidator and TRangeValidator for details.
Controls.Samples.TDatePicker.Home Demo
7.10
TExpression
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TExpression API Reference

TExpression evaluates a PHP expression and displays the evaluation result. To specify the expression to be evaluated, set the Expression property. Note, TExpression
evaluates the expression during the rendering control lifecycle.
The context of the expression in a TExpression control is the control itself. That is,
$this represents the control object if it is present in the expression. For example, the
following template tag will display the title of the page containing the TExpression
control.
108
7.11. TFileUpload
<com:TExpression Expression="$this->Page->Title" />
Be aware, since TExpression allows execution of arbitrary PHP code, in general you
should not use it to evaluate expressions submitted by your application users.
Controls.Samples.TExpression.Home Demo
7.11
TFileUpload
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TFileUpload API Reference

TFileUpload displays a file upload field on a Web page.
Upon postback, the text
entered into the field will be treated as the (local) name of the file that is uploaded
to the server.
TFileUpload raises an OnFileUpload event when it is post back. The property HasFile
indicates whether the file upload is successful or not. If successful, the uploaded file
may be saved on the server by calling saveAs() method.
The following properties give the information about the uploaded file:
FileName - the original client-side file name without directory information.

FileType - the MIME type of the uploaded file.
FileSize - the file size in bytes.
LocalName - the absolute file path of the uploaded file on the server. Note, this
file will be deleted after the current page request is completed. Call saveAs() to
save the uploaded file.
If the file upload is unsuccessful, the property ErrorCode gives the error code describing the cause of failure. See PHP documentation for a complete explanation of the
possible error codes.
Controls.Samples.TFileUpload.Home Demo
109
7.12
TFlushOutput
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TFlushOutput API Reference

TFlushOutput enables forced flushing of the current output buffer at (a) certain point(s)
in the page, after rendering of all previous controls has been completed.
To use TFlushOutput, simply place it where you want in a template; the output buffered
between the start of the page (or a previous TFlushOutput) and the TFlushOutput will
be sent to the client immediately.
<com:TFlushOutput />
You can specify whether you want to keep buffering of the output (if it was enabled)
till the next occourence of a ttcom: TFlushOutput //tt or the end of the page
rendering, or stop buffering, by using the ContinueBuffering property.
7.13
THead
System.Web.UI.WebControls.THead API Reference

THead displays a head element on a page. It displays the content enclosed in its body
and the page title set by the Title property.
In addition, stylesheets and JavaScripts registered via
TClientScriptManager::registerStyleSheet,
TClientScriptManager::registerStyleSheetFile,
TClientScriptManager::registerHeadJavaScript and
TClientScriptManager::registerHeadJavaScriptFile
will also be displayed in the head.
THead also manages and displays meta tags through its MetaTags property. You can
add a meta object to the collection in code dynamically, or add it in template using
the following syntax
110
7.14. THiddenField
<com:THead>
<com:TMetaTag HttpEquiv="Pragma" Content="no-cache" />
<com:TMetaTag Name="keywords" Content="Prado" />
</com:THead>
Note, TPage has a property Head that refers to the THead control currently on the page.
A page can have at most one THead control. Although not required, it is recommended
to place a THead on your page. Without a THead on the page, stylesheets and javascripts
in the current page theme will not be rendered.
7.14
THiddenField
System.Web.UI.WebControls.THiddenField API Reference

THiddenField represents a hidden field on a Web page. The value of the hidden field
can be accessed via its Value property.
THiddenField raises an OnValueChanged event if its value is changed during postback.
7.15
THtmlArea
System.Web.UI.WebControls.THtmlArea API Reference

THtmlArea displays a WYSIWYG text input field on a Web page to collect input in
HTML format. The text displayed in the THtmlArea control is specified or determined
by using the Text property. To adjust the size of the input region, set Width and Height
properties instead of Columns and Rows because the latter has no meaning under this
situation. To disable the WYSIWYG feature, set EnableVisualEdit to false.
THtmlArea provides the WYSIWYG feature by wrapping the functionalities provided
by the TinyMCE project.
The default editor gives only the basic tool bar. To change or add additional tool
bars, use the Options property to add additional editor options with each options on a
new line. See TinyMCE website for a complete list of options. The following example
displays a toolbar specific for HTML table manipulation,
111

<com:THtmlArea>
<prop:Options>
plugins : "table"
theme_advanced_buttons3 : "tablecontrols"
</prop:Options>
</com:THtmlArea>
The client-side visual editing capability is supported by Internet Explorer 5.0+ for
Windows and Gecko-based browser. If the browser does not support the visual editing,
a traditional textarea will be displayed.
<pre>
Controls.Samples.THtmlArea.Home Demo
7.16
THtmlArea4
System.Web.UI.WebControls.THtmlArea4 API Reference

THtmlArea4 is a newer version of the THtmlArea component, based on TinyMCE version
4. Please refer to THtmlArea for basic usage.
THtmlArea4 provides the WYSIWYG feature by wrapping the functionalities provided
by the TinyMCE project version 4.
The default editor tries to mimic THtmlAreas old style and behaviour, disabling the
menubar and permitting the resize of the editor in both directions. To enable the
menubar or change any other aspect of the editor layout, use the Options property to
add additional editor options with each options on a new line. See TinyMCE website
for a complete list of options. The following example displays a menu specific for
HTML table manipulation,
<com:THtmlArea>
<prop:Options>
plugins: "table"
menubar: "file edit table"
</prop:Options>
112
7.17. THyperLink
</com:THtmlArea>
Controls.Samples.THtmlArea4.Home Demo
7.17
THyperLink
System.Web.UI.WebControls.THyperLink API Reference

THyperLink displays a hyperlink on a page. The hyperlink URL is specified via the
NavigateUrl property, and link text is via the Text property. The link target is specified
via the Target property. It is also possible to display an image by setting the ImageUrl
property. In this case, Text is displayed as the alternate text of the image. If both
ImageUrl and Text are empty, the content enclosed within the control tag will be
rendered.
Controls.Samples.THyperLink.Home Demo
7.18
TImage
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TImage API Reference

TImage displays an image on a page. The image is specified via the ImageUrl property
which takes a relative or absolute URL to the image file. The alignment of the image
displayed is set by the ImageAlign property. To set alternate text or long description
of the image, use AlternateText or DescriptionUrl, respectively.
Controls.Samples.TImage.Home Demo
7.19
TImageButton
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TImageButton API Reference

TImageButton is also similar to TButton, except that TImageButton displays the button
as an image. The image is specified via ImageUrl, and the alternate text is specified
113

by Text. In addition, it is possible to obtain the coordinate of the point where the
image is clicked. The coordinate information is contained in the event parameter of
the OnClick event (not OnCommand).
Controls.Samples.TImageButton.Home Demo
7.20
TImageMap
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TImageMap API Reference

TImageMap represents an image on a Web page with predefined hotspot regions that
can respond differently to users clicks on them. Depending on the HotSpotMode of
the hotspot region, clicking on the hotspot may trigger a postback or navigate to a
specified URL.
Each hotspot is described using a THotSpot object and is maintained in the HotSpots
collection in TImageMap. A hotspot can be a circle, rectangle, polygon, etc.
Hotspots can be added to TImageMap via its HotSpots property or in a template like
the following,
<com:TImageMap ... >

<com:TCircleHotSpot ... />
<com:TRectangleHotSpot ... />
<com:TPolygonHotSpot ... />
</com:TImageMap>
Controls.Samples.TImageMap.Home Demo
7.21
TInlineFrame
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TInlineFrame API Reference

TInlineFrame displays an inline frame (iframe) on a Web page. The location of the
frame content is specified by the FrameUrl property.
114
7.22. TJavascriptLogger
The appearance of a TInlineFrame may be customized with the following properties,
in addition to those inherited from TWebControl.
Align - the alignment of the frame.
DescriptionUrl - the URI of a long description of the frames contents.
MarginWidth and MarginHeight - the number of pixels to use as the left/right
margins and top/bottom margins, respectively.
ScrollBars - whether scrollbars are provided for the inline frame. By default, it
is Auto, meaning the scroll bars appear as needed. Setting it as None or Both to
explicitly hide or show the scroll bars.
The following samples show TInlineFrame with different property settings. The Google
homepage is used as the frame content.
Controls.Samples.TInlineFrame.Home Demo
7.22
TJavascriptLogger
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TJavascriptLogger API Reference

TJavascriptLogger provides logging for client-side javascript. It is mainly a wrapper
of the Javascript developed at http://gleepglop.com/javascripts/logger/.
To use TJavascriptLogger, simply place the following component tag in a page template.
<com:TJavascriptLogger />
Then, the client-side Javascript may contain the following statements. When they are
executed, they will appear in the logger window.
Logger.info(something happend);
Logger.warn(A warning);
Logger.error(This is an error);
Logger.debug(debug information);
115

To toggle the visibility of the logger and console on the browser window, press ALT-D
(or CTRL-D on OS X).
7.23
TKeyboard
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TKeyboard API Reference

TKeyboard displays a virtual keyboard that users can click on to enter input in an
associated text box. It helps to reduce the keyboard recording hacking.
To use TKeyboard, write a template like following:
<com:TTextBox ID="PasswordInput" />

<com:TKeyboard ForControl="PasswordInput" />
A TKeyboard control is associated with a TTextBox control by specifying ForControl

to be the ID of that control. When the textbox is in focus, a virtual keyboard will
pop up; and when the text box is losing focus, the keyboard will hide automatically.
Set AutoHide to false to keep the keyboard showing all the time.
The appearance of the keyboard can also be changed by specifying a customized CSS
file via CssUrl. By default, the CSS class name for the keyboard is Keyboard. This
may also be changed by specifying KeyboardCssClass
Controls.Samples.TKeyboard.Home Demo
7.24
TLabel
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TLabel API Reference

TLabel displays a piece of text on a Web page. The text to be displayed is set via
its Text property. If Text is empty, content enclosed within the TLabel component
tag will be displayed. TLabel may also be used as a form label associated with some
control on the form. Since Text is not HTML-encoded when being rendered, make
sure it does not contain dangerous characters that you want to avoid.
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7.25. TLinkButton
Controls.Samples.TLabel.Home Demo
7.25
TLinkButton
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TLinkButton API Reference

TLinkButton is similar to TButton in every aspect except that TLinkButton is displayed
as a hyperlink. The link text is determined by its Text property. If the Text property
is empty, then the body content of the button is displayed (therefore, you can enclose
a img tag within the button body and get an image button.
Controls.Samples.TLinkButton.Home Demo
7.26
TLiteral
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TLiteral API Reference

TLiteral displays a static text on a Web page. TLiteral is similar to the TLabel control,
except that the TLiteral * control has no style properties, such as BackColor, Font,
etc.
The text displayed by TLiteral can be programmatically controlled by setting the
Text property. The text displayed may be HTML-encoded if the Encode is true (the
default value is false).
TLiteral will render the contents enclosed within its component tag if Text is empty.
Be aware, if Encode is false, make sure Text does not contain unwanted characters that
may bring security vulnerabilities.
Controls.Samples.TLiteral.Home Demo
7.27
TMarkdown
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TMarkdown API Reference
117

TMarkdown is a text formatter that produces html content from plain text. The formatter follows the Markdown syntax and the GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown)
extension.
Any content in the body of TMarkdown, including both static text and the rendering
results of its child controls, is first converted using the Markdown syntax. Then, to
any code block found in the html, syntax highlighting is applied. The code being
highlighted follows the syntax of the specified Language, which can be php (default),
prado, css, html, etc. Here, prado stands for the syntax of PRADO control
templates. If the language is not specified in the Language property, it can be evinced
from the Markdown syntax.
If line numbers are desired in front of each line, set ShowLineNumbers to true.
To use TMarkdown, simply enclose the contents to be formatted within the body of a
TMarkdown control. The following example formats some text and piece of PHP code,
<com:TMarkdown ShowLineNumbers="true" >

PRADO Markdown Test
===================
Some text and a list:
* item 1
* item 2
Now, some code:
"php
public function test() {
// comment
echo "look me im colorful";
}
"
</com:TMarkdown>
Controls.Samples.TMarkdown.Home Demo
118
7.28. TMultiView
7.28
TMultiView
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TMultiView API Reference

TMultiView serves as a container for a group of TView controls, which can be retrieved
by the Views property. Each view contains child controls. TMultiView determines
which view and its child controls are visible. At any time, at most one view is visible
(called iactive/i). To make a view active, set ActiveView or ActiveViewIndex. Note,
by default there is no active view.
To add a view to TMultiView, manipulate the Views collection or add it in template as
follows,
<com:TMultiView>
<com:TView>
view 1 content
</com:TView>
<com:TView>
view 2 content
</com:TView>
</com:TMultiView>
TMultiView responds to the following command events to manage the visibility of its
views.
NextView : switch to the next view (with respect to the currently active view).
PreviousView : switch to the previous view (with respect to the currently active
view).
SwitchViewID : switch to a view by its ID path. The ID path is fetched from the
command parameter.
SwitchViewIndex : switch to a view by its zero-based index in the Views collection.
The index is fetched from the command parameter.
Upon postback, if the active view index is changed, TMultiView will raise an OnActiveViewChanged
event.
119

The Hangman game is a typical use of TMultiView. The following example demonstrates another usage of TMultiView.
Controls.Samples.TMultiView.Home Demo
7.29
TOutputCache
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TOutputCache API Reference

TOutputCache enables caching a portion of a Web page, also known as partial caching.
The content being cached are HTML page source coming from static texts on a
PRADO template or rendered by one or several controls on the template. When the
cached content is used, controls generating the content are no longer created for the
page hierarchy and thus significant savings in page processing time can be achieved.
The side-effect, as you might already find out, is that the content displayed may be
stale if the cached version is shown to the users.
To use TOutputCache, simply enclose the content to be cached within the TOutputCache
component tag on a template (either page or non-page control template), e.g.,
<com:TOutputCache>
content to be cached
</com:TOutputCache>
where content to be cached can be static text and/or template tags. If the latter, the
rendering results of the template tags will be cached. You can place one or several
TOutputCache on a single template and they can be nested.
Note: TOutputCache stores cached content via PRADO cache modules (e.g.
TSqliteCache) and thus requires at least one cache module loaded when the
application runs.
The validity of the cached content is determined based on two factors: the Duration
and the cache dependency. The former specifies the number of seconds that the data
can remain valid in cache (defaults to 60s), while the latter specifies conditions that
the cached data depends on. If a dependency changes (e.g. relevant data in DB are
updated), the cached data will be invalidated and discarded.
120
7.30. TPager
There are two ways to specify cache dependency. One may write event handlers
to respond to the OnCheckDependency event and set the event parameters IsValid
property to indicate whether the cached data remains valid or not. One can also
extend TOutputCache and override its getCacheDependency() method.
The content fetched from cache may be variated with respect to some parameters.
TOutputCache supports variation with respect to request parameters, which is specified
by VaryByParam property.
If a specified request parameter is different, a different
version of cached content is used. This is extremely useful if a pages content may be
variated according to some GET parameters. The content being cached may also be
variated with user sessions if VaryBySession is set true. To variate the cached content
by other factors, override calculateCacheKey() method.
Output caches can be nested. An outer cache takes precedence over an inner cache
in determining the validity of cached contents. This means, if the content cached by
the inner cache expires or is invalidated, while that by the outer cache not, the outer
cached content will be used.
By default, TOutputCache is effective only for non-postback page requests and when a
cache module is enabled. Do not attempt to address child controls of TOutputCache
when the cached content is currently being used.
Use ContentCached property to
determine whether the content is cached or not.
7.30
TPager
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TPager API Reference

TPager creates a pager that provides UI for end-users to interactively specify which
page of data to be rendered in a TDataBoundControl-derived control, such as TDataList,
TRepeater, TCheckBoxList, etc.
The target data-bound control is specified by the
ControlToPaginate property, which must be the ID path of the target control reaching
from the pagers naming container.
Note, the target data-bound control must have its AllowPaging set to true. Otherwise
the pager will be invisible. Also, in case when there is only one page of data available,
the pager will also be invisible.
TPager can display one of the following three types of user interface, specified via its
121

Mode property:
NextPrev - a next page and a previous page button are rendered on each page.
Numeric - a list of page index buttons are rendered.
DropDownList - a dropdown list of page indices is rendered.
These user interfaces may be further customized by configuring the following properties
NextPageText and PrevPageText - the label of the next/previous page button.
These properties are used when the pager Mode is NextPrev or Numeric.
FirstPageText and LastPageText - the label of the first/last page button. If empty,
the corresponding button will not be displayed. These properties are used when
the pager Mode is NextPrev or Numeric.
PageButtonCount - the maximum number of page index buttons on a page. This
property is used when the pager Mode is Numeric.
ButtonType - type of page buttons, either PushButton meaning normal form submission buttons, or LinkButton meaning hyperlink buttons.
Since Prado 3.2.1, you can use the ButtonCssClass property to specify a css class that
will be applied to each button created by the pager in NextPrev or Numeric mode.
TPager raises an OnPageIndexChanged event when an end-user interacts with it and
specifies a new page (e.g. by clicking on a next page button that would lead to the
next page.) Developers may write handlers to respond to this event and obtain the
desired new page index from the event parameters property NewPageIndex. Using this
new page index, one can feed a new page of data to the associated data-bound control.
Controls.Samples.TPager.Sample1 Demo
7.31
TPanel
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TPanel API Reference
122
7.32. TPlaceHolder
TPanel acts as a presentational container for other control. It displays a div element
on a page. The property Wrap specifies whether the panels body content should wrap
or not, while HorizontalAlign governs how the content is aligned horizontally and
Direction indicates the content direction (left to right or right to left). You can set
BackImageUrl to give a background image to the panel, and you can set GroupingText
so that the panel is displayed as a field set with a legend text. Finally, you can specify
a default button to be fired when users press return key within the panel by setting
the DefaultButton property.
Controls.Samples.TPanel.Home Demo
7.32
TPlaceHolder
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TPlaceHolder API Reference

TPlaceHolder reserves a place on a template, where static texts or controls may be
dynamically inserted.
Controls.Samples.TPlaceHolder.Home Demo
7.33
TRadioButton
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRadioButton API Reference

TRadioButton is similar to TCheckBox in every aspect, except that TRadioButton displays
a radio button on a Web page. The radio button can belong to a specific group
specified by GroupName such that only one radio button within that group can be
selected at most.
Controls.Samples.TRadioButton.Home Demo
7.34
TSafeHtml
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TSafeHtml API Reference
123

TSafeHtml is a control that strips down all potentially dangerous HTML content. It
is mainly a wrapper of the SafeHTML project. According to the SafeHTML project,
it tries to safeguard the following situations when the string is to be displayed to
end-users:
Opening tag without its closing tag

closing tag without its opening tag
any of these tags: base, basefont, head, html, body, applet, object, iframe, frame,
frameset, script, layer, ilayer, embed, bgsound, link, meta, style, title, blink, xml,
etc.
any of these attributes: on*, data*, dynsrc
javascript:/vbscript:/about: etc. protocols
expression/behavior etc. in styles
any other active content.
To use TSafeHtml, simply enclose the content to be secured within the TSafeHtml component tag in a template. The content may consist of both static text and PRADO
controls. If the latter, the rendering result of the controls will be secured.
If the content is encoded in UTF-7, youll need to enable the RepackUTF7 property to
ensure the contents gets parsed correctly.
Controls.Samples.TSafeHtml.Home Demo
7.35
TSlider
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TSlider API Reference

TSlider displays a slider for numeric input purpose. A slider consists of a emtrack/em
which define the range of possible value, and a emhandle/em which can slide on the
track, to select a value in the range. The track can be either Horizontal or Vertical,
depending of the Direction property. By default, its horizontal.
124
7.36. TStatements
The range boundaries are defined by MinValue and MaxValue properties. The default
range is from 0 to 100. The StepSize property can be used to define the emstep/em
between 2 values inside the range. Notice that this step will be recomputed if there is
more than 200 values between the range boundaries. You can also provide the allowed
values by setting the Values array.
The handle sub-properties can be accessed by Handle property. You can also provide
your own control for the handle, using HandleClass property. Note that this class
must be a subclass of TSliderHandle
The TSlider control can be easily customized using CssClasses. You can provide your
own css file, using the CssUrl property. The css class for TSlider can be set by the
CssClass property. Defaults values are hslider for an Horizontal slider, or vslider
for a Vertical one. The css class for the Handle can be set by the Handle.CssClass
subproperty. Defaults is handle, which just draw a red block as a cursor. handleimage css class is also provided for your convenience, which display an image as the
handle.
If AutoPostBack property is true, postback is performed as soon as the value changed.
TSlider raises the onValueChanged event when the value of the slider has changed
during postback.
You can also attach ClientSide javascript events handler to the slider :
ClientSide.onSlide is called when the handle is slided on the track. You can
get the current value in the value javascript variable. You can use this event to
update on client side a label with the current value
ClientSide.onChange is called when the slider value has changed (at the end of a
move).
Controls.Samples.TSlider.Home Demo
7.36
TStatements
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TStatements API Reference
125

TStatements evaluates a sequence of PHP statements and displays the content rendered
by the statements. To specify the PHP statements to be evaluated, set the Statements
property. For example, the following component tag displays the current time on the
Web page,
<com:TStatements>
<prop:Statements>
setlocale(LC_ALL, nl_NL);
echo strftime("%A %e %B %Y",time());
</prop:Statements>
</com:TStatements>
Note, TStatements evaluates the PHP statements during the rendering control lifecycle. Unlike TExpression, TStatements only displays the content echoed within the
statements.
The context of the statements in a TStatements control is the control itself. That is,
$this represents the control object if it is present in the statements. For example, the
following statement tag will display the title of the page containing the TStatements
control.
<com:TStatements>
<prop:Statements>
$page=$this->Page;
echo $page->Title;
</prop:Statements>
</com:TStatements>
Be aware, since TStatements allows execution of arbitrary PHP code, in general you
should not use it to evaluate PHP code submitted by your application users.
Controls.Samples.TStatements.Home Demo
7.37
TTable
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TTable API Reference
126
7.38. TTabPanel
TTable displays an HTML table on a page. It is used together with TTableRow and
TTableCell to allow programmatically manipulating HTML tables. The rows of the
table is stored in Rows property. You may set the table cellspacing and cellpadding
via the CellSpacing and CellPadding properties, respectively. The table caption can
be specified via Caption whose alignment is specified by CaptionAlign. The GridLines
property indicates how the table should display its borders, and the BackImageUrl
allows the table to have a background image.
Controls.Samples.TTable.Home Demo
7.38
TTabPanel
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TTabPanel API Reference

TTabPanel displays a tabbed panel. Users can click on the tab bar to switching among
different tab views. Each tab view is an independent panel that can contain arbitrary
content.
A TTabPanel control consists of one or several TTabView controls representing the possible tab views. At any time, only one tab view is visible (active), which is specified
by any of the following properties:
ActiveViewIndex - the zero-based integer index of the view in the view collection.
ActiveViewID - the text ID of the visible view.
ActiveView - the visible view instance.
If both ActiveViewIndex and ActiveViewID are set, the latter takes precedence.
TTabPanel uses CSS to specify the appearance of the tab bar and panel. By default,
an embedded CSS file will be published which contains the default CSS for TTabPanel.
You may also use your own CSS file by specifying the CssUrl property. The following
properties specify the CSS classes used for elements in a TTabPanel:
CssClass - the CSS class name for the outer-most div element (defaults to tabpanel);
127

TabCssClass - the CSS class name for nonactive tab div elements (defaults to
tab-normal);
ActiveTabCssClass - the CSS class name for the active tab div element (defaults
to tab-active);
ViewCssClass - the CSS class for the div element enclosing view content (defaults
to tab-view);
To use TTabPanel, write a template like following:
<com:TTabPanel>
<com:TTabView Caption="View 1">
content for view 1
</com:TTabView>
content for view 2
</com:TTabView>
content for view 3
</com:TTabView>
</com:TTabPanel>
Controls.Samples.TTabPanel.Home Demo
7.39
TTextBox
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TTextBox API Reference

TTextBox displays a text box on a Web page. The content in the text box is determined
by the Text property. You can create a SingleLine, a MultiLine, or a Password text
box by setting the TextMode property. The Rows and Columns properties specify their
dimensions. If AutoPostBack is true, changing the content in the text box and then
moving the focus out of it will cause postback action.
Controls.Samples.TTextBox.Home Demo
128
7.40. TTextHighlighter
7.40
TTextHighlighter
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TTextHighlighter API Reference

TTextHighlighter does syntax highlighting for its body content, including both static
text and the rendering results of its child controls. The text being highlighted follows
the syntax of the specified Language, which can be php (default), prado, css, html,
etc. Here, prado stands for the syntax of PRADO control templates.
If line numbers are desired in front of each line, set ShowLineNumbers to true.
To use TTextHighlighter, simply enclose the contents to be syntax highlighted within
the body of a TTextHighlighter control. The following example highlights a piece of
PHP code,
<com:TTextHighlighter ShowLineNumbers="true">
<?php
$str = one|two|three|four;
print_r(explode(|, $str, 2)); // will output an array
</com:TTextHighlighter>
Controls.Samples.TTextHighlighter.Home Demo
7.41
TWizard
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TWizard API Reference
7.41.1
Overview
TWizard is analogous to the installation wizard commonly used to install software on

Windows. It splits a large form and presents the user with a series of smaller forms,
called wizard steps, to complete. The following figure shows how a wizard is composed
of when presented to users, where step content is the main content of a wizard step
for users to complete, header refers to header content common to all steps, navigation
contains buttons that allow users to navigate step by step, and side bar contains a
129

list of hyperlinks by which users can reach to any step with one click. The visibility
of the side bar can be toggled by setting ShowSideBar.
By default, TWizard embeds the above components in an HTML table so that the side
bar is displayed on the left while the rest on the right. If UseDefaultLayout is set to
false, no HTML table will be used, and developers should use pure CSS techniques
to position the wizard components. Note, each component is displayed as a div and
the wizard itself is also a div that encloses its components div.
Wizard steps are represented by TWizardStep and are maintained in TWizard through
its WizardSteps property. At any time, only one step is visible, which is determined by
the ActiveStep property. The ActiveStepIndex property gives the index of the active
step in the step collection. Clicking on navigation buttons can activate different wizard
steps.
Wizard steps are typically added to a wizard through template as follows,
<com:TWizard>
<com:TWizardStep Title="step 1" StepType="Start">
content in step 1, may contain other controls
</com:TWizardStep>
<com:TWizardStep Title="step 2" StepType="Step">
content in step 2, may contain other controls
</com:TWizardStep>
<com:TWizardStep Title="finish step" StepType="Finish">
content in finish step, may contain other controls
</com:TWizardStep>
</com:TWizard>
In the above, StepType refers to the type of a wizard step, which can affect how the
navigation appearance and behavior of the step. A wizard step can be of one of the
130
7.41. TWizard
following types:
Start - the first step in the wizard.
Step - the internal steps in the wizard.
Finish - the last step that allows user interaction.
Complete - the step that shows a summary to user. In this step, both side bar
and navigation panel are invisible. Thus, this step usually does not allow user
interaction.
Auto - the step type is determined by wizard automatically.
7.41.2
Using TWizard
A Single-Step Wizard Sample

In this sample, we use wizard to collect users preference of color. In the first step,
the user is presented with a dropdown list from which he can choose his favorite color.
In the second step, the complete step, his choice in the previous step is displayed. In
real application, at this step the choice may be stored in database in the backend.
Controls.Samples.TWizard.Sample1 Demo
Customizing Wizard Styles

TWizard defines a whole set of properties for customization of appearance of its various
components as shown in the above figure. In particular, the following properties are
provided for style customization:
Header - HeaderStyle.
Step - StepStyle.
Navigation - NavigationStyle, StartNextButtonStyle, StepNextButtonStyle, StepPreviousButtonStyle,
FinishPreviousButtonStyle, FinishCompleteButtonStyle, CancelButtonStyle.
Side bar - SideBarStyle, SideBarButtonStyle.
131

Customizing Wizard Navigation

Given a set of wizard steps, TWizard supports three different ways of navigation among
them:
Bidirectional - Users can navigate forward and backward along a sequence of
wizard steps. User input data is usually collected at the last step. This is also
known as commit-at-the-end model. It is the default navigation way that TWizard
supports.
Unidirectional - Users can navigate forward along a sequence of wizard steps.
Backward move is not allowed. User input data is usually collected step by step.
This is also known as command-as-you-go model. To disallow backward move to
a specific step, set its AllowReturn property to false.
Nonlinear - User input in a step determines which step to go next. To do so, set
ActiveStepIndex to the step that you want the user to go to. In this case, when a
user clicks on the previous button in the navigation panel, the previous step that
they visited (not the previous step in the sequential order) will become visible.
Using Templates in Wizard

TWizard supports more concrete control of its outlook through templates. In particular, it provides the following template properties that allow complete customization
of the wizards header, navigation and side bar.
Header - HeaderTemplate.
Navigation - StartNavigationTemplate, StepNavigationTemplate, FinishNavigationTemplate.
Side bar - SideBarTemplate.
132
7.41. TWizard
Using Templated Wizard Steps
Wizard steps can also be templated. By using TTemplatedWizardStep, one can customize step content and navigation through its ContentTemplate and NavigationTemplate
properties, respectively. This is useful for control developers to build specialized wizards, such as user registration, shopping carts, etc.
133
134
Chapter 8
Control Reference : List Controls

8.1
List Controls
List controls covered in this section all inherit directly or indirectly from TListControl.
Therefore, they share the same set of commonly used properties, including,
Items - list of items in the control. The items are of type TListItem. The item
list can be populated via databinding or specified in templates like the following:
<com:TListBox>
<com:TListItem Text="text 1" Value="value 1" />
<com:TListItem Text="text 2" Value="value 2" Selected="true" />
<com:TListItem Text="text 3" Value="value 3" />
</com:TListBox>
SelectedIndex - the zero-based index of the first selected item in the item list.
SelectedIndices - the indices of all selected items.
SelectedItem - the first selected item in the item list.
SelectedValue - the value of the first selected item in the item list.
AutoPostBack - whether changing the selection of the control should trigger postback.
135
Chapter 8. Control Reference : List Controls

CausesValidation - whether validation should be performed when postback is
triggered by the list control.
Since TListControl inherits from TDataBoundControl, these list controls also share a
common operation known as databinding. The Items can be populated from preexisting data specified by DataSource or DataSourceID. A function call to dataBind() will
cause the data population. For list controls, data can be specified in the following two
kinds of format:
one-dimensional array or objects implementing ITraversable : array keys will be
used as list item values, and array values will be used as list item texts. For
example
$listbox->DataSource=array(
key 1=>item 1,
key 2=>item 2,
key 3=>item 3);
$listbox->dataBind();
tabular (two-dimensional) data : each row of data populates a single list item.
The list item value is specified by the data member indexed with DataValueField,
and the list item text by DataTextField. For example,
$listbox->DataTextField=name;
$listbox->DataValueField=id;
$listbox->DataSource=array(
array(id=>001,name=>John,age=>31),
array(id=>002,name=>Mary,age=>30),
array(id=>003,name=>Cary,age=>20));
$listbox->dataBind();
8.1.1
TListBox
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TListBox API Reference

TListBox displays a list box that allows single or multiple selection. Set the property
SelectionMode as Single to make a single selection list box, and Multiple a multiple
selection list box. The number of rows displayed in the box is specified via the Rows
property value.
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8.1. List Controls

Controls.Samples.TListBox.Home Demo
8.1.2
TDropDownList
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TDropDownList API Reference

TDropDownList displays a dropdown list box that allows users to select a single option
from a few prespecified ones.
Since v3.1.1, TDropDownList starts to support prompt text (something like Please
select: as the first list item). To use this feature, set either PromptText or PromptValue,
or both. If the user chooses the prompt item, the dropdown list will be unselected.
Controls.Samples.TDropDownList.Home Demo
8.1.3
TCheckBoxList
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TCheckBoxList API Reference

TCheckBoxList displays a list of checkboxes on a Web page. The alignment of the text
besides each checkbox can be specified TextAlign. The layout of the checkboxes can
be controlled by the following properties:
RepeatLayout - can be either Table or Flow. A Table uses HTML table cells to
organize the checkboxes, while a Flow uses HTML span tags and breaks for the
organization. With Table layout, you can set CellPadding and CellSpacing.
RepeatColumns - how many columns the checkboxes should be displayed in.
RepeatDirection - how to traverse the checkboxes, in a horizontal way or a vertical
way (because the checkboxes are displayed in a matrix-like layout).
Controls.Samples.TCheckBoxList.Home Demo
8.1.4
TRadioButtonList
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRadioButtonList API Reference
137
Chapter 8. Control Reference : List Controls

TRadioButtonList is similar to TCheckBoxList in every aspect except that each TRadioButtonList
displays a group of radiobuttons.
Only one of the radiobuttions can be selected
(TCheckBoxList allows multiple selections.)

Controls.Samples.TRadioButtonList.Home Demo
8.1.5
TBulletedList
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TBulletedList API Reference

TBulletedList displays items in a bullet format on a Web page. The style of the
bullets can be specified by BulletStyle. When the style is CustomImage, the bullets are
displayed as images, which is specified by BulletImageUrl.
TBulletedList displays the item texts in three different modes,
Text - the item texts are displayed as static texts;
HyperLink - each item is displayed as a hyperlink whose URL is given by the item
value, and Target property can be used to specify the target browser window;
LinkButton - each item is displayed as a link button which posts back to the
page if a user clicks on that, and the event OnClick will be raised under such a
circumstance.
Controls.Samples.TBulletedList.Home Demo
8.1.6
TRatingList
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRatingList API Reference

This is an EXPERIMENTAL class that displays clickable images that represent a
TRadioButtonList.
138
Chapter 9
Control Reference : Validation

Controls
9.1
Validation Controls
Validation controls, called validators, perform validation on user-entered data values

when they are post back to the server. The validation is triggered by a postback
control, such as a TButton, a TLinkButton or a TTextBox (under AutoPostBack mode)
whose CausesValidation property is true.
Validation is always performed on server side. If EnableClientScript is true and the
client browser supports JavaScript, validators may also perform client-side validation.
Client-side validation will validate user input before it is sent to the server. The form
data will not be submitted if any error is detected. This avoids the round-trip of
information necessary for server-side validation.
Validators share a common set of properties, which are defined in the base class
TBaseValidator class and listed as follows,
ControlToValidate specifies the input control to be validated. This property must

be set to the ID path of an input control. An ID path is the dot-connected IDs of
the controls reaching from the validators naming container to the target control.
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Chapter 9. Control Reference : Validation Controls

ErrorMessage specifies the error message to be displayed in case the corresponding
validator fails.
Text is similar to ErrorMessage. If they are both present, Text takes precedence.
This property is useful when used together with TValidationSummary.
ValidationGroup specifies which group the validator is in.
The validator will
perform validation only if the current postback is triggered by a control which

is in the same group.
EnableClientScript specifies whether client-side validation should be performed.
By default, it is enabled.
Display specifies how error messages are displayed. It takes one of the following
three values:
None - the error message will not be displayed even if the validator fails.
Static - the space for displaying the error message is reserved. Therefore,
showing up the error message will not change your existing page layout.
Dynamic - the space for displaying the error message is NOT reserved. Therefore, showing up the error message will shift the layout of your page around
(usually down).
ControlCssClass - the CSS class that is applied to the control being validated in
case the validation fails.
FocusOnError - set focus at the validating place if the validation fails. Defaults to
false.
FocusElementID - the ID of the HTML element that will receive focus if validation
fails and FocusOnError is true.
9.2
9.2.1
Prado Validation Controls

TRequiredFieldValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRequiredFieldValidator API Reference
140
9.2. Prado Validation Controls

TRequiredFieldValidator ensures that the user enters some data in the specified input
field. By default, TRequiredFieldValidator will check if the user input is empty or
not. The validation fails if the input is empty. By setting InitialValue, the validator
can check if the user input is different from InitialValue. If not, the validation fails.
Controls.Samples.TRequiredFieldValidator.Home Demo
9.2.2
TRegularExpressionValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRegularExpressionValidator API Reference

TRegularExpressionValidator verifies the user input against a regular pattern. The
validation fails if the input does not match the pattern. The regular expression can be
specified by the RegularExpression property. Some commonly used regular expressions
include:
At least 6 characters: [\w]{6,}

Japanese Phone Number: (0\d{1,4}-|$0\d{1,4}$ ?)?\d{1,4}-\d{4}
Japanese Postal Code: \d{3}(-(\d{4}|\d{2}))?
P.R.C. Phone Number: ($\d{3}$|\d{3}-)?\d{8}
P.R.C. Postal Code: \d{6}
P.R.C. Social Security Number: \d{18}|\d{15}
U.S. Phone Number: (($\d{3}$ ?)|(\d{3}-))?\d{3}-\d{4}
U.S. ZIP Code: \d{5}(-\d{4})?
U.S. Social Security Number: \d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}
More regular expression patterns can be found on the Internet, e.g. http://regexlib.com/.
Note, TRegularExpressionValidator only checks for nonempty user input. Use a TRequiredFieldValidator to ensure the user input is not empty.
Controls.Samples.TRegularExpressionValidator.Home Demo
141
9.2.3
TEmailAddressValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TEmailAddressValidator API Reference

TEmailAddressValidator verifies that the user input is a valid email address. The validator uses a regular expression to check if the input is in a valid email address format.
If CheckMXRecord is true, the validator will also check whether the MX record indicated
by the email address is valid, provided checkdnsrr() is available in the installed PHP.
Note, if the input being validated is empty, TEmailAddressValidator will not do
validation. Use a TRequiredFieldValidator to ensure the value is not empty.
Controls.Samples.TEmailAddressValidator.Home Demo
9.2.4
TCompareValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TCompareValidator API Reference

TCompareValidator compares the user input with a constant value specified by ValueToCompare,
or another user input specified by ControlToCompare. The Operator property specifies
how to compare the values, which includes Equal, NotEqual, GreaterThan, GreaterThanEqual,
LessThan and LessThanEqual. Before comparison, the values being compared will be
converted to the type specified by DataType listed as follows,
String - A string data type.
Integer - A 32-bit signed integer data type.
Float - A double-precision floating point number data type.
Date - A date data type. The date format can be specified by setting DateFormat
property, which must be recognizable by TSimpleDateFormatter. If the property
is not set, the GNU date syntax is assumed.
Note, if the input being validated is empty, TEmailAddressValidator will not do
validation. Use a TRequiredFieldValidator to ensure the value is not empty.
N.B. If validating against a TDatePicker the DataType must be equal to Date and
the DateFormat property of the validator must be equal to the DateFormat of the
TDatePicker.
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9.2. Prado Validation Controls

Controls.Samples.TCompareValidator.Home Demo
9.2.5
TDataTypeValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TDataTypeValidator API Reference

TDataTypeValidator verifies if the input data is of specific type indicated by DataType.
The data types that can be checked against are the same as those in TCompareValidator.
TDatePicker.
Controls.Samples.TDataTypeValidator.Home Demo
9.2.6
TRangeValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRangeValidator API Reference

TRangeValidator verifies whether an input value is within a specified range. TRangeValidator uses three key properties to perform its validation. The MinValue and MaxValue
properties specify the minimum and maximum values of the valid range. The DataType
property specifies the data type of the value being validated. The value will be first
converted into the specified type and then compare with the valid range. The data
types that can be checked against are the same as those in TCompareValidator.
If StrictComparison property is set to true, then the ranges are compared as strictly
less than the MaxValue and/or strictly greater than the MinValue.
TDatePicker.
Controls.Samples.TRangeValidator.Home Demo
143
9.2.7
TCustomValidator
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TCustomValidator API Reference

TCustomValidator performs user-defined validation (either server-side or client-side
or both) on an input control.
To create a server-side validation function, provide a handler for the OnServerValidate
event that performs the validation. The data string of the input control to validate
can be accessed by the event parameters Value property. The result of the validation
should be stored in the IsValid property of the parameter.
To create a client-side validation function, add the client-side validation javascript
function to the page template and assign its name to the ClientValidationFunction
property. The function should have the following signature:
<script type="text/javascript">
function ValidationFunctionName(sender, parameter)
{
// if(parameter == ...)
//
return true;
// else
//
return false;
}
</script>
Controls.Samples.TCustomValidator.Home Demo
9.2.8
TValidationSummary
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TValidationSummary API Reference

TValidationSummary displays a summary of validation errors inline on a Web page,
in a message box, or both.
By default, a validation summary will collect ErrorMessage of all failed validators on
the page. If ValidationGroup is not empty, only those validators who belong to the
group will show their error messages in the summary.
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9.3. Interacting the Validators

The summary can be displayed as a list, a bulleted list, or a single paragraph based
on the DisplayMode property. The messages shown can be prefixed with HeaderText.
The summary can be displayed on the Web page or in a JavaScript message box, by
setting the ShowSummary and ShowMessageBox properties, respectively. Note, the latter
is only effective when EnableClientScript is true.
Controls.Samples.TValidationSummary.Home Demo
9.3
9.3.1
Interacting the Validators

Resetting or Clearing of Validators
Validators can be reset on the client-side using javascript by calling the Prado.Validation.reset(groupID)
where groupID is the validator grouping name. If groupID is null, then validators without grouping are used.
function reset_validator()
{
Prado.Validation.reset("group1");
}
</script>
Controls.Samples.ResetValidation.Home Demo
9.3.2
Client and Server Side Conditional Validation
All validators contains the following events. The corresponding events for the client
side is available as sub-properties of the ClientSide property of the validator.
The OnValidate event is raise before the validator validation functions are called.
The OnValidationSuccess event is raised after the validator has successfully validate the control.
The OnValidationError event is raised after the validator fails validation.
145
Note: For Prado versions earlier than 3.1 the property names were OnError
and OnSuccess. For Prado version 3.1 or later they are OnValidationError and
OnValidationSuccess, respectively.
The following example pop-up a message saying hello when the validator fails on
the client-side.
<com:TRequiredFieldValidator ... >
<prop:ClientSide.OnValidationError>
alert("hello");
</prop:ClientSide.OnValidationError>
</com:TRequiredFieldValidator>
The resulting client-side event callback function is of the following form.

function onErrorHandler(sender, parameter)
{
alert("hello");
}
Where sender is the current client-side validator and parameter is the control that
invoked the validator.
Conditional Validation Example

The following example show the use of client-side and server side validator events. The
example demonstrates conditional validation. Notice that, we need to write code for
both the server side and client-side. Moreover, on the server side, we need to re-enable
the conditional validator so that its javascript code are produced no matter what (otherwise, the client-side validator is not available). Controls.Samples.TClientSideValidator.Home
Demo
146
Chapter 10
Control Reference : Data Controls

10.1
Data Controls
Data controls are used to display a repeated content like a list or a table. The content
is generated from a collection of items containing the data, called the DataSource, and
a template describing the appearance, called Renderer. br/ The process of assigning
a DataSource to a Data control and render the template for each item is called data
binding.
TDataList is used to display or modify a list of data items.
TDataGrid displays data in a tabular format with rows and columns.
TRepeater displays its content defined in templates repeatedly based on the
given data.
10.2
TDataList
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TDataList API Reference

TDataList represents a data bound and updatable list control. Like TRepeater, TDataList displays its content repeatedly based on the data fetched from DataSource. The
147
Chapter 10. Control Reference : Data Controls

repeated contents in TDataList are called items, which are controls and can be accessed through Items. When dataBind() is invoked, TDataList creates an item for
each row of data and binds the data row to the item. Optionally, a TDataList can
have a header, a footer and/or separators between items.
TDataList differs from TRepeater in that it introduces the concept of item state and
allows applying different styles to items in different states. In addition, TDataList
supports tiling the repeated items in various ways.
The layout of the repeated contents in TDataList are specified by inline templates.
TDataList items, header, footer, etc. are being instantiated with the corresponding
templates when data is being bound to the repeater.
Since v3.1.0, the layout can also be by renderers. A renderer is a control class that
can be instantiated as datalist items, header, etc. A renderer can thus be viewed
as an external template (in fact, it can also be non-templated controls). For more
details, see the explanation about renderer in the TRepeater tutorial.
The following properties are used to specify different types of template and renderer
for a datalist. If a content type is defined with both a template and a renderer, the
latter takes precedence.
ItemTemplate, ItemRenderer: for each repeated row of data

AlternatingItemTemplate, AlternatingItemRenderer: for each alternating row of
data. If not set, ItemTemplate or ItemRenderer will be used instead.
HeaderTemplate, HeaderRenderer: for the datalist header.
FooterTemplate, FooterRenderer: for the datalist footer.
SeparatorTemplate, SeparatorRenderer: for content to be displayed between items.
EmptyTemplate, EmptyRenderer: used when data bound to the datalist is empty.
EditItemTemplate, EditItemRenderer: for the row being editted.
SelectedItemTemplate, SelectedItemRenderer: for the row being selected.
When dataBind() is called, TDataList undergoes the following lifecycles for each row
of data:
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10.2. TDataList
1. create item based on templates or renderers
2. set the row of data to the item
3. raise an OnItemCreated event
4. add the item as a child control
5. call dataBind() of the item
6. raise an OnItemDataBound event
TDataList raises an OnItemCommand whenever a button control within some datalist
item raises an OnCommand event.
Therefore, you can handle all sorts of OnCommand
event in a central place by writing an event handler for OnItemCommand. An additional

event is raised if the OnCommand event has one of the following command names (caseinsensitive):
edit - user wants to edit an item. OnEditCommand event will be raised.
update - user wants to save the change to an item. OnUpdateCommand event will be
raised.
select - user selects an item. OnSelectedIndexChanged event will be raised.
delete - user deletes an item. OnDeleteCommand event will be raised.
cancel - user cancels previously editting action. OnCancelCommand event will be
raised.
TDataList provides a few properties to support tiling the items.
The number of
columns used to display the data items is specified via RepeatColumns property, while
the RepeatDirection governs the order of the items being rendered. The layout of the
data items in the list is specified via RepeatLayout, which takes one of the following
values:
Table (default) - items are organized using HTML table and cells. When using
this layout, one can set CellPadding and CellSpacing to adjust the cellpadding
and cellspacing of the table, and Caption and CaptionAlign to add a table caption
with the specified alignment.
149

Flow - items are organized using HTML spans and breaks.
Raw - TDataList does not generate any HTML tags to do the tiling.
Items in TDataList can be in one of the three states: being browsed, being editted
and being selected. To change the state of a particular item, set SelectedItemIndex or
EditItemIndex. The former will change the indicated item to selected mode, which will
cause the item to use SelectedItemTemplate or SelectedItemRenderer for presentation.
The latter will change the indicated item to edit mode and to use corresponding
template or renderer. Note, if an item is in edit mode, then selecting this item will
have no effect.
Different styles may be applied to items in different status. The style application is
performed in a hierarchical way: Style in higher hierarchy will inherit from styles in
lower hierarchy. Starting from the lowest hierarchy, the item styles include:
items own style
ItemStyle
AlternatingItemStyle
SelectedItemStyle
EditItemStyle
Therefore, if background color is set as red in ItemStyle, EditItemStyle will also have
red background color unless it is set to a different value explicitly.
When a page containing a datalist is post back, the datalist will restore automatically
all its contents, including items, header, footer and separators. However, the data
row associated with each item will not be recovered and become null. To access the
data, use one of the following ways:
Use DataKeys to obtain the data key associated with the specified repeater item
and use the key to fetch the corresponding data from some persistent storage
such as DB.
Save the whole dataset in viewstate, which will restore the dataset automatically
upon postback. Be aware though, if the size of your dataset is big, your page
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10.3. TDataGrid
size will become big. Some complex data may also have serializing problem if
saved in viewstate.
The following example shows how to use TDataList to display tabular data, with
different layout and styles.
Controls.Samples.TDataList.Sample1 Demo
A common use of TDataList is for maintaining tabular data, including browsing,
editing, deleting data items. This is enabled by the command events and various item
templates of TDataList.
The following example displays a computer product information. Users can add new
products, modify or delete existing ones. In order to locate the data item for updating
or deleting, DataKeys property is used.
Be aware, for simplicity, this application does not do any input validation. In real
applications, make sure user inputs are valid before saving them into databases.
Controls.Samples.TDataList.Sample2 Demo
10.3
TDataGrid
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TDataGrid API Reference

TDatagrid is an important control in building complex Web applications. It displays
data in a tabular format with rows (also called items) and columns. A row is composed by cells, while columns govern how cells should be displayed according to their
association with the columns. Data specified via DataSource or DataSourceID are bound
to the rows and feed contents to cells.
TDataGrid is highly interactive. Users can sort the data along specified columns,
navigate through different pages of the data, and perform actions, such as editing and
deleting, on rows of the data.
Rows of TDataGrid can be accessed via its Items property. A row (item) can be in one
of several modes: browsing, editing and selecting, which affects how cells in the row
are displayed. To change an items mode, modify EditItemIndex or SelectedItemIndex.
151

Note, if an item is in edit mode, then selecting this item will have no effect.
10.3.1
Columns
Columns of a data grid determine how the associated cells are displayed. For example,
cells associated with a TBoundColumn are displayed differently according to their modes.
A cell is displayed as a static text if the cell is in browsing mode, a text box if it is in
editing mode, and so on.
PRADO provides eight types of columns:
TBoundColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays the cells
according to their modes.
TLiteralColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays the cells
with static texts.
TCheckBoxColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays in each
cell a checkbox whose check state is determined by the data field value.
TDropDownListColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays the
cells according to their modes. If in edit mode, a cell will be displayed with a
TDropDownList.
THyperLinkColumn displays in the cells a hyperlink whose caption and URL can
be either statically specified or bound to some fields of data.
TEditCommandColumn displays in the cells edit/update/cancel command buttons
according to the state of the item that a cell resides in.
TButtonColumn displays in the cells a command button.
TTemplateColumn displays the cells according to different templates defined for it.
10.3.2
Item Styles
TDataGrid defines different styles applied to its items. For example, AlternatingItemStyle
is applied to alternating items (item 2, 4, 6, etc.) Through these properties, one can
set CSS style fields or CSS classes for the items.
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10.3. TDataGrid
Item styles are applied in a hierarchical way. Styles in higher hierarchy will inherit
from styles in lower hierarchy. Starting from the lowest hierarchy, the item styles
include items own style, ItemStyle, AlternatingItemStyle, SelectedItemStyle, and
EditItemStyle. Therefore, if background color is set as red in ItemStyle, EditItemStyle
will also have red background color, unless it is explicitly set to a different value.
10.3.3
Events
TDataGrid provides several events to facilitate manipulation of its items,

OnItemCreated - raised each time an item is newly created. When the event is
raised, data and child controls are both available for the new item.
OnItemDataBound - raised each time an item just completes databinding. When
the event is raised, data and child controls are both available for the item, and
the item has finished databindings of itself and all its child controls.
OnItemCommand - raised when a child control of some item (such as a TButton) raises
an OnCommand event.
command events - raised when a child controls OnCommand event has a specific
command name,
OnSelectedIndexChanged - if the command name is select.
OnEditCommand - if the command name is edit.
OnDeleteCommand - if the command name is delete.
OnUpdateCommand - if the command name is update.
OnCancelCommand - if the command name is cancel.
OnSortCommand - if the command name is sort.
OnPageIndexChanged - if the command name is page.
10.3.4
Using TDataGrid
Automatically Generated Columns

TDataGrid by default will create a list of columns based on the structure of the bound
data. TDataGrid will read the first row of the data, extract the field names of the
153

row, and construct a column for each field. Each column is of type TBoundColumn.
The following example displays a list of computer product information using a TDataGrid. Columns are automatically generated. Pay attention to how item styles are
specified and inherited. The data are populated into the datagrid using the following
code, which is common among most datagrid applications,
public function onLoad($param) {
parent::onLoad($param);
if(!$this->IsPostBack) {
$this->DataGrid->DataSource=$this->Data;
$this->DataGrid->dataBind();
}
}
Controls.Samples.TDataGrid.Sample1 Demo
Manually Specified Columns

Using automatically generated columns gives a quick way of browsing tabular data. In
real applications, however, automatically generated columns are often not sufficient
because developers have no way customizing their appearance. Manually specified
columns are thus more desirable.
To manually specify columns, set AutoGenerateColumns to false, and specify the columns
in a template like the following,
<com:TDataGrid ...>
<com:TBoundColumn DataField="name" .../>
<com:TBoundColumn DataField="price" .../>
<com:TEditCommandColumn ...>
...
</com:TDataGrid>
Note, if AutoGenerateColumns is true and there are manually specified columns, the
automatically generated columns will be appended to the manually specified columns.
Also note, the datagrids Columns property contains only manually specified columns
and no automatically generated ones.
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10.3. TDataGrid
The following example uses manually specified columns to show a list of book information,
Book title - displayed as a hyperlink pointing to the corresponding amazon.com
book page. THyperLinkColumn is used.
Publisher - displayed as a piece of text using TBoundColumn.
Price - displayed as a piece of text using TBoundColumn with output formatting
string and customized styles.
In-stock or not - displayed as a checkbox using TCheckBoxColumn.
Rating - displayed as an image using TTemplateColumn which allows maximum
freedom in specifying cell contents.
Pay attention to how item (row) styles and column styles cooperate together to affect
the appearance of the cells in the datagrid. Controls.Samples.TDataGrid.Sample2
Demo
10.3.5
Interacting with TDataGrid
Besides the rich data presentation functionalities as demonstrated in previous section,

TDataGrid is also highly user interactive. An import usage of TDataGrid is editing
or deleting rows of data. The TBoundColumn can adjust the associated cell presentation
according to the mode of datagrid items. When an item is in browsing mode, the cell is
displayed with a static text; when the item is in editing mode, a textbox is displayed to
collect user inputs. TDataGrid provides TEditCommandColumn for switching item modes.
In addition, TButtonColumn offers developers the flexibility of creating arbitrary buttons
for various user interactions.
The following example shows how to make the previous book information table an
interactive one. It allows users to edit and delete book items from the table. Two
additional columns are used in the example to allow users interact with the datagrid:
TEditCommandColumn and TButtonColumn. In addition, TDropDownListColumn replaces the
previous TTemplateColumn to allow users to select a rating from a dropdown list. Note,
it is also possible to use TTemplateColumn to achieve the same task.
155
10.3.6
Sorting
TDataGrid supports sorting its items according to specific columns. To enable sorting,
set AllowSorting to true. This will turn column headers into clickable buttons if their
SortExpression property is not empty. When users click on the header buttons, an
OnSortCommand event will be raised. Developers can write handlers to respond to the
sort command and sort the data according to SortExpression which is specified in the
corresponding column.
The following example turns the datagrid in Example 2 into a sortable one. Users
can click on the link button displayed in the header of any column, and the data will
be sorted in ascending order along that column.
10.3.7
Paging
When dealing with large datasets, paging is helpful in reducing the page size and complexity. TDataGrid has an embedded pager that allows users to specify which page
of data they want to see. The pager can be customized via PagerStyle. For example,
PagerStyle.Visible determines whether the pager is visible or not; PagerStyle.Position
indicates where the pager is displayed; and PagerStyle.Mode specifies what type of
pager is displayed, a numeric one or a next-prev one.
To enable paging, set AllowPaging to true. The number of rows of data displayed in a
page is specified by PageSize, while the index (zero-based) of the page currently showing to users is by CurrentPageIndex. When users click on a pager button, TDataGrid
raises OnPageIndexChanged event. Typically, the event handler is written as follows,
public function pageIndexChanged($sender,$param) {

$this->DataGrid->CurrentPageIndex=$param->NewPageIndex;
$this->DataGrid->DataSource=$this->Data;
$this->DataGrid->dataBind();
}
The following example enables the paging functionality of the datagrid shown in Example 1. In this example, you can set various pager styles interactively to see how
156
10.3. TDataGrid
they affect the pager display.
Custom Paging
The paging functionality shown above requires loading all data into memory, even
though only a portion of them is displayed in a page. For large datasets, this is
inefficient and may not always be feasible. TDataGrid provides custom paging to solve
this problem. Custom paging only requires the portion of the data to be displayed to
end users.
To enable custom paging, set both AllowPaging and AllowCustomPaging to true. Notify
TDataGrid the total number of data items (rows) available by setting VirtualItemCount.
And respond to the OnPageIndexChanged event. In the event handler, use the NewPageIndex
property of the event parameter to fetch the new page of data from data source. For
MySQL database, this can be done by using LIMIT clause in an SQL select statement.
10.3.8
Extending TDataGrid
Besides traditional class inheritance, extensibility of TDataGrid is mainly through

developing new datagrid column components. For example, one may want to display
an image column. He may use TTemplateColumn to accomplish this task. A better
solution is to develop an image column component so that the work can be reused
easily in other projects.
All datagrid column components must inherit from TDataGridColumn. The main method
that needs to be overridden is initializeCell() which creates content for cells in the
corresponding column. Since each cell is also in an item (row) and the item can
have different types (such as Header, AltneratingItem, etc.), different content may be
created according to the item type. For the image column example, one may want
to create a TImage control within cells residing in items of Item and AlterantingItem
types.
class ImageColumn extends TDataGridColumn {
157

...
public function initializeCell($cell,$columnIndex,$itemType) {
parent::initializeCell($cell,$columnIndex,$itemType);
if($itemType===Item || $itemType===AlternatingItem) {
$image=new TImage;
// ... customization of the image
$cell->Controls[]=$image;
}
}
}
In initializeCell(), remember to call the parent implementation, as it initializes cells

in items of Header and Footer types.
10.4
TRepeater
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TRepeater API Reference

TRepeater displays its content repeatedly based on the data fetched from DataSource.
The repeated contents in TRepeater are called iitems/i which are controls accessible through Items property. When dataBind() is invoked, TRepeater creates an item
for each row of data and binds the data row to the item. Optionally, a repeater can
have a header, a footer and/or separators between items.
The layout of the repeated contents are specified by inline templates. In particular,
repeater items, header, footer, etc. are being instantiated with the corresponding
templates when data is being bound to the repeater.
Since v3.1.0, the layout can also be specified by irenderers/i. A renderer is a
control class that can be instantiated as repeater items, header, etc. A renderer can
thus be viewed as an external template (in fact, it can also be non-templated controls).
A renderer can be any control class. By using item renderers, one can avoid writing
long and messy templates. Since a renderer is a class, it also helps reusing templates
that previously might be embedded within other templates. If implemented with one
of the following interfaces, a renderer will be initialized with additional properties
relevant to the repeater items:
158
10.4. TRepeater
IDataRenderer - the Data property will be set as the row of the data bound to the
repeater item. Many PRADO controls implement this interface, such as TLabel,
TTextBox, etc.
IItemDataRenderer - the ItemIndex property will be set as the zero-based index of the item in the repeater item collection, and the ItemType property
as the items type (such as TListItemType::Item). As a convenient base class,
TRepeaterItemRenderer implements IDataItemRenderer and can have an associated
template because it extends from TTemplateControl.
The following properties are used to specify different types of template and renderer
for a repeater. If an item type is defined with both a template and a renderer, the
latter takes precedence.
ItemTemplate, ItemRenderer - for each repeated row of data.
AlternatingItemTemplate, AlternatingItemRenderer: for each alternating row of
data. If not set, ItemTemplate or ItemRenderer will be used instead, respectively.
HeaderTemplate, HeaderRenderer - for the repeater header.
FooterTemplate, FooterRenderer - for the repeater footer.
SeparatorTemplate, SeparatorRenderer - for content to be displayed between items.
EmptyTemplate, EmptyRenderer - used when data bound to the repeater is empty.
To populate data into the repeater items, set DataSource to a valid data object, such
as array, TList, TMap, or a database table, and then call dataBind() for the repeater.
That is,
class MyPage extends TPage {
public function onLoad($param) {
if(!$this->IsPostBack) {
$this->Repeater->DataSource=$data;
$this->Repeater->dataBind();
}
}
}
159

When dataBind() is called, TRepeater undergoes the following lifecycles for each row
of data:
1. create item based on templates or renderers

2. set the row of data to the item
3. raise an OnItemCreated event
4. add the item as a child control
5. call dataBind() of the item
6. raise an OnItemDataBound event
Normally, you only need to bind the data to repeater when the page containing
the repeater is initially requested. When the page is post back, the repeater will
restore automatically all its contents, including items, header, footer and separators.
However, the data row associated with each item will not be recovered and thus
become null.
To access the repeater item data in postbacks, use one of the following ways:
Use DataKeys to obtain the data key associated with the specified repeater item
and use the key to fetch the corresponding data from some persistent storage
such as DB.
Save the whole dataset in viewstate, which will restore the dataset automatically
upon postback. Be aware though, if the size of your dataset is big, your page
size will become big. Some complex data may also have serializing problem if
saved in viewstate.
TRepeater raises an OnItemCommand event whenever a button control within some repeater item raises a OnCommand event. Therefore, you can handle all sorts of OnCommand
event in a central place by writing an event handler for OnItemCommand.
The following example shows how to use TRepeater to display tabular data.
Controls.Samples.TRepeater.Sample1 Demo
160
10.4. TRepeater
TRepeater can be used in more complex situations. As an example, we show in the
following how to use nested repeaters, i.e., repeater in repeater. This is commonly
seen in presenting master-detail data. To use a repeater within another repeater,
for an item for the outer repeater is created, we need to set the detail data source
for the inner repeater. This can be achieved by responding to the OnItemDataBound
event of the outer repeater. An OnItemDataBound event is raised each time an outer
repeater item completes databinding. In the following example, we exploit another
event of repeater called OnItemCreated, which is raised each time a repeater item (and
its content) is newly created. We respond to this event by setting different background
colors for repeater items to achieve alternating item background display. This saves
us from writing an AlternatingItemTemplate for the repeaters.
Besides displaying data, TRepeater can also be used to collect data from users. Validation controls can be placed in TRepeater templates to verify that user inputs are
valid.
The PRADO component composer demo is a good example of such usage. It uses
a repeater to collect the component property and event definitions. Users can also
delete or adjust the order of the properties and events, which is implemented by
responding to the OnItemCommand event of repeater.
See in the following yet another example showing how to use repeater to collect user
inputs.
This sample shows how to use drop-in item renderers, available since v3.1.0. These
renderers come in the PRADO release. They are essentially controls implementing
the IDataRenderer interface.
Common Web controls, such as TTextBox, TLabel, all
implement this interface. When such controls are used item renderers, their Data
property is assigned with the row of the data being bound to the repeater item.
More often, one needs to customize the layout of repeater items. The sample above
relies on OnItemCreated to adjust the appearance of the renderer. Templated item
renderers are perferred in this situation, as they allow us to put in more complex
layout and content in a repeater item. The following sample reimplements the nested
161

repeater sample using a templated item renderer called RegionDisplay. As we can see,
the new code is much easier to understand and maintain.
162
Chapter 11
Control Reference : Active

Controls (AJAX)
11.1
TActiveButton
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveButton API Reference

TActiveButton is the active control counter part to TButton. When a TActiveButton
is clicked, rather than a normal post back request a callback request is initiated. The
OnCallback event is raised during a callback request and it is raise after the OnClick
event.
When the ActiveControl.EnableUpdate property is true, changing the Text property
during a callback request will update the buttons caption on the client-side.
Since the OnCallback event is raised only during a callback request, the OnCallback
event handler can be used to handle logic specifically related to callback requests.
The OnClick event handler is raised when ever the button is clicked, even if javascript
is disabled.
The following example the use of both the OnClick and OnCallback events of an
TActiveButton.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveButton.Home Demo
163
Chapter 11. Control Reference : Active Controls (AJAX)
11.2
TActiveCheckBox
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveCheckBox API Reference

TActiveCheckBox is the active control counter part to TCheckbox. The AutoPostBack
property of TActiveCheckBox is set to true by default. Thus, when the checkbox is
clicked the OnCallback event is raise after the OnCheckedChanged event.
The Text and Checked properties of TActiveCheckBox can be changed during a callback
request. The TextAlign property of TActiveCheckBox can not be changed during a
callback request.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveCheckBox.Home Demo
11.3
TActiveCheckBoxList
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveCheckBoxList API Reference

TActiveCheckBoxList is the active counterpart to the original TCheckBoxList control.
The AutoPostBack property is set to true by default. Thus, when a checkbox is clicked
a OnCallback event is raised after OnSelectedIndexChanged event.
With ActiveControl.EnableUpdate set to true (default is true), changes to the selection
will be updated on the client side.
List items can not be changed dynamically during a callback request.
Please refer to the original documentation of TCheckBoxList for usage.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveCheckBoxList.Home Demo
11.4
TActiveCustomValidator
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveCustomValidator API Reference

Performs custom validation using only server-side OnServerValidate validation event.
164
11.5. TActiveDataList
The client-side uses callbacks to raise onServerValidate event. The ClientValidationFunction
property is disabled and will throw an exception if trying to set this property.
Beware that the onServerValidate may be raised when the control to validate on the
client side changes value, that is, the server validation may be called many times.
After the callback or postback, the @link onServerValidate onServerValidate is raised
once more. The IsCallback property of the TPage class will be true when validation is
made during a callback request.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveCustomValidator.Home Demo
11.5
TActiveDataList
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveDataList API Reference

TActiveDataList represents a data bound and updatable list control which is the active
counterpart to the original TDataList control.
This component can be used in the same way as the regular datalist, the only difference
is that the active datalist uses callbacks instead of postbacks for interaction.
Please refer to the original documentation of TDataList for usage.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveDataList.Home Demo
11.6
TActiveDataGrid
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveDataGrid API Reference

TActiveDataGrid represents a data bound and updatable grid control which is the
active counterpart to the original TDataGrid control.
This component can be used in the same way as the regular datagrid, the only difference is that the active datagrid uses callbacks instead of postbacks for interaction.
PRADO provides eight new types of active columns that can be used inside TActiveDataGrid;
they are the active counterpart of TDataGrids columns:
165

TActiveBoundColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays the
cells according to their modes.
TActiveLiteralColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays the
cells with static texts.
TActiveCheckBoxColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays in
each cell a checkbox whose check state is determined by the data field value.
TActiveDropDownListColumn associates cells with a specific field of data and displays
the cells according to their modes. If in edit mode, a cell will be displayed with
a TDropDownList.
TActiveHyperLinkColumn displays in the cells a hyperlink whose caption and URL
can be either statically specified or bound to some fields of data.
TActiveEditCommandColumn displays in the cells edit/update/cancel command buttons according to the state of the item that a cell resides in.
TActiveButtonColumn displays in the cells a command button.
TActiveTemplateColumn displays the cells according to different templates defined
for it.
Please refer to the original documentation of TDataGrid for basic usage.
11.6.1
Columns
Automatically Generated Columns

TDataGrid by default will create a list of columns based on the structure of the bound
data. TDataGrid will read the first row of the data, extract the field names of the row,
and construct a column for each field. Each column is of type TActiveBoundColumn. All
of this happens in an ajax callback.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveDataGrid.Sample1 Demo
166
11.6. TActiveDataGrid
Manually Specified Columns
The following example uses manually specified columns to show a list of book information,
Book title - displayed as a hyperlink pointing to the corresponding amazon.com
book page. TActiveHyperLinkColumn is used.
Publisher - displayed as a piece of text using TvBoundColumn.
Price - displayed as a piece of text using TActiveBoundColumn with output formatting string and customized styles.
In-stock or not - displayed as a checkbox using TActiveCheckBoxColumn.
Rating - displayed as an image using TActiveTemplateColumn which allows maximum freedom in specifying cell contents.
Each column can be shown or hidden in a callback.
11.6.2
Interacting with TActiveDataGrid
The following example shows how to make the previous book information table an
interactive one. It allows users to edit and delete book items from the table. Two
additional columns are used in the example to allow users interact with the datagrid:
TActiveEditCommandColumn and TActiveButtonColumn. In addition, TActiveDropDownListColumn
replaces the previous TActiveTemplateColumn to allow users to select a rating from a
dropdown list. Note, it is also possible to use TActiveTemplateColumn to achieve the
same task. All the iteration is done using AJAX callbacks.
11.6.3
Sorting
The following example turns the datagrid in Example 2 into a sortable one. Users can
click on the link button displayed in the header of any column, and the data will be
167

sorted in ascending order along that column. The grid is sorted and rendered upon a
callback request.
11.6.4
Paging
The following example enables the paging functionality of the datagrid shown in Example 1. In this example, you move between the datagrid pages clicking on the pager
links. The grid reacts to paging rendering itself as the result of a callback request.
Note that you cant change the pager style upon callback.
11.7
TActiveDatePicker
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveDatePicker API Reference

TActiveDatePicker is the active control counter part to TDatePicker control. When the
date selection is changed, the OnCallback event is raised.
Please refer to the documentation of TDatePicker for further usage informations.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveDatePicker.Home Demo
11.8
TActiveDropDownList
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveDropDownList API Reference

TActiveDropDownList is the active counterpart to the original TDropDownList control.
The AutoPostBack property is set to true by default. Thus, when the drop down list
selection is changed the OnCallback event is raised after OnSelectedIndexChanged event.
With ActiveControl.EnableUpdate set to true (default is true), changes to the selection,
after OnLoad event has been raised, will be updated on the client side.
168
11.9. TActiveFileUpload
List items can be changed dynamically during a callback request.
Please refer to the original documentation of TDropDownList for usage.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveDropDownList.Home Demo
11.9
TActiveFileUpload
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveFileUpload API Reference

TActiveFileUpload displays a file upload field on a page. Upon postback, the text
entered into the field will be treated as the name of the file that will be uploaded to
the server. The property HasFile indicates whether the file upload is successful. If
successful, the file may be obtained by callingsaveAs to save it at a specified place.
You can use FileName, FileType, FileSize to get the original client-side file name, the
file mime type, and the file size information. If the upload is not successful, ErrorCode
contains the error code describing the cause of failure.
TActiveFileUpload raises OnFileUpload event if a file is uploaded (whether it succeeds
or not).
TActiveFileUpload actually does a postback in a hidden IFrame, and then does a
callback.
This callback then raises the OnFileUpload event.
After the postback a
status icon is displayed; either a green checkmark if the upload is successful, or a red
x if there was an error.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveFileUpload.Home Demo
11.10
TActiveHiddenField
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveHiddenField API Reference

TActiveHiddenField is the active control counterpart of THiddenField component. It
displays a hidden input field on a Web page. The value of the input field can be
accessed and changed on callback via the Value property.
169
11.11
TActiveHyperLink
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveHyperLink API Reference

The active control counterpart of THyperLink component. During a callback request,
changes to the Text, ImageUrl, NavigateUrl and Target properties on the server side
will also change the corresponding attributes and content on the client-side.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveHyperLink.Home Demo
11.12
TActiveImage
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveImage API Reference

TActiveImage is the active control counter part to TImage. TActiveImage displays an
image on a page. The image is specified via the ImageUrl property which takes a
relative or absolute URL to the image file. The alignment of the image displayed is
set by the ImageAlign property. To set alternate text or long description of the image,
use AlternateText or DescriptionUrl, respectively.
TActiveImage allows the AlternateText, ImageAlign, ImageUrl and DescriptionUrl to
be updated during a callback request.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveImage.Home Demo
11.13
TActiveImageButton
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveImageButton API Reference

TActiveImageButton is the active counterpart of TImageButton. When a TActiveImageButton
is clicked, rather than a normal post back request a callback request is initiated.
TheOnCallback event is raised during a callback request and it is raised after the
OnClick event.
TActiveImageButton is similar to TActiveButton, except that TActiveImageButton displays
the button as an image. The image is specified via ImageUrl, and the alternate text
170
11.14. TActiveLabel
is specified by Text. In addition, it is possible to obtain the coordinate of the point
where the image is clicked. The coordinate information is contained in the event
parameter of the OnClick event (not OnCallback).
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveImageButton.Home Demo
11.14
TActiveLabel
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveLabel API Reference

TActiveLabel is the active control counterpart of TLabel component. When ActiveControl.EnableUpdate
property is true during a callback request, setting Text property will also set the text
of the label on the client upon callback completion. Similarly, setting ForControl will
also set the client-side for attribute on the label.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveLabel.Home Demo
11.15
TActiveLinkButton
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveLinkButton API Reference

TActiveLinkButton is the active control counter part to TLinkButton. When a TActiveLinkButton
is clicked, rather than a normal post back request a callback request is initiated. The
OnCallback event is raised during a callback request and it is raise after the OnClick
event.
When the ActiveControl.EnableUpdate property is true, changing the Text
property during callback request will update the link text upon callback response
completion.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveLinkButton.Home Demo
11.16
TActiveListBox
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveListBox API Reference

TActiveListBox is the active counterpart to the original TListBox control.
171

The AutoPostBack property is set to true by default. Thus, when a list item is clicked
a OnCallback event is raised after OnSelectedIndexChanged event.
Please refer to the original documentation of TListBox for usage.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveListBox.Home Demo
11.17
TActiveMultiView
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveMultiView API Reference

TActiveMultiView is the active counterpart to the original TMultiView control. TActiveMultiView
serves as a container for a group of TView controls, which can be retrieved by the Views
property. Each view contains child controls. TActiveMultiView determines which view
and its child controls are visible. At any time, at most one view is visible (called
iactive/i). To make a view active, set ActiveView or ActiveViewIndex. Note, by
default there is no active view. TActiveMultiView is able to render itself on Callback
when ActiveView or ActiveViewIndex properties are changed.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveMultiView.Home Demo
11.18
TActivePager
System.Web.UI.WebControls.TPager API Reference

TActivePager creates a pager that provides UI for end-users to interactively specify
which page of data to be rendered in a TDataBoundControl-derived control, such as
TDataList, TRepeater, TCheckBoxList, etc. The target data-bound control is specified
by the ControlToPaginate property, which must be the ID path of the target control
reaching from the pagers naming container. The target-databound must be enclosed
inside a TActivePanel in order to be re-rendered during callback
Note, the target data-bound control must have its AllowPaging set to true. Otherwise
the pager will be invisible. Also, in case when there is only one page of data available,
172
11.19. TActivePanel
the pager will also be invisible.
TActivePager can display one of the following three types of user interface, specified
via its Mode property:
NextPrev - a next page and a previous page button are rendered on each page.
Numeric - a list of page index buttons are rendered.
DropDownList - a dropdown list of page indices is rendered.
These user interfaces may be further customized by configuring the following properties
NextPageText and PrevPageText - the label of the next/previous page button.
These properties are used when the pager Mode is NextPrev or Numeric.
FirstPageText and LastPageText - the label of the first/last page button. If empty,
the corresponding button will not be displayed. These properties are used when
the pager Mode is NextPrev or Numeric.
PageButtonCount - the maximum number of page index buttons on a page. This
property is used when the pager Mode is Numeric.
ButtonType - type of page buttons, either PushButton meaning normal form submission buttons, or LinkButton meaning hyperlink buttons.
TActivePager raises an OnPageIndexChanged event when an end-user interacts with it
and specifies a new page (e.g. by clicking on a next page button that would lead to
the next page.) Developers may write handlers to respond to this event and obtain
the desired new page index from the event parameters property NewPageIndex. Using
this new page index, one can feed a new page of data to the associated data-bound
control. Additionnaly, TActivePager raises OnCallback after the OnPageIndexChanged.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActivePager.Home Demo
11.19
TActivePanel
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActivePanel API Reference
173

TActivePanel is the TPanel active control counterpart. TActivePanel allows the clientside panel contents to be updated during a callback response using the render method.
Example: Assume $param is an instance of TCallbackEventParameter attached to the
OnCallback event of a TCallback with ID callback1, and panel1 is the ID of a
TActivePanel.
function callback1_requested($sender, $param)
{
$this->panel1->render($param->getNewWriter());
}
ActiveControls.Samples.TActivePanel.Home Demo
11.20
TRadioButton
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveRadioButton API Reference

TActiveRadioButton is the active control counter part to TRadioButton. The AutoPostBack
property is set to true by default. Thus, when the radio button is clicked a OnCallback
event is raise after OnCheckedChanged event.
The Text and Checked properties can be changed during a callback. The GroupName
property may NOT be changed during callback because the client-side name attribute
is read-only and can not be changed using javascript.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveRadioButton.Home Demo
11.21
TActiveRadioButtonList
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveRadioButtonList API Reference

TActiveRadioButtonList is the active counterpart to the original TRadioButtonList control.
The AutoPostBack property is set to true by default. Thus, when a radio button is
clicked a OnCallback event is raised after OnSelectedIndexChanged event.
174
11.22. TActiveRepeater
List items can not be changed dynamically during a callback request.
Please refer to the original documentation of TRadioButtonList for usage.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveRadioButtonList.Home Demo
11.22
TActiveRepeater
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveRepeater API Reference

TActiveRepeater represents a data bound and updatable repeater control which is the
active counterpart to the original TRepeater control.
This component can be used in the same way as the regular repeater, the only difference is that the active repeater uses callbacks instead of postbacks for interaction.
Please refer to the original documentation of TRepeater for usage.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveRepeater.Home Demo
11.23
TActiveTextBox
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveTextBox API Reference

TActiveTextBox is the active control counterpart of TTextBox component. TActiveTextBox
allows the Text property of the textbox to be changed during callback. When AutoPostBack
property is true, changes to the textbox contents will perform a callback request causing OnTextChanged to be fired first followed by OnCallback event.
ActiveControls.Samples.TActiveTextBox.Home Demo
175
11.24
TAutoComplete
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TAutoComplete API Reference

TAutoComplete is an extended ActiveTextBox that provides a list of suggestions on
the current partial word typed in the textbox. The suggestions are requested using
callbacks. The Frequency and MinChars properties sets the delay and minimum number
of characters typed, respectively, before requesting for sugggestions. An embedded
TRepeater is used to Display the list of suggestions. It can be accessed and styled
through the Suggestions property and its sub-properties.
On each request for suggestions, the OnSuggestion event will be raised. The event
handler receives the entered token that can be used to build the list of suggestions
and to dataBind() it to the Suggestions repeater.
When a suggestion is selected the OnSuggestionSelected event is raised, with the index
of the selected suggestion contained in the parameter. Multiple selections can be
performed in the same textbox. The selections must be separated by any characters
specified with the Separator property.
ActiveControls.Samples.TAutoComplete.Home Demo
11.25
TCallback
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallback API Reference

TCallback provides a basic callback handler that can be invoked from the client side by
using the javascript ojbect obtained from the ActiveControl.Javascript property. You
can set the CallbackParameter property from javascript directly on the object returned
by ActiveControl.Javascript. Once you are ready, you can call the ttdispatch()tt
method on the object to execute the callback. The server-side event OnCallback is
raised when a callback is requested made.
Example usage:
<com:TCallback ID="callback1" OnCallback="callback1_Requested" />
function do_callback1()
176
11.26. TCallbackClientScript
{
var request = <%= $this->callback1->ActiveControl->Javascript %>;
request.dispatch();
}
</script>
<div onclick="do_callback1()">Click Me!</div>
ActiveControls.Samples.TCallback.Home Demo
11.26
TCallbackClientScript
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallbackClientScript API Reference

The TCallbackClientScript class provides corresponding methods that can be executed on the client-side (i.e. the browser client that is viewing the page) during a
callback response. For a complete list of available client side methods, consult the
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallbackClientScript API Reference
The available methods includes setting/clicking input elements, changing Css styles,
hiding/showing elements, and adding visual effects to elements on the page. The
client-side methods can be access through the CallbackClient property available in
TPage.
For example, to hide $myTextBox element during callback response, do:
$this->getPage()->getCallbackClient()->hide($myTextBox);
ActiveControls.Samples.TCallbackClientScript.Home Demo
11.27
TCallbackClientSide
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallbackClientSide API Reference

TCallbackClientSide is used to specify client-side callback request options and clientside event handlers. Each active control that inherits from TActiveBaseCallbackControl
177

has a ClientSide property. The ClientSide property is an instance TCallbackClientSide
containing the actual options and event handlers that are used by the client-side when
that control is making a callback request. The following example demonstrates the
toggling of a loading indicator when the client-side is making a callback request.
<com:TClientScript PradoScripts="effects" />

<span id="callback_status">Loading...</span>
<com:TActiveButton
Text="Click Me"
OnCallback="button_callback"
ActiveControl.CallbackParameter="value" >
<prop:ClientSide
OnLoading="Element.show(callback_status)"
OnComplete="Element.hide(callback_status)" />
Events
The following client side events are executing in order if the callback request and
response are send and received successfuly.
onPreDispatch: executed before a request is dispatched;

onUninitialized: executed when callback request is uninitialized;
onLoading* : executed when callback request is initiated;
onLoaded* : executed when callback request begins;
onInteractive: executed when callback request is in progress;
onComplete: executed when callback response returns;
onSuccess executed when callback request returns and is successful;
onFailure executed when callback request fails (only for communication errors);
onException raised when callback request fails due to request/response errors.
178
11.28. TCallbackEventParameter
* Note that theses 2 events are not fired correctly by Opera. To make them work in
this browser, Prado will fire them just after onPreDispatch.
In a general way, onUninitialized, onLoading, onLoaded and onInteractive events are
not implemented consistently in all browsers. When cross browser compatibility is
needed, it is best to avoid use them.
br/The OnSuccess and OnFailure events
are raised when the response is returned. A successful request/response will raise
OnSuccess event otherwise OnFailure will be raised.
Properties
The following properties can be used to change the way the callback request is performed.
PostState: true to collect the form inputs and post them during callback (default:
true);
RequestTimeOut The request timeout in milliseconds (default: 30000, i.e. 30 seconds);
HasPriority true to ensure that the callback request will be sent immediately
and will abort existing prioritized requests. It does not affect callbacks that are
not prioritized (default: true);
EnablePageStateUpdate enable the callback response to enable the viewstate update. This will automatically set HasPriority to true when enabled. (default:
true).
ActiveControls.Samples.TCallbackClientSide.Home Demo
11.28
TCallbackEventParameter
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallbackEventParameter API Reference

TCallbackEventParameter provides the parameter passed during the callback request in
the CallbackParameter property. The callback response content (e.g. new HTML con-
179

tent) must be rendered using an THtmlWriter obtained from the NewWriter property,
which returns a NEW instance of TCallbackResponseWriter.
Each instance TCallbackResponseWriter is associated with a unique boundary delimited. By default each panel only renders its own content. To replace the content of
ONE panel with that of rendered from multiple panels use the same writer instance
for the panels to be rendered.
The response data (i.e., passing results back to the client-side callback handler function) can be set using ResponseData property.
11.29
TCallbackOptions
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallbackOptions API Reference

TCallbackOptions allows a common set of callback client-side options to be attached to
one or more active controls. This can be useful if a lot of active controls on the same
page are sharing the same callback client-side options. Instead of specifying the same
set of options again and again inside each control, these can be written once inside
a TCallbackOptions; this TCallbackOptions can be then attached to each control using
the ActiveControl.CallbackOptions property. For a full list of assignable properties,
please check the TCallbackClientSide documentation.
The typical scenario of use for a TCallbackOptions is a page where a lot of active
controls needs to pause the user interaction with a Please wait style message until
callback completion. First create a single TCallbackOptions control, assign it an ID
and the the needed properties:
<com:TCallbackOptions
ID="MyOptions"
ClientSide.OnLoading="... kindly inform the user that he should wait ..."
ClientSide.OnComplete="... callback completed, ready to serve the user again ..."
/>
Then, share this set of options to one or more active controls; each control will follow
them:
180
11.30. TDropContainer
<com:TActiveButton
Text="simple button"
OnCallback="..."
ActiveControl.CallbackOptions="MyOptions"
...
/>
<com:TActiveCheckBox
Text="simple checkbox"
OnCallback="..."
ActiveControl.CallbackOptions="MyOptions"
...
/>
ActiveControls.Samples.TCallbackOptions.Home Demo
11.30
TDropContainer
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TDropContainer API Reference

TDropContainer represent an area where TDraggable controls can be dropped. When a
TDraggable is dropped, a callback request is initiated. The OnCallback event is raised
during a callback request and it is raised after the OnDrop event.
11.31
TDraggable
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TDraggable API Reference

TDraggable will make its child controls draggable. When a TDraggable is dropped, a
callback request is initiated. The OnCallback event is raised during a callback request
and it is raised after the OnDrop event.
ActiveControls.Samples.DragDrop.Home Demo
181
11.32
TEventTriggeredCallback
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TEventTriggeredCallback API Reference

TEventTriggeredCallback triggers a new callback request when a particular EventName
on a control with ID given by ControlID is raised. The default action of the event on
the client-side can be prevented when PreventDefaultAction is set to true.
ActiveControls.Samples.TEventTriggeredCallback.Home Demo
11.33
TInPlaceTextBox
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TInPlaceTextBox API Reference

TInPlaceTextBox is a component rendered as a label and allows its contents to be edited
by changing the label to a textbox when the label is clicked or when another control
or html element with ID given by EditTriggerControlID is clicked.
If the OnLoadingText event is handled, a callback request is made when the label is
clicked, while the request is being made the textbox is disabled from editing. The
OnLoadingText event allows you to update the content of the textbox before the client
is allowed to edit the content. After the callback request returns successfully, the
textbox is enabled and the contents is then allowed to be edited.
Once the textbox loses focus, if AutoPostBack is true and the textbox content has
changed, a callback request is made and the OnTextChanged event is raised like that of
the TActiveTextBox. During the request, the textbox is disabled.
After the callback request returns sucessfully, the textbox is enabled. If the AutoHideTextBox
property is true, then the textbox will be hidden and the label is then shown.
Since 3.1.2, you can set the ReadOnly property to make the control not editable. This
property can be also changed on callback
ActiveControls.Samples.TInPlaceTextBox.Home Demo
182
11.34. TTimeTriggeredCallback
11.34
TTimeTriggeredCallback
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TTimeTriggeredCallback API Reference

TTimeTriggeredCallback sends callback request every Interval seconds. Upon each
callback request, the OnCallback event is raised. The timer can be started by calling
startTimer() and stopped using stopTimer(). The timer can be automatically started
when StartTimerOnLoad is true.
ActiveControls.Samples.TTimeTriggeredCallback.Home Demo
11.35
TValueTriggeredCallback
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TValueTriggeredCallback API Reference

TValueTriggeredCallback observes the value with PropertyName of a control with ControlID.
Changes to the observed property value will trigger a new callback request. The property value is checked for changes every Interval seconds. A DecayRate can be set to
increase the polling interval linearly if no changes are observed. Once a change is
observed, the polling interval is reset to the original value.
ActiveControls.Samples.TValueTriggeredCallback.Home Demo
183
184
Chapter 12
Active Control Overview

12.1
Active Controls (AJAX enabled Controls)
Active controls extends standard PRADO controls adding the ability to automatically update themselves on callbacks without the need of ad-hoc javascript calls. See
the Introduction for a quick overview of the concept behind active controls (AJAX
enabled controls). Most active controls have a property of ActiveControl and a subproperty ClientSide that provides many properties to customize the controls. The
CallbackClient property of the TPage class provides many methods to update and alter the client-side content during a callback request. Active controls is reliant on a
collection of javascript classes.
For a quick demo of active controls, try the TActiveButton control. See also the later
part of the Currency Converter tutorial for a more in depth example.
12.1.1
Standard Active Controls
TActiveButton represents a click button on a Web page. It can be used to trigger

a callback request.
TActiveCheckBox represents a checkbox on a Web page. It can be used to collect
two-state user input and can trigger a callback request.
185
Chapter 12. Active Control Overview

TActiveCustomValidator validates a particular control using a callback request.
TActiveDatePicker adds a date picker that permits the suer to choose a date.
TActiveFileUpload displays a file upload field on a page and uses an iframe to
permit handling of the file upload in a callback.
TActiveHiddenField displays a hidden input field that can be changed upon
callback.
TActiveHyperLink represents a hyperlink on a Web page.
TActiveImage represents an image on a Web page.
TActiveImageButton represents a click button that has an image as the background. It is can be used to trigger a callback request.
TActiveLabel represents a label on a Web page. The label can be customized
via various CSS attributes.
TActiveLinkButton represents a hyperlink that can perform a callback request.
TActiveMultiView represents a container for a group of TView controls, each of
which is container for other controls. At any time, at most one TView is visible.
Its the active counterpart of TMultiView.
TActivePanel represents a container for other controls on a Web page. In HTML,
it is displayed as a div element. The panels contents can be replaced during a
callback request.
TActivePager generates UI that allows users to interactively specify which page
of data to be displayed in a data-bound control.
TActiveRadioButton represents a radiobutton on a Web page. It is mainly used
in a group from which users make a choice. It can be used to perform a callback
request.
TActiveRatingList is an EXPERIMENTAL class that displays clickable images
that represent a TRadioButtonList.
TActiveTextBox represents a text input field on a Web page. It can collect singleline, multi-line or password text input from users. It can be used to perform a
callback request.
186
12.1. Active Controls (AJAX enabled Controls)
12.1.2
Active List Controls
TActiveCheckBoxList displays a list of checkboxes on a Web page and each checkbox can trigger a callback request.
TActiveDropDownList displays a dropdown list box that allows users to select a
single option from a few prespecified ones. It can be used to perform a callback
request.
TActiveListBox displays a list box that allows single or multiple selection. It can
be used to perform a callback request.
TActiveRadioButtonList is similar to TActiveCheckBoxList in every aspect except that each TActiveRadioButtonList displays a group of radiobuttons. Each
radio button can perform a callback request.
12.1.3
Active Data Controls
TActiveDataList is used to display or modify a list of data items. It is the active

counterpart to the original TDataList control.
TActiveDataGrid displays data in a tabular format with rows and columns. It is
the active counterpart to the original TDataGrid control.
TActiveRepeater displays its content defined in templates repeatedly based on
the given data. It is the active counterpart to the original TRepeater control.
12.1.4
Extended Active Controls
TAutoComplete extends TActiveTextBox to offer text completion suggestions.

TCallback a generic control that can perform callback requests.
TEventTriggeredCallback triggers a callback request based on HTML DOM
events.
TInPlaceTextBox represents a label that can be edited by clicked.
TTimeTriggeredCallback triggers a callback request based on time elapsed.
187

TValueTriggeredCallback monitors (using a timer) an attribute of an HTML
element and triggers a callback request when the attribute value changes.
TDropContainer TDraggable represents drag and drop containers. The former
will make its child controls draggable while the latter will raise a callback when
a draggable control is dropped on it.
12.1.5
Active Control Abilities
The following table shows the Active Controls that can trigger a callback event and
whether the control will raise a PostBack event if Javascript was disabled on the
clients browser.
12.2
AJAX: Introduction
A classic webpage can only transfer data back to the server using an http postback
request that requires a full page reload. This is a problem for web applications, since
a synchronous page reload breaks the user interaction: the user must wait for the
response to arrive and the page will lose its current status (the scrolling position, the
currently focused control, etc..).
A common solution to this problem is the use of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript
and XML) callbacks. After the first full page load, the web application can make
subsequents requests using javascript. The callback requests are asynchronous, so
the user can continue to interact with the page while the response is loading. The
response contains a list of changes that will be applied to the page on the fly, like
replacing existing elements with new content or add some css style to an existing
element.
12.2.1
Interacting with a page on callback
PRADO has builtin support for AJAX callbacks in the form of iActive Controls/i.
These controls can trigger a callback request and have their properties (value, css style,
attributes, ..) updated during a callback. Before digging inside the list of Active
Controls, its good to have a look to how a page can be aware if the current request
188
12.2. AJAX: Introduction

Control Name
Triggers Callback
Falls back to PostBack
TActiveButton
Yes
Yes
TActiveCheckBox
Yes
Yes
TActiveCustomValidator
Yes
Yes
TActiveHyperLink
No
Yes
TActiveImage
No
Yes
TActiveImageButton
Yes
Yes
TActiveLabel
No
Yes
TActiveLinkButton
Yes
No
TActivePanel
No
Yes
TActiveRadioButton
Yes
Yes
TActiveTextBox
Yes
Yes
TCallbackOptions
No
N/A
TActiveCheckBoxList
Yes
Yes
TActiveDropDownList
Yes
Yes
TActiveListBox
Yes
Yes
TActiveRadioButtonList
Yes
Yes
TAutoComplete
Yes
No
TCallback
Yes
No
TEventTriggeredCallback
Yes
No
TInPlaceTextBox
Yes
No
TTimeTriggeredCallback
Yes
No
TValueTriggeredCallback
Yes
No
TDropContainer
Yes
No
TDraggable
No
189
No
is a callback and how to interact with the page rendered on the client browser. br/
The IsCallBack property of the TPage class exposes whether the current request being
handled is the consequence of a callback, and the CallbackClient property provides
many methods to update and alter the client-side content during a callback request.
public function onClick($sender, $param)

{
if($this->IsCallback)
{
$this->getCallbackClient()->hide($this->TextBox1);
}
}
190
12.3
Active Controls (AJAX enabled Controls)
Active controls extends standard PRADO controls adding the ability to automatically
update themselves on callbacks without the need of ad-hoc javascript calls. Active
controls are reliant on a collection of javascript classes that gets added to the page
automatically when needed.
Most active controls have a ActiveControl.EnableUpdate property that determines
whether the active control is allowed to update the contents of the client-side when
the callback response returns. Depending on the control different properties can be
updated.
Some active controls can trigger a callback as a consequence of a clientside event (a
button click, a checkbox being checked, a DOM event). The callback will first raise
the normal serverside event associated to the control (eg: OnClick for a TButton or
OnSelectedIndexChanged for a TRadioButtonList) and then the OnCallBack event. The
AutoPostBack property typically defaults to true for these controls.
Active controls have a ClientSide property that provides many subproperties to customize the controls and to hook some javascript code to the callback lifecycle, like
showing a Loading logo at the start of a callback and hide it at the end.
12.3.1
TActiveButton Class Diagram
The class diagram for TActiveButton is illustrated in the figure below. Most active
control that can perform callback request have a similar structure.
TActiveButton is an extension of TButton and implements two additional interfaces
ICallbackEventHandler and IActiveControl. The TActiveButton contains an instance of
TBaseActiveCallbackControl available through the ActiveControl property of TActiveButton.
The following example set the callback parameter of the TActiveButton when a callback
request is dispatched.
<com:TActiveButton
Text="Click Me"
ActiveControl.CallbackParameter="value" />
191
In the OnCallback event handler method, the CallbackParameter is available in the

$param object.
public function button_callback($sender, $param)
{
echo $param->CallbackParameter; //outputs "value"
}
12.3.2
Adding Client Side Behaviour
With in the ActiveControl property is an instance of TCallbackClientSide available

as a property ClientSide of TActiveButton. The ClientSide property contains subproperties, such as RequestTimeOut, and client-side javascript event handler, such as
OnLoading, that are used by the client-side when making a callback request. The
following example demonstrates the toggling of a loading indicator when the clientside is making a callback request.
<span id="callback_status">Loading...</span>
<com:TActiveButton
192

Text="Click Me"
ActiveControl.CallbackParameter="value" >
<prop:ClientSide
OnLoading="Element.show(callback_status)"
OnComplete="Element.hide(callback_status)" />
The example loads the effects javascript library using the TClientScript component.
The ClientSide.OnLoading property value contains javascript statement that uses the
effects library to show the Loading... span tag. Similarly, ClientSide.OnComplete
property value contains the javascript statement that hides the Loading... span tag.
See TCallbackClientSide for further details on client-side property details.
12.3.3
Active Control Basic Infrastructure Classes
The following classes provide the basic infrastructure classes required to realize the
active controls. They can be useful to develop new active controls, but Prado users
tipically dont need to use them.
TActiveControlAdapter
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveControlAdapter API Reference
TActiveControlAdapter customizes the parent TControl class for active control
classes.
It tracks changes in the viewstate values of the control and update
differences of the client-side HTML element attributes.

TActiveListControlAdapter
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActiveListControlAdapter API Reference
TActiveListControlAdapter allows the adapted list controls to change the selections on the client-side during a callback request.
TActivePageAdapter
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TActivePageAdapter API Reference
193

TActivePageAdapter process the page life-cycle for callback requests.
TBaseActiveControl
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TBaseActiveControl API Reference
TBaseActiveControl class provided additional basic properties common for every
active control. An instance of TBaseActiveControl or its decendent TBaseActiveCallbackControl
is created by TActiveControlAdapter::getBaseActiveControl() method. The EnableUpdate
property determines wether the active control is allowed to update the contents
of the client-side when the callback response returns.
TCallbackResponseAdapter
System.Web.UI.ActiveControls.TCallbackResponseAdapter API Reference
TCallbackResponseAdapter alters the THttpResponses outputs. A TCallbackResponseWriter
is used instead of the TTextWrite when createHtmlWriter is called. Each call to createHtmlWriter will create a new TCallbackResponseWriter. When flushContent()
is called each instance of TCallbackResponseWriters content is flushed. The callback response data can be set using the ResponseData property.
12.3.4
Active Control Infrastructure Advanced Classes
The following classes provide advanced properties and events needed to realize the
active controls. A Prado user can use them to customize active controls behaviour
and interact directly with the client side during a callback.
TCallbackClientScript methods to manipulate the client-side HTML elements,
also includes methods to invoke javascript Effects on HTML elements.
TCallbackClientSide is used to specify client-side callback request options and
client-side event handlers.
TCallbackEventParameter provides the parameter passed during the callback
request.
TCallbackOptions allows a common set of callback client-side options to be attached to one or more active controls.
194
Chapter 13
Write New Controls

13.1
Writing New Controls
Writing new controls is often desired by advanced programmers, because they want
to reuse the code that they write for dealing with complex presentation and user
interactions.
In general, there are two ways of writing new controls: composition of existing controls
and extending existing controls. They all require that the new control inherit from
TControl or its child classes.
13.1.1
Composition of Existing Controls
Composition is the easiest way of creating new controls. It mainly involves instantiating existing controls, configuring them and making them the constituent components.
The properties of the constituent components are exposed through subproperties.
One can compose a new control in two ways. One is to extend TCompositeControl
and override the TControl::createChildControls() method. The other is to extend
TTemplateControl (or its child classes) and write a control template. The latter is
easier to use and can organize the layout constituent components more intuitively,
while the former is more efficient because it does not require parsing of the template.
195
Chapter 13. Write New Controls

As an example, we show how to create a labeled textbox called LabeledTextBox using
the above two approaches. A labeled textbox displays a label besides a textbox. We
want reuse the PRADO provided TLabel and TTextBox to accomplish this task.
Composition by Writing Templates

We need two files: a control class file named LabeledTextBox.php and a control template
file named LabeledTextBox.tpl. Both must reside under the same directory.
Like creating a PRADO page, we can easily write down the content in the control
template file.
<com:TLabel ID="Label" ForControl="TextBox" />
<com:TTextBox ID="TextBox" />
The above template specifies a TLabel control named Label and a TTextBox control
named TextBox. We would to expose these two controls. This can be done by defining
a property for each control in the LabeledTextBox class file. For example, we can define
a Label property as follows,
class LabeledTextBox extends TTemplateControl {
public function getLabel() {
$this->ensureChildControls();
return $this->getRegisteredObject(Label);
}
}
In the above, the method call to ensureChildControls() ensures that both the label
and the textbox controls are created (from template) when the Label property is
accessed. The TextBox property can be implemented similarly.
Controls.Samples.LabeledTextBox1.Home Demo
Composition by Overriding createChildControls()

For a composite control as simple as LabeledTextBox, it is better to create it by extending TCompositeControl and overriding the createChildControls() method, because
196
13.1. Writing New Controls

it does not use templates and thus saves template parsing time.
Complete code for LabeledTextBox is shown as follows,
class LabeledTextBox extends TCompositeControl {
private $_label;
private $_textbox;
public function createChildControls() {
$this->_label=new TLabel;
$this->_label->setID(Label);
// add the label as a child of LabeledTextBox
$this->getControls()->add($this->_label);
$this->_textbox=new TTextBox;
$this->_textbox->setID(TextBox);
$this->_label->setForControl(TextBox);
// add the textbox as a child of LabeledTextBox
$this->getControls()->add($this->_textbox);
}
public function getLabel() {
return $this->_label;
}
public function getTextBox() {
return $this->_textbox;
}
}
Controls.Samples.LabeledTextBox2.Home Demo
Using LabeledTextBox
To use LabeledTextBox control, first we need to include the corresponding class file.
Then in a page template, we can write lines like the following,
<com:LabeledTextBox ID="Input" Label.Text="Username" />
In the above, Label.Text is a subproperty of LabeledTextBox, which refers to the Text

property of the Label property. For other details of using LabeledTextBox, see the
197

above online examples.
13.1.2
Extending Existing Controls
Extending existing controls is the same as conventional class inheritance. It allows developers to customize existing control classes by overriding their properties, methods,
events, or creating new ones.
The difficulty of the task depends on how much an existing class needs to be customized. For example, a simple task could be to customize TLabel control, so that
it displays a red label by default. This would merely involves setting the ForeColor
property to "red" in the constructor. A difficult task would be to create controls that
provide completely innovative functionalities. Usually, this requires the new controls
extend from low level control classes, such as TControl or TWebControl.
In this section, we mainly introduce the base control classes TControl and TWebControl,
showing how they can be customized. We also introduce how to write controls with
specific functionalities, such as loading post data, raising post data and databinding
with data source.
Extending TControl
TControl is the base class of all control classes. Two methods are of the most importance for derived control classes:
addParsedObject() - this method is invoked for each component or text string enclosed within the component tag specifying the control in a template. By default,
the enclosed components and text strings are added into the Controls collection
of the control. Derived controls may override this method to do special processing about the enclosed content. For example, TListControl only accepts TListItem
components to be enclosed within its component tag, and these components are
added into the Items collection of TListControl.
render() - this method renders the control. By default, it renders items in the
Controls collection.
Derived controls may override this method to give cus-
tomized presentation.
198
13.1. Writing New Controls

Other important properties and methods include:
ID - a string uniquely identifying the control among all controls of the same
naming container. An automatic ID will be generated if the ID property is not
set explicitly.
UnqiueID - a fully qualified ID uniquely identifying the control among all controls
on the current page hierarchy. It can be used to locate a control in the page
hierarchy by calling TControl::findControl() method. User input controls often
use it as the value of the name attribute of the HTML input element.
ClientID - similar to UniqueID, except that it is mainly used for presentation and
is commonly used as HTML element id attribute value. Do not rely on the
explicit format of ClientID.
Enabled - whether this control is enabled. Note, in some cases, if one of the controls ancestor controls is disabled, the control should also be treated as disabled,
even if its Enabled property is true.
Parent - parent control of this control. The parent control is in charge of whether
to render this control and where to place the rendered result.
Page - the page containing this control.
Controls - collection of all child controls, including static texts between them.
It can be used like an array, as it implements Traversable interface. To add a
child to the control, simply insert it into the Controls collection at appropriate
position.
Attributes - collection of custom attributes. This is useful for allowing users to
specify attributes of the output HTML elements that are not covered by control
properties.
getViewState() and setViewState() - these methods are commonly used for defining properties that are stored in viewstate.
saveState() and loadState() - these two methods can be overriden to provide
last step state saving and loading.
Control lifecycles - Like pages, controls also have lifecycles. Each control undergoes the following lifecycles in order: constructor, onInit(), onLoad(), onPreRender(),
render(), and onUnload. More details can be found in the page section.
199

Extending TWebControl
TWebControl is mainly used as a base class for controls representing HTML elements.
It provides a set of properties that are common among HTML elements. It breaks the
TControl::render() into the following methods that are more suitable for rendering
an HTML element:
addAttributesToRender() - adds attributes for the HTML element to be rendered.
This method is often overridden by derived classes as they usually have different
attributes to be rendered.
renderBeginTag() - renders the opening HTML tag.
renderContents() - renders the content enclosed within the HTML element. By
default, it displays the items in the Controls collection of the control. Derived
classes may override this method to render customized contents.
renderEndTag() - renders the closing HTML tag.
When rendering the openning HTML tag, TWebControl calls getTagName() to obtain the
tag name. Derived classes may override this method to render different tag names.
Creating Controls with Special Functionalities

If a control wants to respond to client-side events and translate them into server side
events (called postback events), such as TButton, it has to implement the IPostBackEventHandler
interface.
If a control wants to be able to load post data, such as TTextBox, it has to implement
the IPostBackDataHandler interface.
If a control wants to get data from some external data source, it can extend TDataBoundControl.
TDataBoundControl implements the basic properties and methods that are needed for
populating data via databinding. In fact, controls like TListControl, TRepeater are
TDataGrid are all derived from it.
200
Chapter 14
Service References
14.1
SOAP Service
SOAP forms the foundation layer of the Web services stack. It provides a neat way
for PHP applications to communicate with each other or with applications written
in other languages. PRADO provides TSoapService that makes developing a SOAP
server application an extremely easy task.
To use TSoapService, configure it in the application specification like following:
<services>
<service id="soap" class="System.Web.Services.TSoapService">
<soap id="stockquote" provider="path.to.StockQuote" />
</service>
</services>
The example specifies a SOAP service provider named stockquote which implements
the getPrice SOAP method in the provider class StockQuote,
class StockQuote
{
/**
201
Chapter 14. Service References

* @param string $symbol the symbol of the stock
* @return float the stock price
* @soapmethod
*/
public function getPrice($symbol)
{
....return stock price for $symbol
}
}
Note: TSoapService is based on PHP SOAP extension and thus requires the
extension to be installed.
With the above simple code, we already finish a simple SOAP service that allows
other applications to query the price of a specific stock. For example, a typical SOAP
client may be written as follows to query the stock price of IBM,
$client=new SoapClient(http://path/to/index.php?soap=stockquote.wsdl);
echo $client->getPrice(IBM);
Notice the URL used to construct SoapClient (a class provided by PHP SOAP extension). This is the URL for the WSDL that describes the communication protocol for
the SOAP service we just implemented. WSDL is often too complex to be manually
written. Fortunately, TSoapService can generate this for us using a WSDL generator. In general, the URL for the automatically generated WSDL in PRADO has the
following format:
http://path/to/index.php?SoapServiceID=SoapProviderID.wsdl
In order for the WSDL generator to generate WSDL for a SOAP service, the provider
class needs to follow certain syntax. In particular, for methods to be exposed as SOAP
methods, a keyword @soapmethod must appear in the phpdoc comment of the method
with the following lines specifying method parameters and return value:
parameter: @param parameter-type $parameter-name description
return value: @return value-type description
202
14.1. SOAP Service

Valid parameter and return types include: string, int, boolean, float, array, mixed,
etc. You may also specify a class name as the type, which translates into a complex
SOAP type. For example, for a complex type Contact
/**
* Extends TComponent to provide property setter/getter methods
*/
class Contact {
/**
* @var string $name
* @soapproperty
*/
public $name;
/**
* @var string $notes {nillable=1, minOccurs=0, maxOccurs=2}
* @soapproperty
*/
public $notes;
/**
* @var Address $address
* @soapproperty
*/
private $_address;
public function setAddress($value) {
$this->_address=$value;
}
public function getAddress() {
if($this->_address===null)
$this->_address=new Address;
return $this->_address;
}
}
class Address{
/**
* @var string $city
203

* @soapproperty
*/
public $city;
}
class ContactManager {
/**
* @return Contact[] an array of contacts
* @soapmethod
*/
function getAllContacts() {
return array(new Contact);
}
/**
* @return Contact one contact
* @soapmethod
*/
function getContact($name) {
return new Contact;
}
}
For a complex soap object, the properties of the object are specified with @soapproperty
keyword in the property phpdocs. Furthermore, the propertys type name must be
specified as @var type $name where type is any valid type in mentioned earlier and
$name will defined a property name (notice that if your class is a TComponent, you can
provide property setter/getter methods).
Optionally, extra attributes (nillable, minOccurs, maxOccurs) can be defined for each
property by enclosing definitions into curly brackets and separated by comma like so:
{[attribute1 = value1][, attribute2 = value2], ...}
where the attribute can be one of following:

nillable = [01truefalse]
minOccurs = n; where n=0
204
14.1. SOAP Service

maxOccurs = n; where [n=0unbounded]
An array of complex objects can also be returned by adding a pair of enclosing square
brackets after the type name. For example, to return an array of Contact type, we
define @return Contact[] ....
Tip: A very useful tool to test out your web services is the free tool WebServiceStudio 2.0. It can invoke webmethods interactively. The user can provide
a WSDL endpoint. On clicking button Get the tool fetches the WSDL, generates .NET proxy from the WSDL and displays the list of methods available.
The user can choose any method and provide the required input parameters.
The tool requires a MS .NET runtime to be installed.
A
similar
tool
is
available
for
Mac
OS
Tiger
from
http://www.ditchnet.org/soapclient/
TSoapService may be configured and customized in several ways. In the example above,
the <soap> element actually specifies a SOAP service using the default TSoapServer
implementation. Attributes in <soap> are passed to TSoapServer as its initial property values. For example, the provider attribute initializes the Provider property of
TSoapServer. By setting SessionPersistent to be true in <soap> element, the provider
instance will persist within the user session. You may develop your own SOAP server
class and use it by specifying the class attribute of <soap>.
By default, PHPs soap server will create objects of the type StdClass when objects
are received from the client. The soap server can be configured to automatically create
objects of certain type objects are received as method parameters. For example, if
we have a Soap method that accepts a Contact object as parameter.
/**
* @param Contact $contact
* @return boolean true if saved, false otherwise
* @soapmethod
*/
function save(Contact $contact)
{
return true
}
The do this, we need to set the ClassMaps property of the TSoapServer in the <soap>
205

tags as a comma separated string of class names that we wish to be automatically
converted.
<soap id="contact-manager" provider="path.to.ContactManager"
ClassMaps="Contact, Address"/>
14.2
RPC Service
RPC Service stands for Remote Procedure Call Service and is a common name
used to identify a service that exposes an interface that can be called by remote
programs in order to execute a procedure. An RPC Service tipically exposes one or
more APIs (Application programming interface), permitting remote clients to make
requests to the available methods and receive a proper response. The interface itself
is not bound to a specific programming language, but uses a standard data exchange
protocol (tipically xml or json). PRADO provides TRpcService that makes developing
a RPC server application an extremely easy task.
To use TRpcService, configure it in the application specification like following:
<services>
<service id="rpc" class="System.Web.Services.TRpcService">
<rpcapi id="stockquote" class="path.to.StockQuote" />
</service>
</services>
The example specifies a RPC service provider named stockquote which implements
the getPrice RPC method in the provider class StockQuote,
class StockQuote
{
/**
* @param string $symbol the symbol of the stock
* @return float the stock price
* @soapmethod
*/
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14.2. RPC Service

public function getPrice($symbol)
{
....return stock price for $symbol
}
/**
* Register the available methods
* @return the list of implemented methods
*/
public function registerMethods()
{
return array(
getPrice => array(method => array($this, getPrice)),
);
}
}
PRADO already bundles two common protocols: TXmlRpcService and TJsonRpcService:

requests made by clients using one of these protocol will be automatically resolved
and will call the user-specified APIs.
Note: TXmlRpcService is based on PHP XML-RPC extension and thus requires
the extension to be installed.
With the above simple code, we already finish a simple RPC service that allows other
applications to query the price of a specific stock. A client needs to know the exact
url of the service, the name of the method and the list of parameters needed by the
method.
// Assuming were using the json-rpc php library from http://jsonrpcphp.org/

require_once jsonRPCClient.php;
$client=new jsonRPCClient(http://path/to/index.php?rpc=stockquote);
echo $client->getPrice(IBM);
207
208
Chapter 15
Working with Databases

15.1
Data Access Objects (DAO)
Data Access Objects (DAO) separates a data resources client interface from its data
access mechanisms. It adapts a specific data resources access API to a generic client
interface. As a result, data access mechanisms can be changed independently of the
code that uses the data.
Since version 3.1, PRADO starts to provide a DAO that is a thin wrap around PHP
Data Objects (PDO). Although PDO has a nice feature set and good APIs, we choose
to implement the PRADO DAO on top of PDO because the PRADO DAO classes
are component classes and are thus configurable in a PRADO application. Users can
use these DAO classes in a more PRADO-preferred way.
Note: Since the PRADO DAO is based on PDO, the PDO PHP extension
needs to be installed. In addition, you need to install the corresponding PDO
driver for the database to be used in your application. See more details in the
PHP Manual.
The PRADO DAO mainly consists of the following four classes (in contrast to PDO
which uses only two classes, PDO and PDOStatement):
TDbConnection - represents a connection to a database.
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Chapter 15. Working with Databases

TDbCommand - represents an SQL statement to execute against a database.
TDbDataReader - represents a forward-only stream of rows from a query result set.
TDbTransaction - represents a DB transaction.
In the following, we introduce the usage of PRADO DAO in different scenarios.
15.1.1
Establishing Database Connection
To establish a database connection, one creates a TDbConnection instance and activate

it. A data source name (DSN) is needed to specify the information required to connect
to the database. The database username and password may need to be supplied to
establish the connection.
$connection=new TDbConnection($dsn,$username,$password);
// call setAttribute() to pass in additional connection parameters
// $connection->Persistent=true;
$connection->Active=true;
// use persistent connection
// connection is established
....
$connection->Active=false;
// connection is closed
Complete specification of DSN may be found in the PDO documentation. Below is a

list of commonly used DSN formats:
MySQL - mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test
SQLite - sqlite:/path/to/dbfile
ODBC - odbc:SAMPLE
MSSql - sqlsrv:server=hostname;database=test"
In case any error occurs when establishing the connection (such as bad DSN or username/password), a TDbException will be raised.
210
15.1. Data Access Objects (DAO)
15.1.2
Executing SQL Statements
Once a database connection is established, SQL statements can be executed through

TDbCommand. One creates a TDbCommand by calling TDbConnection.createCommand() with
the specified SQL statement:
$command=$connection->createCommand($sqlStatement);
// if needed, the SQL statement may be updated as follows:
$command->Text=$newSqlStatement;
An SQL statement is executed via TDbCommand in one of the following two ways:
execute() - performs a non-query SQL statement, such as INSERT, UPDATE and
DELETE. If successful, it returns the number of rows that are affected by the
execution.
query() - performs an SQL statement that returns rows of data, such as SELECT.
If successful, it returns a TDbDataReader instance from which one can fetch the
resulting rows of data.
$affectedRowCount=$command->execute();
// execute the non-query SQL
$dataReader=$command->query();
// execute a query SQL
$row=$command->queryRow();
// execute a query SQL and return the first row of result
$value=$command->queryScalar();
// execute a query SQL and return the first column value
In case an error occurs during the execution of SQL statements, a TDbException will
be raised.
15.1.3
Fetching Query Results
After TDbCommand.query() generates the TDbDataReader instance, one can retrieve rows
of resulting data by calling TDbDataReader.read() repeatedly. One can also use TDbDataReader
in PHPs foreach language construct to retrieve row by row.
// calling read() repeatedly until it returns false
while(($row=$dataReader->read())!==false) { ... }
211

// using foreach to traverse through every row of data
foreach($dataReader as $row) { ... }
// retrieving all rows at once in a single array
$rows=$dataReader->readAll();
15.1.4
Using Transactions
When an application executes a few queries, each reading and/or writing information
in the database, it is important to be sure that the database is not left with only some
of the queries carried out. A transaction, represented as a TDbTransaction instance in
PRADO, may be initiated in this case:
Begin the transaction.
Execute queries one by one. Any updates to the database are not visible to the
outside world.
Commit the transaction. Updates become visible if the transaction is successful.
If one of the queries fails, the entire transaction is rolled back.
$transaction=$connection->beginTransaction();
try
{
$connection->createCommand($sql1)->execute();
$connection->createCommand($sql2)->execute();
//.... other SQL executions
$transaction->commit();
}
catch(Exception $e) // an exception is raised if a query fails will be raised
{
$transaction->rollBack();
}
15.1.5
Binding Parameters
To avoid SQL injection attacks and to improve performance of executing repeatedly

used SQL statements, one can prepare an SQL statement with optional parameter
212
15.1. Data Access Objects (DAO)

placeholders that are to be replaced with the actual parameters during the parameter
binding process.
The parameter placeholders can be either named (represented as unique tokens)
or unnamed (represented as question marks).
Call TDbCommand.bindParameter() or
TDbCommand.bindValue() to replace these placeholders with the actual parameters. The

parameters do not need to be quoted: the underlying database driver does it for you.
Parameter binding must be done before the SQL statement is executed.
// an SQL with two placeholders ":username" and ":email"
$sql="INSERT INTO users(username, email) VALUES(:username,:email)";
$command=$connection->createCommand($sql);
// replace the placeholder ":username" with the actual username value
$command->bindParameter(":username",$username,PDO::PARAM_STR);
// replace the placeholder ":email" with the actual email value
$command->bindParameter(":email",$email,PDO::PARAM_STR);
$command->execute();
// insert another row with a new set of parameters
$command->bindParameter(":username",$username2,PDO::PARAM_STR);
$command->bindParameter(":email",$email2,PDO::PARAM_STR);
$command->execute();
The methods bindParameter() and bindValue() are very similar. The only difference
is that the former binds a parameter with a PHP variable reference while the latter
with a value. For parameters that represent large block of data memory, the former
is preferred for performance consideration.
For more details about binding parameters, see the relevant PHP documentation.
15.1.6
Binding Columns
When fetching query results, one can also bind columns with PHP variables so that
they are automatically populated with the latest data each time a row is fetched.
$sql="SELECT username, email FROM users";
$dataReader=$connection->createCommand($sql)->query();
// bind the 1st column (username) with the $username variable
$dataReader->bindColumn(1,$username);
213

// bind the 2nd column (email) with the $email variable
$dataReader->bindColumn(2,$email);
while($dataReader->read()!==false)
{
// $username and $email contain the username and email in the current row
}
15.2
Active Record
Active Records are objects that wrap a row in a database table or view, encapsulate
the database access and add domain logic on that data. The basics of an Active
Record are business classes, e.g., a Products class, that match very closely the record
structure of an underlying database table. Each Active Record will be responsible for
saving and loading data to and from the database.
Info: The data structure of an Active Record should match that of a table in
the database. Each column of a table should have a corresponding member
variable or property in the Active Record class the represents the table.
15.2.1
When to Use It
Active Record is a good choice for domain logic that isnt too complex, such as creates,
reads, updates, and deletes. Derivations and validations based on a single record work
well in this structure. Active Record has the primary advantage of simplicity. Its
easy to build Active Records, and they are easy to understand.
However, as your business logic grows in complexity, youll soon want to use your
objects direct relationships, collections, inheritance, and so forth. These dont map
easily onto Active Record, and adding them piecemeal gets very messy. Another
argument against Active Record is the fact that it couples the object design to the
database design. This makes it more difficult to refactor as a project goes forward.
The alternative is to use a Data Mapper that separates the roles of the business object
and how these objects are stored. Prado provides a complimentary choice between
Active Record and SqlMap Data Mapper. A SqlMap Data Mapper can be used to load
Active Record objects, in turn; these Active Record objects can be used to update
214
15.2. Active Record

the database. The relationship between Active Records and SqlMap is illustrated
in the following diagram. More details regarding the SqlMap Data Mapper can be
found in the SqlMap Manual.
The Active Record class has functionality to perform the following tasks.
Create, Retrieve, Update and Delete records.
Finder methods to wrap commonly used SQL queries and return Active Record
objects.
Fetch relationships (related foreign objects) such as has many, has one,
belongs to and many to many via association table.
Lazy loading of relationships.
215
15.2.2
Design Implications
Prados implementation of Active Record does not maintain referential identity. Each
object obtained using Active Record is a copy of the data in the database.
For
example, If you ask for a particular customer and get back a Customer object, the next
time you ask for that customer you get back another instance of a Customer object.
This implies that a strict comparison (i.e., using ===) will return false, while loose
comparison (i.e., using ==) will return true if the object values are equal by loose
comparison.
This is design implication related to the following question. iDo you think of the
customer as an object, of which theres only one, or do you think of the objects you
operate on as copies of the database?/i Other O/R mappings will imply that there
is only one Customer object with custID 100, and it literally is that customer. If you
get the customer and change a field on it, then you have now changed that customer.
iThat constrasts with: you have changed this copy of the customer, but not that
copy. And if two people update the customer on two copies of the object, whoever
updates first, or maybe last, wins./i [A. Hejlsberg 2003]
15.2.3
Database Supported
The Active Record implementation utilizes the Prado DAO classes for data access.
The current Active Record implementation supports the following database.
MySQL 4.1 or later

Postgres SQL 7.3 or later
SQLite 2 and 3
MS SQL 2000 or later
Oracle Database (alpha)
Support for other databases can be provided when there are sufficient demands.
216
15.3. Defining an Active Record
15.3
Defining an Active Record
Let us consider the following users table that contains two columns named username
and email, where username is also the primary key.
CREATE TABLE users
(
username VARCHAR( 20 ) NOT NULL ,
email VARCHAR( 200 ) ,
PRIMARY KEY ( username )
);
Next we define our Active Record class that corresponds to the users table.
class UserRecord extends TActiveRecord
{
const TABLE=users; //table name
public $username; //the column named "username" in the "users" table
public $email;
/**
* @return TActiveRecord active record finder instance
*/
{
}
}
Each column of the users table must have corresponding property of the same name
as the column name in the UserRecord class. Of course, you also define additional
member variables or properties that does not exist in the table structure. The class
constant TABLE is optional when the class name is the same as the table name in
the database, otherwise TABLE must specify the table name that corresponds to your
Active Record class.
Tip:
You may specify qualified table names.
database1.table1".
217
E.g.
for MySQL, TABLE =
Note: Since version 3.1.3 you can also use a method table() to define the table
name. This allows you to dynamically specify which table should be used by
the ActiveRecord.
class TeamRecord extends TActiveRecord
{
public function table() {
return Teams;
}
}
Since TActiveRecord extends TComponent, setter and getter methods can be defined to
allow control over how variables are set and returned. For example, adding a $level
property to the UserRecord class:
class UserRecord extends TActiveRecord {
... //existing definitions as above
private $_level;
public function setLevel($value) {
$this->_level=TPropertyValue::ensureInteger($value,0);
}
public function getLevel($value){
return $this->_level;
}
}
More details regarding TComponent can be found in the Components documentation.

Later we shall use the getter/setters to allow for lazy loading of relationship objects.
Info: TActiveRecord can also work with database views by specifying the constant TABLE corresponding to the view name. However, objects returned from
views are read-only, calling the save() or delete() method will raise an exception.
The static method finder() returns an UserRecord instance that can be used to load
records from the database. The loading of records using the finder methods is discussed a little later. The TActiveRecord::finder() static method takes the name of an
Active Record class as parameter.
218
15.3.1
Setting up a database connection
A default database connection for Active Record can be set as follows. See Establishing Database Connection for further details regarding creation of database connection
in general.
//create a connection and give it to the Active Record manager.
$dsn = pgsql:host=localhost;dbname=test; //Postgres SQL
$conn = new TDbConnection($dsn, dbuser,dbpass);
TActiveRecordManager::getInstance()->setDbConnection($conn);
Alternatively, you can create a base class and override the getDbConnection() method
to return a database connection. This is a simple way to permit multiple connections and multiple databases. The following code demonstrates defining the database
connection in a base class (not need to set the DB connection anywhere else).
class MyDb1Record extends TActiveRecord
{
public function getDbConnection()
{
static $conn;
if($conn===null)
$conn = new TDbConnection(xxx,yyy,zzz);
return $conn;
}
}
{
{
static $conn;
if($conn===null)
$conn = new TDbConnection(aaa,bbb,ccc);
return $conn;
}
}
h3 class=prado-specificUsing application.xml within the Prado Framework/h3
219

The default database connection can also be configured using a <module> tag in the
application.xml or config.xml as follows.
<modules>
<module class="System.Data.ActiveRecord.TActiveRecordConfig" EnableCache="true">
<database ConnectionString="pgsql:host=localhost;dbname=test"
Username="dbuser" Password="dbpass" />
</module>
</modules>
Tip: The EnableCache attribute when set to true will cache the table meta
data, that is, the table columns names, indexes and constraints are saved in
the cache and reused. You must clear or disable the cache if you wish to see
changes made to your table definitions. A cache module must also be defined
for the cache to function.
A ConnectionID property can be specified with value corresponding to another TDataSourceConfig

module configurations ID value. This allows the same database connection to be used
in other modules such as SqlMap.
<modules>
<module class="System.Data.TDataSourceConfig" id="db1">
</module>
<module class="System.Data.ActiveRecord.TActiveRecordConfig"
ConnectionID="db1" EnableCache="true"
/>
<module class="System.Data.SqlMap.TSqlMapConfig"
ConnectionID="db1"
... />
</modules>
15.3.2
Loading data from the database
The TActiveRecord class provides many convenient methods to find records from
the database.
The simplest is finding one record by matching a primary key or
220

a composite key (primary keys that consists of multiple columns).
See the Sys-
tem.Data.ActiveRecord.TActiveRecord API Reference for more details.
Info: All finder methods that may return 1 record only will return null if no
matching data is found. All finder methods that return an array of records
will return an empty array if no matching data is found.
findByPk()
Finds one record using only a primary key or a composite key.
$finder = UserRecord::finder();
$user = $finder->findByPk($primaryKey);
//when the table uses a composite key
$record = $finder->findByPk($key1, $key2, ...);
$record = $finder->findByPk(array($key1, $key2,...));
findAllByPks()
Finds multiple records using a list of primary keys or composite keys. The following
are equivalent for primary keys (primary key consisting of only one column/field).
$users = $finder->findAllByPks($key1, $key2, ...);
$users = $finder->findAllByPks(array($key1, $key2, ...));
The following are equivalent for composite keys.
//when the table uses composite keys

$record = $finder->findAllByPks(array($key1, $key2), array($key3, $key4), ...);
$keys = array(
array($key1, $key2), array($key3, $key4), ... );
$record = $finder->findAllByPks($keys);
221

find()
Finds one single record that matches the criteria. The criteria can be a partial SQL
string or a TActiveRecordCriteria object.
//:name and :pass are place holders for specific values of $name and $pass
$finder->find(username = :name AND password = :pass,
array(:name=>$name, :pass=>$pass));
//using position place holders
$finder->find(username = ? AND password = ?, array($name, $pass));
//same as above
$finder->find(username = ? AND password = ?, $name, $pass);
//$criteria is of TActiveRecordCriteria
$finder->find($criteria); //the 2nd parameter for find() is ignored.
The TActiveRecordCriteria class has the following properties:
Parameters name value parameter pairs.

OrdersBy column name and ordering pairs.
Condition parts of the WHERE SQL conditions.
Limit maximum number of records to return.
Offset record offset in the table.
$criteria = new TActiveRecordCriteria;

$criteria->Condition = username = :name AND password = :pass;
$criteria->Parameters[:name] = admin;
$criteria->Parameters[:pass] = prado;
$criteria->OrdersBy[level] = desc;
$criteria->OrdersBy[name] = asc;
$criteria->Limit = 10;
$criteria->Offset = 20;
222
Note: For MSSQL and when Limit and Offset are positive integer values. The
actual query to be executed is modified by the TMssqlCommandBuilder class
according to http://troels.arvin.dk/db/rdbms/ to emulate the Limit and Offset
conditions.
findAll()
Same as find() but returns an array of objects.
findBy*() and findAllBy*()

Dynamic find method using parts of the method name as search criteria. Method
names starting with findBy return 1 record only and method names starting with
findAllBy return an array of records. The condition is taken as part of the method
name after findBy or findAllBy.
The following blocks of code are equivalent:
$finder->findByName($name)
$finder->find(Name = ?, $name);
$finder->findByUsernameAndPassword($name,$pass);
$finder->findBy_Username_And_Password($name,$pass);
$finder->find(Username = ? AND Password = ?, $name, $pass);
$finder->findAllByAge($age);
$finder->findAll(Age = ?, $age);
Tip: You may also use a combination of AND and OR as a condition in the
dynamic methods.
findBySql() and findAllBySql()

Finds records using full SQL where findBySql() return an Active Record and findAllBySql()returns
an array of record objects. For each column returned, the corresponding Active
223

Record class must define a member variable or property for each corresponding column name.
class UserRecord2 extends UserRecord
{
public $another_value;
}
$sql = "SELECT users.*, hello as another_value FROM users";
$users = TActiveRecord::finder(UserRecord2)->findAllBySql($sql);
count()
Find the number of matchings records, accepts same parameters as the findAll()
method.
15.3.3
Inserting and updating records
Add a new record using TActiveRecord is very simple, just create a new Active Record
object and call the save() method. E.g.
$user1 = new UserRecord();
$user1->username = "admin";
$user1->email = "[email protected]";
$user1->save(); //insert a new record
$data = array(username=>admin, email=>[email protected]);
$user2 = new UserRecord($data); //create by passing some existing data
$user2->save(); //insert a new record
Tip: If you insert a new record into a MySQL table that has columns defined
with autoincrement, the Active Record objects will be updated with the
new incremented value.
To update a record in the database, just change one or more properties of the Active Record object that has been loaded from the database and then call the save()
method.
224

$user = UserRecord::finder()->findByName(admin);
$user->email="[email protected]"; //change property
$user->save(); //update it.
Active Record objects have a simple life-cycle illustrated in the following diagram.
We see that new TActiveRecord objects are created by either using one of the find*()
methods or using creating a new instance by using PHPs new keyword. Objects
created by a find*() method starts with clean state. New instance of TActiveRecord
created other than by a find*() method starts with new state. Whenever you call
the save() method on the TActiveRecord object, the object enters the clean state.
Objects in the clean becomes dirty whenever one of more of its internal states are
changed. Calling the delete() method on the object ends the object life-cycle, no
further actions can be performed on the object.
15.3.4
Deleting existing records
To delete an existing record that is already loaded, just call the delete() method. You
can also delete records in the database by primary keys without loading any records
using the deleteByPk() method (and equivalently the deleteAllByPks() method). For
example, to delete one or several records with tables using one or more primary keys.
$finder->deleteByPk($primaryKey); //delete 1 record

$finder->deleteAllByPks($key1,$key2,...); //delete multiple records
225

$finder->deleteAllByPks(array($key1,$key2,...)); //delete multiple records
For composite keys (determined automatically from the table definitions):

$finder->deleteByPk(array($key1,$key2)); //delete 1 record
//delete multiple records
$finder->deleteAllByPks(array($key1,$key2), array($key3,$key4),...);
//delete multiple records
$finder->deleteAllByPks(array( array($key1,$key2), array($key3,$key4), .. ));
deleteAll() and deleteBy*()

To delete by a criteria, use deleteAll($criteria) and deleteBy*() with similar syntax
to findAll($criteria) and findAllBy*() as described above.
//delete all records with matching Name
$finder->deleteAll(Name = ?, $name);
$finder->deleteByName($name);
//delete by username and password
$finder->deleteBy_Username_And_Password($name,$pass);
15.3.5
Transactions
All Active Record objects contain the property DbConnection that can be used to
obtain a transaction object.
$finder->DbConnection->Active=true; //open if necessary
$transaction = $finder->DbConnection->beginTransaction();
try
{
$user = $finder->findByPk(admin);
$user->email = [email protected]; //alter the $user object
$user->save();
226

$transaction->commit();
}
catch(Exception $e) // an exception is raised if a query fails
{
$transaction->rollBack();
}
15.3.6
Events
The TActiveRecord offers two events, OnCreateCommand and OnExecuteCommand.

The OnCreateCommand event is raised when a command is prepared and parameter
binding is completed. The parameter object is TDataGatewayEventParameter of which
the Command property can be inspected to obtain the SQL query to be executed.
The OnExecuteCommand event is raised when a command is executed and the result from
the database was returned. The parameter object is TDataGatewayResultEventParameter
of which the Result property contains the data return from the database. The data
returned can be changed by setting the Result property.
Logging Example
Using the OnExecuteCommand we can attach an event handler to log the entire SQL
query executed for a given TActiveRecord class or instance. For example, we define
a base class and override either the getDbConnection() or the constructor.

{
{
static $conn;
if($conn===null)
{
$conn = new TDbConnection(xxx,yyy,zzz);
$this->OnExecuteCommand[] = array($this,logger);
}
return $conn;
227

}
public function logger($sender,$param)
{
var_dump($param->Command->Text);
}
}
//alternatively as per instance of per finder object
function logger($sender,$param)
{
var_dump($param->Command->Text);
}
TActiveRecord::finder(MyRecord)->OnExecuteCommand[] = logger;
$obj->OnExecuteCommand[] = array($logger, log); //any valid PHP callback.
15.4
Active Record Relationships
The Prado Active Record implementation supports the foreign key mappings for
database that supports foreign key constraints. For Active Record relationships to
function the underlying database must support foreign key constraints (e.g. MySQL
using InnoDB).
In the following sections we will consider the following table relationships between
Teams, Players, Skills and Profiles.
The goal is to obtain object models that represent to some degree the entity relationships in the above figure.
There is a mismatch between relationships with objects and table relationships. First
228
15.4. Active Record Relationships
theres a difference in representation. Objects handle links by storing references that

are held by the runtime memory-managed environment. Relational databases handle
links by forming a key into another table. Second, objects can easily use collections
to handle multiple references from a single field, while normalization forces all entity
relation links to be single valued. This leads to reversals of the data structure between
objects and tables. The approach taken in the Prado Active Record design is to use
the table foreign key constraints to derive object relationships. This implies that the
underlying database must support foreign key constraints.
Tip: For SQLite database, you may create tables that defines the foreign key
constraints such as the example below. However, these constraints are NOT
enforced by the SQLite database itself.
CREATE TABLE foo
(
id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
id2 CHAR(2)
);
CREATE TABLE bar
(
id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
foo_id INTEGER
CONSTRAINT fk_foo_id REFERENCES foo(id) ON DELETE CASCADE
);
229
15.4.1
Foreign Key Mapping
The entity relationship between the Teams and Players table is what is known as an
1-M relationship. That is, one Team may contain 0 or more Players. In terms of
object relationships, we say that a TeamRecord object has many PlayerRecord objects.
(Notice the reversal of the direction of relationships between tables and objects.)
Has Many Relationship

We model the Team object as the following Active Record classes.
class TeamRecord extends TActiveRecord

{
const TABLE=Teams;
public $name;
public $location;
public $players=array();
// this declaration is no longer needed since v3.1.2
//define the $player member having has many relationship with PlayerRecord
public static $RELATIONS=array
(
players => array(self::HAS_MANY, PlayerRecord, team_name),
);
{
}
}
The static $RELATIONS property of TeamRecord defines that the property $players has
many PlayerRecords. Multiple relationships is permitted by defining each relationship with an entry in the $RELATIONS array where array key for the entry corresponds to the property name. In array(self::HAS MANY, PlayerRecord), the first element defines the relationship type, the valid types are self::HAS MANY, self::HAS ONE,
self::BELONGS TO and self::MANY TO MANY. The second element is a string PlayerRecord
230

that corresponds to the class name of the PlayerRecord class. And the third element
teamn ame0 ref erstothef oreignkeycolumnintheP layerstablethatref erencestotheT eamstable.
Note: As described in the code comment above, since version 3.1.2, related
properties no longer need to be explicitly declared.
By default, they will
be implicitly declared according to keys of the $RELATIONS array.
A major
benefit of declared related properties implicitly is that related objects can be

automatically loaded in a lazy way. For example, assume we have a TeamRecord
instance $team. We can access the players via $team->players, even if we have
never issued fetch command for players. If $players is explicitly declared, we
will have to use the with approach described in the following to fetch the player
records.
The foreign key constraint of the Players table is used to determine the corresponding
Teams tables corresponding key names. This is done automatically handled in Active
Record by inspecting the Players and Teams table definitions.
231
Info: Since version 3.1.2, Active Record supports multiple foreign key references of the same table. Ambiguity between multiple foreign key references
to the same table is resolved by providing the foreign key column name as the
3rd parameter in the relationship array. For example, both of the following
foreign keys owner id and reporter id references to the same table defined in
UserRecord.
class TicketRecord extends TActiveRecord
{
public $owner_id;
public $reporter_id;
public $owner;
public $reporter;

public static $RELATION=array

(
owner => array(self::BELONGS_TO, UserRecord, owner_id),
reporter => array(self::BELONGS_TO, UserRecord, reporter_id),
);
}
This is applicable to relationships including BELONGS TO, HAS ONE and HAS MANY. See
section Self Referenced Association Tables for solving ambiguity of MANY TO MANY
relationships.
The has many relationship is not fetched automatically when you use any of the
Active Record finder methods. You will need to explicitly fetch the related objects
as follows. In the code below, both lines are equivalent and the method names are
case insensitive.
$team = TeamRecord::finder()->withPlayers()->findAll();
$team = TeamRecord::finder()->with_players()->findAll(); //equivalent
The method with xxx() (where xxx is the relationship property name, in this case,
players) fetches the corresponding PlayerRecords using a second query (not by using a join). The with xxx() accepts the same arguments as other finder methods of
TActiveRecord, e.g. with players(age = ?, 35).
232
Note: It is essential to understand that the related objects are fetched using
additional queries. The first query fetches the source object, e.g. the TeamRecord
in the above example code. A second query is used to fetch the corresponding
related PlayerRecord objects. The usage of the two query is similar to a single
query using Left-Outer join with the exception that null results on the right
table are not returned. The consequence of using two or more queries is that
the aggregates and other join conditions are not feasible using Active Records.
For queries outside the scope of Active Record the SqlMap Data Mapper may
be considered.
Info: The above with approach also works with implicitly declared related
properties (introduced in version 3.1.2). So what is the difference between the
with approach and the lazy loading approach? Lazy loading means we issue
an SQL query if a related object is initially accessed and not ready, while the
with approach queries for the related objects once for all, no matter the related
objects are accessed or not. The lazy loading approach is very convenient since
we do not need to explictly load the related objects, while the with approach is
more efficient if multiple records are returned, each with some related objects.
Has One Relationship

The entity relationship between Players and Profiles is one to one. That is, each
PlayerRecord object has one ProfileRecord object (may be none or null). A has one
relationship is nearly identical to a has many relationship with the exception that the
related object is only one object (not a collection of objects).
Belongs To Relationship
The has many relationship in the above section defines a collection of foreign objects. In particular, we have that a TeamRecord has many (zero or more) PlayerRecord
objects. We can also add a back pointer by adding a property in the PlayerRecord class
that links back to the TeamRecord object, effectively making the association bidirectional. We say that the $team property in PlayerRecord class belongs to a TeamRecord
object. The following code defines the complete PlayerRecord class with 3 relationships.
233

class PlayerRecord extends TActiveRecord
{
const TABLE=Players;
public $player_id;
public $age;
public $team_name;
public $team;
public $skills=array();
public $profile;

(
team => array(self::BELONGS_TO, TeamRecord, team_name),
skills => array(self::MANY_TO_MANY, SkillRecord, Player_Skills),
profile => array(self::HAS_ONE, ProfileRecord, player_id),
);
{
}
}
The static $RELATIONS property of PlayerRecord defines that the property $team belongs to a TeamRecord. The $RELATIONS array also defines two other relationships that
we shall examine in later sections below. In array(self::BELONGS TO, TeamRecord,
team name), the first element defines the relationship type, in this case strongself::BELONGS TO/strong
the second element is a string TeamRecord that corresponds to the class name of the
TeamRecord class; and the third element teamn ame0 ref erstothef oreignkeyof P layersref erencingT eams.Aplaye
$players = PlayerRecord::finder()->with_team()->findAll();
team) fetches the corresponding TeamRecords using a second query (not by using a join).
The with xxx() accepts the same arguments as other finder methods of TActiveRecord,
e.g. with team(location = ?, Madrid).
234
Tip: Additional relationships may be fetched by chaining the with xxx() together as the following example demonstrates.
$players = PlayerRecord::finder()->with_team()->with_skills()->findAll();
Each with xxx() method will execute an additional SQL query. Every with xxx()
accepts arguments similar to those in the findAll() method and is only applied
to that particular relationship query.
The belongs to relationship of ProfileRecord class is defined similarly.
class ProfileRecord extends TActiveRecord

{
const TABLE=Profiles;
public $player_id;
public $salary;
public $player;

(
player => array(self::BELONGS_TO, PlayerRecord),
);
{
}
}
In essence, there exists a belongs to relationship for objects corresponding to entities that has column which are foreign keys. In particular, we see that the Profiles
table has a foreign key constraint on the column player id that relates to the Players
tables player id column. Thus, the ProfileRecord object has a property ($player)
that belongs to a PlayerRecord object. Similarly, the Players table has a foreign key
constraint on the column team name that relates to the Teams tables name column. Thus,
the PlayerRecord object has a property ($team) that belongs to a TeamRecord object.
235

Parent Child Relationships
A parent child relationship can be defined using a combination of has many and belongs
to relationship that refers to the same class. The following example shows a parent
children relationship between categories and a parent category.
class Category extends TActiveRecord

{
public $cat_id;
public $category_name;
public $parent_cat_id;
public $parent_category;
public $child_categories=array();

(
parent_category => array(self::BELONGS_TO, Category, parent_cat_id),
child_categories => array(self::HAS_MANY, Category, parent_cat_id),
);
}
Query Criteria for Related Objects

In the above, we show that an Active Record object can reference to its related
objects by declaring a static class member $RELATIONS which specifies a list of
relations.
Each relation is specified as an array consisting of three elements: re-
lation type, related AR class name, and the foreign key(s). For example, we use
array(self::HAS MANY, PlayerRecord, team name) to specify the players in a team.
There are two more optional elements that can be specified in this array: query condition (the fourth element) and parameters (the fifth element). They are used to control
how to query for the related objects. For example, if we want to obtain the players ordered by their age, we can specify array(self::HAS MANY, PlayerRecord, team name,
ORDER BY age). If we want to obtain players whose age is smaller than 30, we could
use ttarray(self::HASM AN Y, P layerRecord0 , teamn ame0 , age <: age0 , array( : age0 =>
30)) < /tt > .Ingeneral, thesetwoadditionalelementsaresimilarastheparameterspassedtothefind()methodinAR.
236
15.4.2
Association Table Mapping
Objects can handle multivalued fields quite easily by using collections as field values.
Relational databases dont have this feature and are constrained to single-valued fields
only. When youre mapping a one-to-many association you can handle this using has
many relationships, essentially using a foreign key for the single-valued end of the
association. But a many-to-many association cant do this because there is no singlevalued end to hold the foreign key.
The answer is the classic resolution thats been used by relational data people for
decades: create an extra table (an association table) to record the relationship. The
basic idea is using an association table to store the association. This table has only
the foreign key IDs for the two tables that are linked together, it has one row for each
pair of associated objects.
The association table has no corresponding in-memory object and its primary key is
the compound of the two primary keys of the tables that are associated. In simple
terms, to load data from the association table you perform two queries (in general,
it may also be achieved using one query consisting of joins). Consider loading the
SkillRecord collection for a list PlayerRecord objects. In this case, you do queries in
two stages. The first stage queries the Players table to find all the rows of the players
you want. The second stage finds the SkillRecord object for the related player ID for
each row in the Player Skills association table using an inner join.
The Prado Active Record design implements the two stage approach. For the PlayersSkills M-N (many-to-many) entity relationship, we define a many-to-many relationship in the PlayerRecord class and in addition we may define a many-to-many relationship in the SkillRecord class as well. The following sample code defines the
complete SkillRecord class with a many-to-many relationship with the PlayerRecord
class. (See the PlayerRecord class definition above to the corresponding many-to-many
relationship with the SkillRecord class.)
class SkillRecord extends TActiveRecord

{
const TABLE=Skills;
public $skill_id;
public $name;
237

public $players=array();

(
players => array(self::MANY_TO_MANY, PlayerRecord, Player_Skills),
);
{
}
}
The static $RELATIONS property of SkillRecord defines that the property $players has
many PlayerRecords via an association table Player Skills. In array(self::MANY TO MANY,
PlayerRecord, Player Skills), the first element defines the relationship type, in
this case strongself::MANY TO MANY/strong, the second element is a string PlayerRecord
that corresponds to the class name of the PlayerRecord class, and the third element is
the name of the association table name.
Note: Prior to version 3.1.2 (versions up to 3.1.1), the many-to-many relationship was defined using self::HAS MANY. For version 3.1.2 onwards, this must be
changed to self::MANY TO MANY. This can be done by searching for the HAS MANY
in your source code and carfully changing the appropriate definitions.
A list of player objects with the corresponding collection of skill objects may be
fetched as follows.
$players = PlayerRecord::finder()->withSkills()->findAll();
Skill) fetches the corresponding SkillRecords using a second query (not by using
a join).
The with xxx() accepts the same arguments as other finder methods of
TActiveRecord.
238

Self Referenced Association Tables
For self referenced association tables, that is, the association points to the same table.
For example, consider the items table with M-N related item via the related items
association table. The syntax in the following example is valid for a PostgreSQL
database. For other database, consult their respective documentation for defining the
foreign key constraints.
CREATE TABLE items
(
"item_id" SERIAL,
"name" VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY("item_id")
);
CREATE TABLE "related_items"
(
"item_id" INTEGER NOT NULL,
"related_item_id" INTEGER NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT "related_items_pkey" PRIMARY KEY("item_id", "related_item_id"),
CONSTRAINT "related_items_item_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("item_id")
REFERENCES "items"("item_id")
ON DELETE CASCADE
ON UPDATE NO ACTION
NOT DEFERRABLE,
CONSTRAINT "related_items_related_item_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("related_item_id")
REFERENCES "items"("item_id")
ON DELETE CASCADE
ON UPDATE NO ACTION
NOT DEFERRABLE
);
The association table name in third element of the relationship array may contain the
foreign table column names. The columns defined in the association table must also
be defined in the record class (e.g. the $related item id property corresponds to the
related item id column in the related items table).
class Item extends TActiveRecord
{
const TABLE="items";
239

public $item_id;
public $details;
//additional foreign item id defined in the association table
public $related_item_id;
public $related_items=array();

(
related_items => array(self::MANY_TO_MANY,
Item, related_items.related_item_id),
);
}
Tip: Compound keys in the foreign table can be specified as comma separated
values between brackets. E.g. related items.(id1,id2).
15.4.3
Lazy Loading Related Objects

Note: Implicitly declared related properties introduced in version 3.1.2 automatically have lazy loading feature. Therefore, the lazy loading technique
described in the following is no longer needed in most of the cases, unless you
want to manipulate the related objects through getter/setter.
Using the with xxx() methods will load the relationship record on demand. Retrieving
the related record using lazy loading (that is, only when those related objects are
accessed) can be achieved by using a feature of the TComponent that provides accessor
methods. In particular, we define a pair of getter and setter methods where the getter
method will retrieve the relationship conditionally. The following example illustrates
that the PlayerRecord can retrieve its $skills foreign objects conditionally.
class PlayerRecord extends BaseFkRecord
{
//... other properties and methods as before
private $_skills; //change to private and default as null
240

public function getSkills()
{
if($this->_skills===null && $this->player_id !==null)
{
//lazy load the skill records
$this->setSkills($this->withSkills()->findByPk($this->player_id)->skills);
}
else if($this->_skills===null)
{
//create new TList;
$this->setSkills(new TList());
}
return $this->_skills;
}
public function setSkills($value)
{
$this->_skills = $value instanceof TList ? $value : new TList($value);
}
}
We first need to change the $skills=array() declaration to a private property $ skills

(notice the underscore) and set it to null instead. This allows us to define the skills
property using getter/setter methods (see Components for details). The getSkills()
getter method for the skills property will lazy load the corresponding skills foreign
record when it is used as follows. Notice that we only do a lazy load when its $player id
is not null (that is, when the record is already fetched from the database or player id
was already set).
$player = PlayerRecord::finder()->findByPk(1);
var_dump($player->skills); //lazy load it on first access
var_dump($player->skills[0]); //already loaded skills property
$player->skills[] = new SkillRecord(); //add skill
The setSkills() ensures that the skills property will always be a TList. Using a
TList allows us to set the elements of the skills property as if they were arrays.
E.g. $player->skills[] = new SkillRecord(). If array was used, a PHP error will be
thrown.
241
15.4.4
Column Mapping
Since v3.1.1, Active Record starts to support column mapping. Column mapping
allows developers to address columns in Active Record using a more consistent naming
convention. In particular, using column mapping, one can access a column using
whatever name he likes, rather than limited by the name defined in the database
schema.
To use column mapping, declare a static array named COLUMN MAPPING in the Active
Record class. The keys of the array are column names (called iphysical column
names/i) as defined in the database schema, while the values are corresponding
property names (called ilogical column names/i) defined in the Active Record
class.
The property names can be either public class member variable names or
component property names defined via getters/setters. If a physical column name

happens to be the same as the logical column name, they do not need to be listed in
COLUMN MAPPING.

{
const TABLE=users;
public static $COLUMN_MAPPING=array
(
user_id=>id,
email_address=>email,
first_name=>firstName,
last_name=>lastName,
);
public $id;
public $username; // the physical and logical column names are the same
public $email;
public $firstName;
public $lastName;
//....
}
With the above column mapping, we can address first name using $userRecord->firstName
instead of $userRecord->first name. This helps separation of logic and model.
242
15.5. Active Record Scaffold Views
15.4.5
References
Fowler et. al. iPatterns of Enterprise Application Architecture/i, Addison

Wesley, 2002.
B. Venners with B. Eckel. iInappropriate Abstractions - A Conversation with
Anders Hejlsberg, Part VI./i Artima Developer, 2003.
15.5
Active Record Scaffold Views
Active Record classes can be used together with TScaffoldListView and TScaffoldEditView ( TScaffoldView links both TScaffoldListView and TScaffoldEditView) to create
isimple/i Create/Read/Update/Delete (CRUD) web applications.
The scaffold views are intended to assist in prototyping web application, they are not
designed to be as customiziable as more complex components such as TDataGrid.
The scaffold views provide the following builtin functionality:
Listing of all active record items.

Searching records.
Paging and sorting.
Deleting an item.
Inserting a new item.
Updating an existing item.
Validates required fields and basic data types.
Presents specialized controls such as date pickers.
Scaffold views are dependent on Active Records and currently supports the following databases: Mysql, Sqlite and Postgres SQL. Support for other databases can be
considered when there are sufficient demand.
243
15.5.1
Setting up a Scaffold View
To use the scaffold view, we first define an Active Record class that represents a table
or view in the database. Consider the following Active Record class that corresponds
to the users table as defined in the Active Record quickstart page.

{
const TABLE=users;
public $username;
public $email;
}
The scaffold view classes are in the System.Data.ActiveRecord.Scaffold.* namespace.

This namespace can be imported in the Application Configuration using the application.xml
file or through the php code using the Prado::using() method. To start using the
TScaffoldView simply set the RecordClass property value equal to an Active Record
class name.
<com:TScaffoldView RecordClass="UserRecord" />
The above code will list the current records in the users table. Each record can be
edited by clicking on the edit button and deleted by clicking on the delete button.
A new record can be added by clicking on the Add new record button, enter some
data (notice the automatic validation of required fields and data types), and click
the save button. Specifying search terms in the search textbox to find particular
records. Finally, the record list can be sorted for each column by changing the sorting
column and order.
The TScaffoldView is a template control composed of other scaffold controls. The
following properties gives access to these composite controls.
bListView/b the TScaffoldListView displaying the record list.
bEditView/b the TScaffoldEditView that renders the inputs for editing and
adding records.
244
15.5. Active Record Scaffold Views

bSearchControl/b the TScaffoldSearch responsible to the search user interface.
All these composite controls can be customized as we shall see below.
15.5.2
TScaffoldListView
A list of Active Records can be displayed using the TScaffoldListView with the following useful properties.
bHeader/b a TRepeater displaying the Active Record property/field names.
bSort/b a TDropDownList displaying the combination of properties and its
possible ordering.
bPager/b a TPager control displaying the links and/or buttons that navigate
to different pages in the Active Record data.
bList/b a TRepeater that renders a row of Active Record data.
Custom rendering of the each Active Record can be achieved by specifying the
ItemTemplate and/or AlternatingItemTemplate property of the List repeater.
The
TScaffoldListView will listen for two command events named delete and edit.
A delete command will delete a the record for the row where the delete command originates. An edit command will push the record data to be edited by a
TScaffoldEditView with ID specified by the EditViewID property. The following example lists the usernames only with bold formatting.
<com:TScaffoldListView RecordClass="UserRecord" >
<prop:List.ItemTemplate>
<strong><%# $this->Data->username %></strong>
</prop:List.ItemTemplate>
</com:TScaffoldListView>
Info: For the TScaffoldView the list view can be accessed throught the ListView
property of a TScaffoldView. Thus, the subproperty ListView.List.ItemTemplate
on TScaffoldView is equivalent to the List.ItemTemplate subproperty of
TScaffoldListView in the above example.
245

The SearchCondition property and SearchParameters property (takes array values) can
be specified to customize the records to be shown. The SearchCondition will be used
as the Condition property of TActiveRecordCriteria and the SearchParameters property
corresponds to Parameters property of TActiveRecordCriteria.
15.5.3
TScaffoldEditView
<com:TScaffoldEditView RecordPk="user1" RecordClass="UserRecord" />
15.5.4
Combining list + edit views
<com:TScaffoldEditView ID="edit_view" RecordClass="UserRecord" />

<com:TScaffoldListView EditViewID="edit_view" RecordClass="UserRecord" />
15.5.5
Customizing the TScaffoldView
<com:TScaffoldView RecordClass="UserRecord" >

<prop:ListView.List.ItemTemplate>
<%# $this->DataItem->username %>
<com:TLinkButton Text="Edit" CommandName="edit" />
</prop:ListView.List.ItemTemplate>
</com:TScaffoldView/>
15.6
Data Mapper
Data Mappers moves data between objects and a database while keeping them independent of each other and the mapper itself. If you started with Active Records, you
may eventually faced with more complex business objects as your project progresses.
When you build an object model with a lot of business logic its valuable to use these
mechanisms to better organize the data and the behavior that goes with it. Doing so
leads to variant schemas; that is, the object schema and the relational schema dont
match up.
The Data Mapper separates the in-memory objects from the database. Its responsi-
246
15.6. Data Mapper

bility is to transfer data between the two and also to isolate them from each other.
With Data Mapper the in-memory objects neednt know even that theres a database
present; they need no SQL interface code, and certainly no knowledge of the database
schema. (The database schema is always ignorant of the objects that use it.)
15.6.1
When to Use It
The primary occasion for using Data Mapper is when you want the database schema
and the object model to evolve independently. Data Mappers primary benefit is that
when working on the business (or domain) objects you can ignore the database, both
in design and in the build and testing process. The domain objects have no idea what
the database structure is, because all the correspondence is done by the mappers.
This helps you in the code because you can understand and work with the domain
objects without having to understand how theyre stored in the database. You can
modify the business models or the database without having to alter either. With
complicated mappings, particularly those involving existing databases, this is very
valuable.
The price, of course, is the extra layer that you dont get with Active Record, so the
test for using these patterns is the complexity of the business logic. If you have fairly
simple business logic, an Active Record will probably work. For more complicated
logic a Data Mapper may be more suitable.
15.6.2
SqlMap Data Mapper
The SqlMap DataMapper framework makes it easier to use a database with a PHP
application. SqlMap DataMapper couples objects with stored procedures or SQL
statements using a XML descriptor. Simplicity is the biggest advantage of the SqlMap
DataMapper over object relational mapping tools. To use SqlMap DataMapper you
rely on your own objects, XML, and SQL. There is little to learn that you dont
already know. With SqlMap DataMapper you have the full power of both SQL and
stored procedures at your fingertip
Heres a high level description of the work flow illustrated in the figure above. Provide
a parameter, either as an object or a primitive type. The parameter can be used to
247
set runtime values in your SQL statement or stored procedure. If a runtime value is
not needed, the parameter can be omitted.
Execute the mapping by passing the parameter and the name you gave the statement
or procedure in your XML descriptor. This step is where the magic happens. The
framework will prepare the SQL statement or stored procedure, set any runtime values
using your parameter, execute the procedure or statement, and return the result.
In the case of an update, the number of rows affected is returned. In the case of a
query, a single object, or a collection of objects is returned. Like the parameter, the
result object, or collection of objects, can be a plain-old object or a primitive PHP
type.
15.6.3
Setting up a database connection and initializing the SqlMap
A database connection for SqlMap can be set as follows. See Establishing Database
Connection for futher details regarding creation of database connection in general.
248
15.6. Data Mapper

//create a connection and give it to the SqlMap manager.
$dsn = pgsql:host=localhost;dbname=test; //Postgres SQL
$conn = new TDbConnection($dsn, dbuser,dbpass);
$manager = new TSqlMapManager($conn);
$manager->configureXml(my-sqlmap.xml);
$sqlmap = $manager->getSqlMapGateway();
The TSqlMapManager is responsible for setting up the database connection and configuring the SqlMap with given XML file(s). The configureXml() method accepts a
string that points to a SqlMap XML configuration file. Once configured, call the
getSqlMapGateway() method to obtain an instance of the SqlMap gateway interface
(use this object to insert/delete/find records).
SqlMap database connection can also be configured using a <module> tag in the application.xml or config.xml as follows.
<modules>
<module id="my-sqlmap" class="System.Data.SqlMap.TSqlMapConfig"
EnableCache="true" ConfigFile="my-sqlmap.xml" >
</module>
</modules>
The ConfigFile attribute should point to a SqlMap configuration file (to be detailed
later) either using absolute path, relative path or the Prados namespace dot notation
path (must omit the .xml extension).
Tip: The EnableCache attribute when set to true will cache the parsed configuration. You must clear or disable the cache if you make changes to your
configuration file. A cache module must also be defined for the cache to function.
To obtain the SqlMap gateway interface from the module configuration, simply do,
for example,
class MyPage extends TPage
{
249

public function onLoad($param)
{
$sqlmap = $this->Application->Modules[my-sqlmap]->Client;
$sqlmap->queryForObject(...); //query for some object
}
}
15.6.4
A quick example
Let us consider the following users table that contains two columns named username and email, where username is also the primary key.
CREATE TABLE users

(
username VARCHAR( 20 ) NOT NULL ,
email VARCHAR( 200 ) ,
PRIMARY KEY ( username )
);
Next we define our plain User class as follows. Notice that the User is very simple.
class User
{
public $username;
public $email;
}
Next, we need to define a SqlMap XMl configuration file, lets name the file as
my-sqlmap.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<sqlMapConfig>
<select id="SelectUsers" resultClass="User">
SELECT username, email FROM users
</select>
</sqlMapConfig>
250
15.6. Data Mapper

The select tag returns defines an SQL statement. The id attribute will be used as
the identifier for the query. The resultClass attribute value is the name of the class
the the objects to be returned. We can now query the objects as follows:
//assume that $sqlmap is an TSqlMapGateway instance
$userList = $sqlmap->queryForList("SelectUsers");
//Or just one, if thats all you need:
$user = $sqlmap->queryForObject("SelectUsers");
The above example shows demonstrates only a fraction of the capabilities of the
SqlMap Data Mapper. Further details can be found in the SqlMap Manual.
15.6.5
Combining SqlMap with Active Records
The above example may seem trival and it also seems that there is alot work just
to retrieve some data. However, notice that the User class is totally unware of been
stored in the database, and the database is unware of the User class.
One of advantages of SqlMap is the ability to map complex object relationship, collections from an existing database. On the other hand, Active Record provide a very
simple way to interact with the underlying database but unable to do more complicated relationship or collections. A good compromise is to use SqlMap to retrieve
complicated relationships and collections as Active Record objects and then using
these Active Records to do the updates, inserts and deletes.
Continuing with the previous example, we change the definition of the User class to
become an Active Record.
{
const TABLE=users; //table name
public $username; //the column named "username" in the "users" table
public $email;
/**
* @return TActiveRecord active record finder instance
251

*/
{
}
}
We also need to change the definition of the SqlMap XML configuration. We just
need to change the value of resultClass attribute to UserRecord.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<sqlMapConfig>
<select id="SelectUsers" resultClass="UserRecord">
SELECT username, email FROM users
</select>
</sqlMapConfig>
The PHP code for retrieving the users remains the same, but SqlMap returns Active
Records instead, and we can take advantage of the Active Record methods.
//assume that $sqlmap is an TSqlMapGateway instance

$user = $sqlmap->queryForObject("SelectUsers");
$user->email = [email protected]; //change data
$user->save(); //save it using Active Record
15.6.6
References
Fowler et. al. iPatterns of Enterprise Application Architecture/i, Addison

Wesley, 2002.
iBatis Team. iiBatis Data Mapper/i, http://ibatis.apache.org.
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Chapter 16
Advanced Topics
16.1
Collections
Collection is a basic data structure in programming. In traditional PHP programming,

array is used widely to represent collection data structure. A PHP array is a mix of
cardinal-indexed array and hash table.
To enable object-oriented manipulation of collections, PRADO provides a set of powerful collection classes. Among them, the TList and TMap are the most fundamental
and usually serve as the base classes for other collection classes. Since many PRADO
components have properties that are of collection type, it is very important for developers to master the usage of PRADO collection classes.
16.1.1
Using TList
A TList object represents a cardinal-indexed array, i.e., an array (object) with the
index 0, 1, 2, ...
TList may be used like a PHP array. For example,
$list=new TList; // create a list object

...
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Chapter 16. Advanced Topics

$item=$list[$index];
$list[]=$item;
// read the item at the specified index
// append the item at the end
$list[$index]=$item; // replace the item at the specified index

unset($list[$index]); // remove the item at $index
if(isset($list[$index])) // test if the list has an item at $index
foreach($list as $index=>$item) // traverse each item in the list
To obtain the number of items in the list, use the Count property. Note, do not use
count($list), as it always returns 1.
In addition, TList implements a few commonly used convenient methods for manipulating the data in a list. These include
clear(): removes all items in the list.
contains(): tests if the list contains the specified item.
indexOf(): obtains the zero-based index of the specified item in the list.
toArray(): returns an array representation of the items in the list.
copyFrom(): populates the list with data from an array or traversable object
(including TList). Existing items will be removed first.
mergeWith(): appends the list with data from an array or traversable object
(including TList).
Using TList-based component properties

As aforementioned, many PRADO component properties are based on TList or TListderived collection classes. These properties all share the above usages.
For example, TControl (the base class for all PRADO controls) has a property called
Controls which represents the collection of child controls. The type of Controls is
TControlCollection which extends TList. Therefore, to append a new child control,
we can use the following,
$control->Controls[]=$newControl;
To traverse through the child controls, we can use,
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16.1. Collections
foreach($control->Controls as $childControl) ...
Another example is the Items property, available in list controls, TRepeater, TDataList
and TDataGrid. In these controls, the ancestor class of Items is TList.
Extending TList
Often, we want to extend TList to perform additional operations for each addition
or removal of an item. The only methods that the child class needs to override are
insertAt() and removeAt(). For example, to ensure the list only contains items that
are of TControl type, we can override insertAt() as follows,
public function insertAt($index,$item)
{
if($item instanceof TControl)
parent::insertAt($index,$item)
else
throw new Exception(TControl required.);
}
16.1.2
Using TMap
A TMap object represents a hash table (or we say string-indexed array).

Similar to TList, TMap may be used like an array,
$map=new TMap; // create a map object
...
$map[$key]=$value; // add a key-value pair
unset($map[$key]); // remove the value with the specified key
if(isset($map[$key])) // if the map contains the key
foreach($map as $key=>$value) // traverse the items in the map
The Count property gives the number of items in the map while the Keys property
returns a list of keys used in the map.
The following methods are provided by TMap for convenience,
255

clear(): removes all items in the map.
contains(): tests if the map contains the specified key.
toArray(): returns an array representation of the items in the map.
copyFrom(): populates the map with data from an array or traversable object
(including TMap). Existing items will be removed first.
mergeWith(): appends the map with data from an array or traversable object
(including TMap).
Using of TAttributeCollection
TAttributeCollection is a special class extending from TMap. It is mainly used by the
Attributes property of TControl.
Besides the normal functionalities provided by TMap, TAttributeCollection allows you
to get and set collection items like getting and setting properties. For example,
$collection->Label=value; // equivalent to: $collection[Label]=value;

echo $collection->Label; // equivalent to: echo $collection[Label];
Note, in the above $collection does NOT have a Label property.

Unlike TMap, keys in TAttributeCollection are case-insensitive. Therefore, $collection->Label
is equivalent to $collection->LABEL.
Because of the above new features, when dealing with the Attributes property of
controls, we may take advantage of the subproperty concept and configure control
attribute values in a template as follows,
<com:TButton Attributes.onclick="if(!confirm(Are you sure?)) return false;" .../>
which adds an attribute named onclick to the TButton control.
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16.2
Authentication and Authorization
Authentication is a process of verifying whether someone is who he claims he is. It

usually involves a username and a password, but may include any other methods of
demonstrating identity, such as a smart card, fingerprints, etc.
Authorization is finding out if the person, once identified, is permitted to manipulate
specific resources. This is usually determined by finding out if that person is of a
particular role that has access to the resources.
16.2.1
How PRADO Auth Framework Works
PRADO provides an extensible authentication/authorization framework.
As de-
scribed in application lifecycles, TApplication reserves several lifecycles for modules

responsible for authentication and authorization. PRADO provides the TAuthManager
module for such purposes. Developers can plug in their own auth modules easily.
TAuthManager is designed to be used together with TUserManager module, which implements a read-only user database.
When a page request occurs, TAuthManager will try to restore user information from session. If no user information is found, the user is considered as an anonymous or guest
user. To facilitate user identity verification, TAuthManager provides two commonly
used methods: login() and logout(). A user is logged in (verified) if his username
and password entries match a record in the user database managed by TUserManager.
A user is logged out if his user information is cleared from session and he needs to
re-login if he makes new page requests.
During Authorization application lifecycle, which occurs after Authentication lifecycle,
TAuthManager will verify if the current user has access to the requested page according
to a set of authorization rules. The authorization is role-based, i.e., a user has access
to a page if 1) the page explicitly states that the user has access; 2) or the user is of
a particular role that has access to the page. If the user does not have access to the
page, TAuthManager will redirect user browser to the login page which is specified by
LoginPage property.
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16.2.2
Using PRADO Auth Framework
To enable PRADO auth framework, add the TAuthManager module and TUserManager
module to application configuration,
<service id="page" class="TPageService">
<modules>
<module id="auth" class="System.Security.TAuthManager"
UserManager="users" LoginPage="UserLogin" />
<module id="users" class="System.Security.TUserManager"
PasswordMode="Clear">
<user name="demo" password="demo" />
<user name="admin" password="admin" />
</module>
</modules>
</service>
In the above, the UserManager property of TAuthManager is set to the users module
which is TUserManager. Developers may replace it with a different user management
module that is derived from TUserManager.
Authorization rules for pages are specified in page configurations as follows,
<authorization>
<allow pages="PageID1,PageID2"
users="User1,User2"
roles="Role1" />
<deny pages="PageID1,PageID2"
users="?"
verb="post" />
</authorization>
An authorization rule can be either an allow rule or a deny rule. Each rule consists
of four optional properties:
pages - list of comma-separated page names that this rule applies to. If empty,
not set or wildcard *, this rule will apply to all pages under the current directory
and all its subdirectories recursively.
258

users - list of comma-separated user names that this rule applies to. If empty, not
set or wildcard *, this rule will apply to all users including anonymous/guest
user. A character ? refers to anonymous/guest user. And a character @ refers
to authenticated users (available since v3.1).
roles - list of comma-separated user roles that this rule applies to. If empty, not
set or wildcard *, this rule will apply to all user roles.
verb - page access method that this rule applies to. It can be either get or post.
If empty, not set or wildcard *, the rule will apply to both methods.
When a page request is being processed, a list of authorization rules may be available.
However, only the ifirst effective/i rule imatching/i the current user will render
the authorization result.
Rules are ordered bottom-up, i.e., the rules contained in the configuration of
current page folder go first. Rules in configurations of parent page folders go
after.
A rule is effective if the current page is in the listed pages of the rule AND the
current user action (get or post) is in the listed actions.
A rule matching occurs if the current user name is in the listed user names of
an ieffective/i rule OR if the users role is in the listed roles of that rule.
If no rule matches, the user is authorized.
In the above example, anonymous users will be denied from posting to PageID1 and
PageID2, while User1 and User2 and all users of role Role1 can access the two pages (in
both get and post methods).
Since version 3.1.1, the pages attribute in the authorization rules can take relative
page paths with wildcard *. For example, pages="admin.Home" refers to the Home page
under the admin directory, and pages="admin.*" would refer to all pages under the
admin directory and subdirectories.
Also introduced in version 3.1.1 are IP rules. They are specified by a new attribute
ips in authorization rules. The IP rules are used to determine if an authorization
rule aplies to an end-user according to his IP address. One can list a few IPs together, separated by comma ,. Wildcard * can be used in the rules. For example,
259

ips="192.168.0.2, 192.168.1.*" means the rule applies to users whose IP address is
192.168.0.2 or 192.168.1.*. The latter matches any host in the subnet 192.168.1. If
the attribute ips is empty, not set or wildcard *, the corresponding rule will apply
to requests coming from any host address.
16.2.3
Using TUserManager
As aforementioned, TUserManager implements a read-only user database. The user

information are specified in either application configuration or an external XML file.
We have seen in the above example that two users are specified in the application
configuration.
Complete syntax of specifying the user and role information is as
follows,
<user name="demo" password="demo" roles="demo,admin" />

<role name="admin" users="demo,demo2" />
where the roles attribute in user element is optional. User roles can be specified in
either the user element or in a separate role element.
16.2.4
Using TDbUserManager
TDbUserManager is introduced in v3.1.0. Its main purpose is to simplify the task of

managing user accounts that are stored in a database. It requires developers to write
a user class that represents the necessary information for a user account. The user
class must extend from TDbUser.
To use TDbUserManager, configure it in the application configuration like following:
<module id="db"
class="System.Data.TDataSourceConfig" ..../>
<module id="users"
class="System.Security.TDbUserManager"
UserClass="Path.To.MyUserClass"
ConnectionID="db" />
<module id="auth"
260

class="System.Security.TAuthManager"
UserManager="users" LoginPage="Path.To.LoginPage" />
In the above, UserClass specifies what class will be used to create user instance. The
class must extend from TDbUser. ConnectionID refers to the ID of a TDataSourceConfig
module which specifies how to establish database connection to retrieve user information.
The user class has to implement the two abstract methods in TDbUser: validateUser()
and createUser(). Since user account information is stored in a database, the user
class may make use of its DbConnection property to reach the database.
Since 3.1.1, TAuthManager provides support to allow remembering login by setting
AllowAutoLogin to true.
Accordingly, TDbUser adds two methods to facilitate the
implementation of this feature. In particular, two new methods are introduced:

createUserFromCookie() and saveUserToCookie(). Developers should implement these
two methods if remembering login is needed. Below is a sample implementation:
public function createUserFromCookie($cookie)

{
if(($data=$cookie->Value)!==)
{
$application=Prado::getApplication();
if(($data=$application->SecurityManager->validateData($data))!==false)
{
$data=unserialize($data);
if(is_array($data) && count($data)===3)
{
list($username,$address,$token)=$data;
$sql=SELECT passcode FROM user WHERE LOWER(username)=:username;
$command=$this->DbConnection->createCommand($sql);
$command->bindValue(:username,strtolower($username));
if($token===$command->queryScalar() && $token!==false && $address=$application->Request->

return $this->createUser($username);
}
}
}
return null;
}
261
public function saveUserToCookie($cookie)

{
$application=Prado::getApplication();
$username=strtolower($this->Name);
$address=$application->Request->UserHostAddress;
$sql=SELECT passcode FROM user WHERE LOWER(username)=:username;
$command=$this->DbConnection->createCommand($sql);
$command->bindValue(:username,strtolower($username));
$token=$command->queryScalar();
$data=array($username,$address,$token);
$data=serialize($data);
$data=$application->SecurityManager->hashData($data);
$cookie->setValue($data);
}
16.3
Security
16.3.1
Viewstate Protection
Viewstate lies at the heart of PRADO. Viewstate represents data that can be used
to restore pages to the state that is last seen by end users before making the current
request. By default, PRADO uses hidden fields to store viewstate information.
It is extremely important to ensure that viewstate is not tampered by end users.
Without protection, malicious users may inject harmful code into viewstate and unwanted instructions may be performed when page state is being restored on server
side.
To prevent viewstate from being tampered, PRADO enforces viewstate HMAC (KeyedHashing for Message Authentication) check before restoring viewstate. Such a check
can detect if the viewstate has been tampered or not by end users.
Should the
viewstate is modified, PRADO will stop restoring the viewstate and return an error
message.
HMAC check requires a private key that should be secret to end users. Developers can
either manually specify a key or let PRADO automatically generate a key. Manually
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16.3. Security
specified key is useful when the application runs on a server farm. To do so, configure
TSecurityManager in application configuration,
<modules>
<module id="security"
class="TSecurityManager"
ValidationKey="my private key" />
</modules>
HMAC check does not prevent end users from reading the viewstate content. An
added security measure is to encrypt the viewstate information so that end users
cannot decipher it. To enable viewstate encryption, set the EnableStateEncryption
of pages to true. This can be done in page configurations or in page code. Note,
encrypting viewstate may degrade the application performance. A better strategy is
to store viewstate on the server side, rather than the default hidden field.
16.3.2
Cross Site Scripting Prevention
Cross site scripting (also known as XSS) occurs when a web application gathers malicious data from a user. Often attackers will inject JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX,
HTML, or Flash into a vulnerable application to fool other application users and
gather data from them. For example, a poorly design forum system may display user
input in forum posts without any checking. An attacker can then inject a piece of
malicious JavaScript code into a post so that when other users read this post, the
JavaScript runs unexpectedly on their computers.
One of the most important measures to prevent XSS attacks is to check user input before displaying them. One can do HTML-encoding with the user input to achieve this
goal. However, in some situations, HTML-encoding may not be preferable because it
disables all HTML tags.
PRADO incorporates the work of SafeHTML and provides developers with a useful
component called TSafeHtml. By enclosing content within a TSafeHtml component tag,
the enclosed content are ensured to be safe to end users. In addition, the commonly
used TTextBox has a SafeText property which contains user input that are ensured to
be safe if displayed directly to end users.
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With the broad use of active controls and more generally of AJAX-enabled controls
using Javascript to transfer data between the server and the client, its common to
see attackers target javascript itself as a vector to inject malicious code.
Imagine a validator that uses an ajax callback to check user input from a textbox and
returns an error message including the user input, example: The email address is not
valid: [email protected]. In such a situation user input must be checked to avoid
possible injection.
The classic xss check involves checking for html tags inside the message and encode
them; but since the message gets sent back to the client inside a javascript block,
it needs to be encoded again to avoid any possible javascript escaping. By default
PRADO encodes all variables sent clientside inside a javascript block to avoid any
user-generated input from injecting malicious javascript code.
16.3.3
Cookie Attack Prevention
Protecting cookies from being attacked is of extreme important, as session IDs are
commonly stored in cookies. If one gets hold of a session ID, he essentially owns all
relevant session information.
There are several countermeasures to prevent cookies from being attacked.
An application can use SSL to create a secure communication channel and only
pass the authentication cookie over an HTTPS connection. Attackers are thus
unable to decipher the contents in the transferred cookies.
Expire sessions appropriately, including all cookies and session tokens, to reduce
the likelihood of being attacked.
Prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) which causes arbitrary code to run in a users
browser and expose his cookies.
Validate cookie data and detect if they are altered.
PRADO implements a cookie validation scheme that prevents cookies from being
modified. In particular, it does HMAC check for the cookie values if cookie validation
is enable.
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16.4. Assets
Cookie validation is disabled by default. To enable it, configure the THttpRequest
module as follows,
<modules>
<module id="request" class="THttpRequest" EnableCookieValidation="true" />
</modules>
To make use of cookie validation scheme provided by PRADO, you also need to
retrieve cookies through the Cookies collection of THttpRequest by using the following
PHP statements,
foreach($this->Request->Cookies as $cookie)
// $cookie is of type THttpCookie
To send cookie data encoded with validation information, create new THttpCookie
objects and add them to the Cookies collection of THttpResponse,
$cookie=new THttpCookie($name,$value);
$this->Response->Cookies[]=$cookie;
16.4
Assets
Assets are resource files (such as images, sounds, videos, CSS stylesheets, javascripts,
etc.) that belong to specific component classes. Assets are meant to be provided
to Web users. For better reusability and easier deployment of the corresponding
component classes, assets should reside together with the component class files . For
example, a toggle button may use two images, stored in file down.gif and up.gif, to
show different toggle states. If we require the image files be stored under images
directory under the Web server document root, it would be inconvenient for the
users of the toggle button component, because each time they develop or deploy a
new application, they would have to manually copy the image files to that specific
directory. To eliminate this requirement, a directory relative to the component class
file should be used for storing the image files. A common strategy is to use the
directory containing the component class file to store the asset files.
265

Because directories containing component class files are normally inaccessible by Web
users, PRADO implements an asset publishing scheme to make available the assets
to Web users. An asset, after being published, will have a URL by which Web users
can retrieve the asset file.
16.4.1
Asset Publishing
PRADO provides several methods for publishing assets or directories containing assets:
In a template file, you can use asset tags to publish assets and obtain their URLs.
Note, the assets must be relative to the directory containing the template file.
In PHP code, you can call $object->publishAsset($assetPath) to publish an asset
and obtain its URL. Here, $object refers to an instance of TApplicationComponent
or derived class, and $assetPath is a file or directory relative to the directory
containing the class file.
If you want to publish an arbitrary asset, you need to call TAssetManager::publishFilePath($path).
BE AWARE: Be very careful with assets publishing, because it gives Web users access
to files that were previously inaccessible to them. Make sure that you do not publish
files that do not want Web users to see.
16.4.2
Customization
Asset publishing is managed by the System.Web.TAssetManager module. By default,

all published asset files are stored under the [AppEntryPath]/assets directory, where
AppEntryPath refers to the directory containing the application entry script. Make
sure the assets directory is writable by the Web server process. You may change
this directory to another by configuring the BasePath and BaseUrl properties of the
TAssetManager module in application configuration,
<modules>
<module id="asset"
class="System.Web.TAssetManager"
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16.4. Assets
BasePath="Web.images"
BaseUrl="images" />
</modules>
16.4.3
Performance
PRADO uses caching techniques to ensure the efficiency of asset publishing. Publishing an asset essentially requires file copy operation, which is expensive. To save
unnecessary file copy operations, System.Web.TAssetManager only publishes an asset
when it has a newer file modification time than the published file. When an application runs under the Performance mode, such timestamp checking is also omitted.
ADVISORY: Do not overuse asset publishing. The asset concept is mainly used to
help better reuse and redistribute component classes. Normally, you should not use
asset publishing for resources that are not bound to any component in an application.
For example, you should not use asset publishing for images that are mainly used
as design elements (e.g. logos, background images, etc.) Let Web server to directly
serve these images will help improve the performance of your application.
16.4.4
A Toggle Button Example
We now use the toggle button example to explain the usage of assets. The control uses
two image files up.gif and down.gif, which are stored under the directory containing
the control class file. When the button is in Up state, we would like to show the up.gif
image. This can be done as follows,
class ToggleButton extends TWebControl {

...
protected function addAttributesToRender($writer) {
...
if($this->getState()===Up) {
$url=$this->getAsset(up.gif);
$writer->addAttribute(src,$url);
}
...
}
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...
}
In the above, the call $this->getAsset(up.gif) will publish the up.gif image file and
return a URL for the published image file. The URL is then rendered as the src
attribute of the HTML image tag.
To redistribute ToggleButton, simply pack together the class file and the image files.
Users of ToggleButton merely need to unpack the file, and they can use it right away,
without worrying about where to copy the image files to.
16.5
Master and Content
Pages in a Web application often share common portions. For example, all pages of
this tutorial application share the same header and footer portions. If we repeatedly
put header and footer in every page source file, it will be a maintenance headache if in
future we want to something in the header or footer. To solve this problem, PRADO
introduces the concept of master and content. It is essentially a decorator pattern,
with content being decorated by master.
Master and content only apply to template controls (controls extending TTemplateControl
or its child classes). A template control can have at most one master control and one
or several contents (each represented by a TContent control). Contents will be inserted into the master control at places reserved by TContentPlaceHolder controls.
And the presentation of the template control is that of the master control with
TContentPlaceHolder replaced by TContent.
For example, assume a template control has the following template:
<%@ MasterClass="MasterControl" %>

<com:TContent ID="A" >
content A
</com:TContent >
<com:TContent ID="B" >
content B
</com:TContent >
<com:TContent ID="B" >
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16.5. Master and Content

content B
</com:TContent >
which uses MasterControl as its master control. The master control has the following
template,
other stuff
<com:TContentPlaceHolder ID="A" />
other stuff
<com:TContentPlaceHolder ID="B" />
other stuff
<com:TContentPlaceHolder ID="C" />
other stuff
Then, the contents are inserted into the master control according to the following diagram, while the resulting parent-child relationship can be shown in the next diagram.
Note, the template control discards everything in the template other than the contents, while the master control keeps everything and replaces the content placeholders
with the contents according to ID matching.
16.5.1
Master vs. External Template
Master is very similar to external templates which are introduced since version 3.0.5.
A special include tag is used to include an external template file into a base template.
269
Both master and external template can be used to share common contents among
pages. A master is a template control whose template contains the common content and whose class file contains the logic associated with the master. An external
template, on the other hand, is a pure template file without any class files.
Therefore, use master control if the common content has to be associated with some
logic, such as a page header with search box or login box. A master control allows
you to specify how the common content should interact with end users. If you use
external templates, you will have to put the needed logic in the page or control class
who owns the base template.
Performancewise, external template is lighter than master as the latter is a selfcontained control participating the page lifecycles, while the former is used only when
the template is being parsed.
16.6
Themes and Skins
16.6.1
Introduction
Themes in PRADO provide a way for developers to provide a consistent look-andfeel across an entire web application. A theme contains a list of initial values for
properties of various control types. When applying a theme to a page, all controls on
that page will receive the corresponding initial property values from the theme. This
allows themes to interact with the rich property sets of the various PRADO controls,
meaning that themes can be used to specify a large range of presentational properties
that other theming methods (e.g. CSS) cannot. For example, themes could be used
270
16.6. Themes and Skins

to specify the default page size of all data grids across an application by specifying a
default value for the PageSize property of the TDataGrid control.
16.6.2
Understanding Themes
A theme is a directory that consists of skin files, javascript files and CSS files. Any
javascript or CSS files contained in a theme will be registered with the page that the
theme is applied to. A skin is a set of initial property values for a particular control
type. A control type may have one or several skins, each identified by a unique SkinID.
When applying a theme to a page, a skin is applied to a control if the control type
and the SkinID value both match to those of the skin. Note, if a skin has an empty
SkinID value, it will apply to all controls of the particular type whose SkinID is not set
or empty. A skin file consists of one or several skins, for one or several control types.
A theme is the union of skins defined in all skin files.
16.6.3
Using Themes
To use a theme, you need to set the Theme property of the page with the theme name,
which is the theme directory name. You may set it in either page configurations or
in the constructor or onPreInit() method of the page. You cannot set the property
after onPreInit() because by that time, child controls of the page are already created
(skins must be applied to controls right after they are created.)
To use a particular skin in the theme for a control, set SkinID property of the control
in template like following,
<com:TButton SkinID="Blue" ... />
This will apply the Blue skin to the button. Note, the initial property values specified
by the Blue skin will overwrite any existing property values of the button. Use
stylesheet theme if you do not want them to be overwritten. To use stylesheet theme,
set the StyleSheetTheme property of the page instead of Theme (you can have both
StyleSheetTheme and Theme).
To use the Javascript files and CSS files contained in a theme, a THead control must
be placed on the page template. This is because the theme will register those files
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with the page and THead is the right place to load those files.
It is possible to specify media types of CSS files contained in a theme. By default, a
CSS file applies to all media types. If the CSS file is named like mystyle.print.css,
it will be applied only to print media type. As another example, mystyle.screen.css
applies to screen media only, and mystyle.css applies to all media types.
16.6.4
Theme Storage
All themes by default must be placed under the [AppEntryPath]/themes directory,

where AppEntryPath refers to the directory containing the application entry script. If
you want to use a different directory, configure the BasePath and BaseUrl properties
of the System.Web.UI.TThemeManager module in application configuration,
<service id="page" class="TPageService">

<modules>
<module id="theme"
class="System.Web.UI.TThemeManager"
BasePath="mythemes"
BaseUrl="mythemes" />
</modules>
</service>
16.6.5
Creating Themes
Creating a theme involves creating the theme directory and writing skin files (and
possibly Javascript and CSS files). The name of skin files must be terminated with
.skin. The format of skin files are the same as that of control template files. Since skin
files do not define parent-child presentational relationship among controls, you cannot
place a component tag within another. And any static texts between component tags
are discarded. To define the aforementioned Blue skin for TButton, write the following
in a skin file,
<com:TButton SkinID="Blue" BackColor="blue" />
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16.6. Themes and Skins

As aforementioned, you can put several skins within a single skin file, or split them
into several files. A commonly used strategy is that each skin file only contains skins
for one type of controls. For example, Button.skin would contain skins only for the
TButton control type.
16.6.6
Web controls decorators
As an alternative to the previous methods, to customize the rending of a control its

Decorator property can be customized. A TWebControlDecorator can add custom text
(html code) before and after both the open and close tag of the control.
<com:THeader3>
<prop:Decorator.PreTagText>

<div class="imported-theme-h3-container">
</prop:Decorator.PreTagText>
<prop:Decorator.PostTagText>

</div>
</prop:Decorator.PostTagText>
My Nice Title
</com:THeader3>
In this example, a container div will be rendered around the THeader3 control, allowing
the user to specify a css class for the container. TWebControlDecorator can also interpret
prados template code and output the resulting html:
<com:TPanel>
<prop:Decorator.PreTagTemplate>

<com:THeader3>
Panels Injected Title
</com:THeader3>
</prop:Decorator.PreTagTemplate>
<prop:Decorator.PostTagTemplate>

Pick a date: <com:TDatePicker />
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</prop:Decorator.PostTagTemplate>
Panel contents here.
</com:TPanel>
Note that you can use the Decorator property also inside skin files, getting it applied
automatically to all the controls subjected to the specific skin.
16.7
Persistent State
Web applications often need to remember what an end user has done in previous page
requests so that the new page request can be served accordingly. State persistence is to
address this problem. Traditionally, if a page needs to keep track of user interactions,
it will resort to session, cookie, or hidden fields. PRADO provides a new line of state
persistence schemes, including view state, control state, and application state.
16.7.1
View State
View state lies at the heart of PRADO. With view state, Web pages become stateful
and are capable of restoring pages to the state that end users interacted with before
the current page request. Web programming thus resembles to Windows GUI programming, and developers can think continuously without worrying about the round
trips between end users and the Web server. For example, with view state, a textbox
control is able to detect if the user input changes the content in the textbox.
View state is only available to controls. View state of a control can be disabled by
setting its EnableViewState property to false. To store a variable in view state, call
the following,
$this->setViewState(Caption,$caption);
where $this refers to the control object, Caption is a unique key identifying the
$caption variable stored in viewstate. To retrieve the variable back from view state,
call the following,
$caption = $this->getViewState(Caption);
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16.8. Logging
16.7.2
Control State
Control state is like view state in every aspect except that control state cannot be
disabled. Control state is intended to be used for storing crucial state information
without which a page or control may not work properly.
To store and retrieve a variable in control state, use the following commands,
$this->setControlState(Caption,$caption);
$caption = $this->getControlState(Caption);
16.7.3
Application State
Application state refers to data that is persistent across user sessions and page requests. A typical example of application state is the user visit counter. The counter
value is persistent even if the current user session terminates. Note, view state and
control state are lost if the user requests for a different page, while session state is
lost if the user session terminates.
To store and retrieve a variable in application state, use the following commands,
$application->setGlobalState(Caption,$caption);
$caption = $application->getGlobalState(Caption);
16.7.4
Session State
PRADO encapsulates the traditional session management in THttpSession module.

The module can be accessed from within any component by using $this->Session,
where $this refers to the component object.
16.8
Logging
PRADO provides a highly flexible and extensible logging functionality. Messages

logged can be classified according to log levels, message categories and originating
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control.
Using level, category, control or timestamp filters, the messages can be
further routed to different destinations, such as files, emails, browser windows, etc.
The following diagram shows the basic architecture of PRADO logging mechanism,
16.8.1
Using Logging Functions
The following two methods are provided for logging messages in PRADO,
Prado::log($message, $logLevel, $category, $control);

Prado::trace($message, $category, $control);
The difference between Prado::log() and Prado::trace() is that the latter automatically selects the log level according to the application mode. If the application is in
Debug mode, stack trace information is appended to the messages. Prado::trace() is
widely used in the core code of the PRADO framework.
16.8.2
Message Routing
Messages logged using the above two functions are kept in memory. To make use of the
messages, developers need to route them to specific destinations, such as files, emails,
or browser windows.
The message routing is managed by System.Util.TLogRouter
module. When plugged into an application, it can route the messages to different
destination in parallel. Currently, PRADO provides four types of routes:
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16.8. Logging
TFileLogRoute - filtered messages are stored in a specified log file. By default,
this file is named prado.log under the runtime directory of the application. File
rotation is provided.
TEmailLogRoute - filtered messages are sent to pre-specified email addresses.
TBrowserLogRoute - filtered messages are appended to the end of the current page
output.
TFirebugLogRoute - filtered messages are sent to the Firebug console
To enable message routing, plug in and configure the TLogRouter module in application
configuration,
<module id="log" class="System.Util.TLogRouter">
<route class="TBrowserLogRoute"
Levels="Info"
Categories="System.Web.UI.TPage, System.Web.UI.WebControls" />
<route class="TFileLogRoute"
Levels="Warning, Error"
Categories="System.Web" />
</module>
In the above, the Levels and Categories specify the log and category filters to selectively retrieve the messages to the corresponding destinations.
16.8.3
Message Filtering
Messages can be filtered according to their log levels and categories. Each log message
is associated with a log level and a category. With levels and categories, developers
can selectively retrieve messages that they are interested on.
Log levels defined in System.Util.TLogger include : DEBUG, INFO, NOTICE, WARNING, ERROR,
ALERT, FATAL. Messages can be filtered according log level criteria. For example, if a
filter specifies WARNING and ERROR levels, then only those messages that are of WARNING
and ERROR will be returned.
Message categories are hierarchical. A category whose name is the prefix of another is
said to be the ancestor category of the other category. For example, System.Web cate-
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gory is the ancestor of System.Web.UI and System.Web.UI.WebControls categories. Messages can be selectively retrieved using such hierarchical category filters. For example,
if the category filter is System.Web, then all messages in the System.Web are returned.
In addition, messages in the child categories, such as System.Web.UI.WebControls, are
also returned.
By convention, the messages logged in the core code of PRADO are categorized
according to the namespace of the corresponding classes.
For example, messages
logged in TPage will be of category System.Web.UI.TPage.
16.9
Internationalization (I18N) and Localization (L10N)
Many web application built with PHP will not have internationalization in mind when
it was first written. It may be that it was not intended for use in languages and cultures. Internationalization is an important aspect due to the increase adoption of
the Internet in many non-English speaking countries. The process of internationalization and localization will contain difficulties. Below are some general guidelines to
internationalize an existing application.
16.9.1
Separate culture/locale sensitive data
Identify and separate data that varies with culture. The most obvious are text/string/message.
Other type of data should also be considered. The following list categorize some examples of culture sensitive data
Strings, Messages, Text, in relatively small units (e.g. phrases, sentences, paragraphs, but not the full text of a book).
Labels on buttons.
Help files, large units of text, static text.
Sounds.
Colors.
Graphics,Icons.
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16.9. Internationalization (I18N) and Localization (L10N)

Dates, Times.
Numbers, Currency, Measurements.
Phone numbers.
Honorific and personal titles.
Postal address.
Page layout.
If possible all manner of text should be isolated and store in a persistence format.
These text include, application error messages, hard coded strings in PHP files, emails,
static HTML text, and text on form elements (e.g. buttons).
16.9.2
Configuration
To enable the localization features in PRADO, you need to add a few configuration
options in your application configuration. First you need to include the System.I18N.*
namespace to your paths.
<paths>
<using namespace="System.I18N.*" />
</paths>
Then, if you wish to translate some text in your application, you need to add one
translation message data source.
<module id="globalization" class="TGlobalization">
<translation type="XLIFF"
source="MyApp.messages"
marker="@@"
autosave="true" cache="true" />
</module>
Where source in translation is the dot path to a directory where you are going to
store your translate message catalogue. The autosave attribute if enabled, saves untranslated messages back into the message catalogue. With cache enabled, translated
279

messages are saved in the application runtime/i18n directory. The marker value is used
to surround any untranslated text.
With the configuration complete, we can now start to localize your application. If you
have autosave enabled, after running your application with some localization activity
(i.e. translating some text), you will see a directory and a messages.xml created within
your source directory.
16.9.3
What to do with messages.xml?
The translation message catalogue file, if using type="XLIFF", is a standardized translation message interchange XML format. You can edit the XML file using any UTF-8
aware editor. The format of the XML is something like the following.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xliff version="1.0">
<file original="I18N Example IndexPage"
source-language="EN"
datatype="plaintext"
date="2005-01-24T11:07:53Z">
<body>
<trans-unit id="1">
<source>Hello world.</source>
<target>Hi World!!!</target>
</trans-unit>
</body>
</file>
</xliff>
Each translation message is wrapped within a trans-unit tag, where source is the
original message, and target is the translated message. Editors such as Heartsome
XLIFF Translation Editor can help in editing these XML files.
280
16.9. Internationalization (I18N) and Localization (L10N)
16.9.4
Using a Database for translation
Since version 3.1.3 the messages can also be stored in a database using the connection
id from an existing TDataSourceConfig. You have to create two tables in your database:
catalogue and trans unit. The catalogue table needs an entry for each catalogue you
want to use. Example schemas for different databases can be found in the frameworks
I18N/schema directory. To configure translation with a database use:/
<module id="db1" class="System.Data.TDataSourceConfig">

<database ConnectionString="mysql:host=localhost;dbname=demodb" Username="demo" Password="demo" />
</module>
<module id="globalization" class="TGlobalization">
<translation
type="Database"
autosave="true"
cache="false"
source="db1" />
</module>
The translation messages will be stored in the trans unit table. Add your translation
in the target field of that table. You should make sure that you are working on the
right catalogue by comparing the messages cat id with that from the catalogue table.
16.9.5
Setting and Changing Culture
Once globalization is enabled, you can access the globalization settings, such as,
Culture, Charset, etc, using
$globalization = $this->getApplication()->getGlobalization();
echo $globalization->Culture;
$globalization->Charset= "GB-2312"; //change the charset
You also change the way the culture is determined by changing the class attribute
in the module configuration. For example, to set the culture that depends on the
browser settings, you can use the TGlobalizationAutoDetect class.
281

<module id="globalization" class="TGlobalizationAutoDetect">
...
</module>
You may also provide your own globalization class to change how the application
culture is set. Lastly, you can change the globalization settings on page by page basis
using template control tags. For example, changing the Culture to zh.
<%@ Application.Globalization.Culture="zh" %>
16.9.6
Localizing your PRADO application
There are two areas in your application that may need message or string localization, in PHP code and in the templates. To localize strings within PHP, use the
localize function detailed below. To localize text in the template, use the TTranslate
component.
16.9.7
Using localize function to translate text within PHP
The localize function searches for a translated string that matches original from your
translation source. First, you need to locate all the hard coded text in PHP that are
displayed or sent to the end user. The following example localizes the text of the
$sender (assuming, say, the sender is a button). The original code before localization
is as follows.
function clickMe($sender,$param)
{
$sender->Text="Hello, world!";
}
The hard coded message Hello, world! is to be localized using the localize function.
function clickMe($sender,$param)
{
$sender->Text=Prado::localize("Hello, world!");
}
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16.10. I18N Components
16.9.8
Compound Messages
Compound messages can contain variable data. For example, in the message There
are 12 users online., the integer 12 may change depending on some data in your
application. This is difficult to translate because the position of the variable data
may be difference for different languages. In addition, different languages have their
own rules for plurals (if any) and/or quantifiers. The following example can not be
easily translated, because the sentence structure is fixed by hard coding the variable
data within message.
$num_users = 12;
$message = "There are " . $num_users . " users online.";
This problem can be solved using the localize function with string substitution. For
example, the $message string above can be constructed as follows.
$num_users = 12;
$message = Prado::localize("There are {num_users} users online.", array(num_users=>$num_users));
Where the second parameter in localize takes an associative array with the key as
the substitution to find in the text and replaced it with the associated value. The
localize function does not solve the problem of localizing languages that have plural
forms, the solution is to use TChoiceFormat.
The following sample demonstrates the basics of localization in PRADO. Advanced.Samples.I18N.Home
Demo
16.10
I18N Components
16.10.1
TTranslate
Messages and strings can be localized in PHP or in templates. To translate a message

or string in the template, use TTranslate.
<com:TTranslate>Hello World</com:TTranslate>
<com:TTranslate Text="Goodbye" />
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TTranslate can also perform string substitution. The Parameters property can be use
to add name values pairs for substitution. Substrings in the translation enclosed
with { and } are consider as the parameter names during substitution lookup.
The following example will substitute the substring {time} with the value of the
parameter attribute Parameters.time=<%= time() %>.
<com:TTranslate Parameters.time=<%= time() %> >
The time is {time}.
</com:TTranslate>
A short for TTranslate is also provided using the following syntax.

<%[string]%>
where string will be translated to different languages according to the end-users

language preference. This syntax can be used with attribute values as well.
<com:TLabel Text="<%[ Hello World! ]%>" />
16.10.2
TDateFormat
Formatting localized date and time is straight forward.

<com:TDateFormat Value="12/01/2005" />
The Pattern property accepts 4 predefined localized date patterns and 4 predefined
localized time patterns.
fulldate
longdate
mediumdate
shortdate
fulltime
longtime
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mediumtime
shorttime
The predefined can be used in any combination.
If using a combined predefined
pattern, the first pattern must be the date, followed by a space, and lastly the time
pattern. For example, full date pattern with short time pattern. The actual ordering
of the date-time and the actual pattern will be determine automatically from locale
data specified by the Culture property.
<com:TDateFormat Pattern="fulldate shorttime" />
You can also specify a custom pattern using the following sub-patterns. The date/time
format is specified by means of a string time pattern. In this pattern, all ASCII letters
are reserved as pattern letters, which are defined as the following:
Symbol
Meaning
Presentation
Example
------
-------
------------
-------
era designator
(Text)
AD
year
(Number)
1996
month in year
(Text & Number)
July & 07
day in month
(Number)
10
hour in am/pm (1~12)
(Number)
12
hour in day (0~23)
(Number)
minute in hour
(Number)
30
second in minute
(Number)
55
day of week
(Text)
Tuesday
day in year
(Number)
189
day of week in month
(Number)
2 (2nd Wed in July)
week in year
(Number)
27
week in month
(Number)
am/pm marker
(Text)
PM
hour in day (1~24)
(Number)
24
hour in am/pm (0~11)
(Number)
time zone
(Time)
Pacific Standard Time
escape for text
(Delimiter)
Date=
single quote
(Literal)
oclock
The count of pattern letters determine the format.
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(Text): 4 letters uses full form, less than 4, use short or abbreviated form if it exists.
(e.g., EEEE produces Monday, EEE produces Mon)
(Number): the minimum number of digits. Shorter numbers are zero-padded to this
amount (e.g. if m produces 6, mm produces 06). Year is handled specially;
that is, if the count of y is 2, the Year will be truncated to 2 digits. (e.g., if yyyy
produces 1997, yy produces 97.) Unlike other fields, fractional seconds are
padded on the right with zero.
(Text and Number): 3 or over, use text, otherwise use number. (e.g., M produces
1, MM produces 01, MMM produces Jan, and MMMM produces January.)
Any characters in the pattern that are not in the ranges of [a..z] and [A..Z] will
be treated as quoted text. For instance, characters like :, ., , and @ will appear
in the resulting time text even they are not embraced within single quotes.
Examples using the US locale:
Format Pattern
Result
--------------
-------
"yyyy.MM.dd G at HH:mm:ss"
->>
1996.07.10 AD at 15:08:56
"EEE, MMM d, yy"
->>
Wed, Jul 10, 96
"h:mm a"
->>
12:08 PM
"hh oclock a, z"
->>
12 oclock PM, Pacific Daylight Time
"K:mm a"
->>
0:00 PM
"yyyy.MMMM.dd G hh:mm a"
->>
1996.July.10 AD 12:08 PM
If the Value property is not specified, the current date and time is used.
16.10.3
TNumberFormat
PRADOs Internationalization framework provide localized currency formatting and

number formatting. Please note that the TNumberFormat component provides formatting only, it does not perform current conversion or exchange.
Numbers can be formatted as currency, percentage, decimal or scientific numbers by
specifying the Type attribute. The valid types are:
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currency
percentage
decimal
scientific
<com:TNumberFormat Type="currency" Value="100" />
Culture and Currency properties may be specified to format locale specific numbers.
If someone from US want to see sales figures from a store in Germany (say using the
EURO currency), formatted using the german currency, you would need to use the
attribute Culture="de DE" to get the currency right, e.g. 100,00$. The decimal and
grouping separator is then also from the de DE locale. This may lead to some confusion
because people from US uses the , (comma) as thousand separator. Therefore a
Currency attribute is available, so that the output from the following example results
in $100.00
<com:TNumberFormat Type="currency"
Culture="en_US" Currency="EUR" Value="100" />
The Pattern property determines the number of digits, thousand grouping positions,
the number of decimal points and the decimal position. The actual characters that are
used to represent the decimal points and thousand points are culture specific and will
change automatically according to the Culture property. The valid Pattern characters
are:
# (hash) - represents the optional digits
0 (zero) - represents the mandatory digits, zero left filled
.
(full stop) - the position of the decimal point (only 1 decimal point is al-
lowed)
, (comma) - thousand point separation (up to 2 commas are allowed)
For example, consider the Value="1234567.12345" and with Culture="en US" (which uses
, for thousand point separator and . for decimal separators).
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Pattern
Output
-------
------
##,###.00
->>
1,234,567.12
##,###.##
->>
1,234,567.12345
##,##.0000
->>
1,23,45,67.1235
##,###,##.0
->>
12,345,67.1
000,000,000.0
->>
001,234,567.1
16.10.4
TTranslateParameter
Compound messages, i.e., string substitution, can be accomplished with TTranslateParameter.

In the following example, the strings {greeting} and {name} will be replace with
the values of Hello and World, respectively.The substitution string must be enclose with { and }. The parameters can be further translated by using TTranslate.
<com:TTranslate>
{greeting} {name}!
<com:TTranslateParameter Key="name">World</com:TTranslateParameter>
<com:TTranslateParameter Key="greeting">Hello</com:TTranslateParameter>
</com:TTranslate>
16.10.5
TChoiceFormat
Using the localize function or TTranslate component to translate messages does not
inform the translator the cardinality of the data required to determine the correct
plural structure to use. It only informs them that there is a variable data, the data
could be anything. Thus, the translator will be unable to determine with respect to
the substitution data the correct plural, language structure or phrase to use . E.g.
in English, to translate the sentence, There are number of apples., the resulting
translation should be different depending on the number of apples.
The TChoiceFormat component performs message/string choice translation. The following example demonstrated a simple 2 choice message translation.
<com:TChoiceFormat Value="1"/>[1] One Apple. |[2] Two Apples</com:TChoiceFormat>
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In the above example, the Value 1 (one), thus the translated string is One Apple.
If the Value was 2, then it will show Two Apples.
The message/string choices are separated by the pipe followed by a set notation
of the form.
[1,2] accepts values between 1 and 2, inclusive.
(1,2) accepts values between 1 and 2, excluding 1 and 2.
{1,2,3,4} only values defined in the set are accepted.
[-Inf,0) accepts value greater or equal to negative infinity and strictly less
than 0
Any non-empty combinations of the delimiters of square and round brackets are acceptable. The string chosen for display depends on the Value property. The Value is
evaluated for each set until the Value is found to belong to a particular set.
pi class=block-content Since version 3.1.1 the following set notation is also possible.
tt{n: n % 10 1 n % 10 5}/tt matches numbers like 2, 3, 4, 22, 23, 24
Where set is defined by the expression after n:. In particular, the expression accepts
the following mathematical/logical operators to form a set of logical conditions on the
value given by n:
< less than.
<= less than equals.
> greater than.
gt= greater than equals.
== of equal value.
% modulo, e.g., 1 % 10 equals 1, 11 % 10 equals 1.
- minus, negative.
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+ addition.
& conditional AND.
&& condition AND with short circuit.
| conditional OR.
|| conditional OR with short circuit.
! negation.
Additional round brackets can also be used to perform grouping. The following example represents ordinal values in English such as: 0th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
11th, 21st, 22nd, etc.
<com:TChoiceFormat Value="21">
{n: n > 0 && n % 10 == 1 && n % 100 != 11} {Value}st
|{n: n > 0 && n % 10 == 2 && n % 100 != 12} {Value}nd
|{n: n > 0 && n % 10 == 3 && n % 100 != 13} {Value}rd
|{n: n > -1 } {Value}th
|(-Inf, 0) {Value}
</com:TChoiceFormat>
16.11
Error Handling and Reporting
PRADO provides a complete error handling and reporting framework based on the
PHP 5 exception mechanism.
16.11.1
Exception Classes
Errors occur in a PRADO application may be classified into three categories: those
caused by PHP script parsing, those caused by wrong code (such as calling an undefined function, setting an unknown property), and those caused by improper use of
the Web application by client users (such as attempting to access restricted pages).
PRADO is unable to deal with the first category of errors because they cannot be
caught in PHP code. PRADO provides an exception hierarchy to deal with the second
and third categories.
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16.11. Error Handling and Reporting

All errors in PRADO applications are represented as exceptions. The base class for
all PRADO exceptions is TException. It provides the message internationalization
functionality to all system exceptions.
An error message may be translated into
different languages according to the user browsers language preference.

Exceptions raised due to improper usage of the PRADO framework inherit from
TSystemException, which can be one of the following exception classes:
TConfigurationException - improper configuration, such as error in application
configuration, control templates, etc.
TInvalidDataValueException - data value is incorrect or unexpected.
TInvalidDataTypeException - data type is incorrect or unexpected.
TInvalidDataFormatException - format of data is incorrect.
TInvalidOperationException - invalid operation request.
TPhpErrorException - catchable PHP errors, warnings, notices, etc.
TSecurityException - errors related with security.
TIOException - IO operation error, such as file open failure.
TDBException - errors related with database operations.
TNotSupportedException - errors caused by requesting for unsupported feature.
THttpException - errors to be displayed to Web client users.
Errors due to improper usage of the Web application by client users inherit from
TApplicationException.
16.11.2
Raising Exceptions
Raising exceptions in PRADO has no difference than raising a normal PHP exception.
The only thing matters is to raise the right exception. In general, exceptions meant
to be shown to application users should use THttpException, while exceptions shown
to developers should use other exception classes.
291
16.11.3
Error Capturing and Reporting
Exceptions raised during the runtime of PRADO applications are captured by System.Exceptions.TErrorH
module.
Different output templates are used to display the captured exceptions.
THttpException is assumed to contain error messages that are meant for application
end users and thus uses a specific group of templates. For all other exceptions, a
common template shown as follows is used for presenting the exceptions.
16.11.4
Customizing Error Display
Developers can customize the presentation of exception messages. By default, all error
output templates are stored under framework/Exceptions/templates. The location can
be changed by configuring TErrorHandler in application configuration,
<module id="error"
class="TErrorHandler"
ErrorTemplatePath="Application.ErrorTemplates" />
THttpException uses a set of templates that are differentiated according to different

StatusCode property value of THttpException. StatusCode has the same meaning as the
status code in HTTP protocol. For example, a status code equal to 404 means the
requested URL is not found on the server. The StatusCode value is used to select
which output template to use. The output template files use the following naming
convention:
error<status code>-<language code>.html
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16.12. Performance Tuning

where status code refers to the StatusCode property value of THttpException, and
language code must be a valid language such as en, zh, fr, etc. When a THttpException
is raised, PRADO will select an appropriate template for displaying the exception
message. PRADO will first locate a template file whose name contains the status code
and whose language is preferred by the client browser window. If such a template
is not present, it will look for a template that has the same status code but without
language code.
The naming convention for the template files used for all other exceptions is as follows,
exception-<language code>.html
Again, if the preferred language is not found, PRADO will try to use exception.html,
instead.
CAUTION: When saving a template file, please make sure the file is saved
using UTF-8 encoding. On Windows, you may use Notepad++ to accomplish
such saving.
16.12
Performance Tuning
Performance of Web applications is affected by many factors. Database access, file

system operations, network bandwidth are all potential affecting factors. PRADO
tries in every effort to reduce the performance impact caused by the framework.
16.12.1
Caching
PRADO provides a generic caching technique used by in several core parts of the
framework. For example, when caching is enabled, TTemplateManager will save parsed
templates in cache and reuse them in the following requests, which saves time for
parsing templates. The TThemeManager adopts the similar strategy to deal with theme
parsing.
Enabling caching is very easy. Simply add the cache module in the application configuration, and PRADO takes care of the rest.
293

<modules>
<module id="cache" class="System.Caching.TSqliteCache" />
</modules>
Developers can also take advantage of the caching technique in their applications.
The Cache property of TApplication returns the plugged-in cache module when it is
available. To save and retrieve a data item in cache, use the following commands,
if($application->Cache) {
// saves data item in cache
$application->Cache->set($keyName,$dataItem);
// retrieves data item from cache
$dataItem=$application->Cache->get($keyName);
}
where $keyName should be a string that uniquely identifies the data item stored in
cache.
Since v3.1.0, a new control called TOutputCache has been introduced. This control
allows users to selectively cache parts of a pages output. When used appropriately,
this technique can significant improve pages performance because the underlying
controls are not created at all if the cached versions are hit.
16.12.2
Using pradolite.php
Including many PHP script files may impact application performance significantly.
PRADO classes are stored in different files and when processing a page request, it
may require including tens of class files.To alleviate this problem, in each PRADO
release, a file named pradolite.php is also included. The file is a merge of all core
PRADO class files with comments being stripped off and message logging removed.
To use pradolite.php, in your application entry script, replace the inclusion of prado.php
with pradolite.php.
294
16.12. Performance Tuning
16.12.3
Changing Application Mode
Application mode also affects application performance. A PRADO application can

be in one of the following modes: Off, Debug, Normal and Performance. The Debug
mode should mainly be used during application development, while Normal mode is
usually used in early stage after an application is deployed to ensure everything works
correctly. After the application is proved to work stably for some period, the mode
can be switched to Performance to further improve the performance.
The difference between Debug, Normal and Performance modes is that under Debug mode,
application logs will contain debug information, and under Performance mode, timestamp checking is not performed for cached templates and published assets. Therefore,
under Performance mode, application may not run properly if templates or assets are
modified. Since Performance mode is mainly used when an application is stable, change
of templates or assets are not likely.
To switch application mode, configure it in application configuration:
<application Mode="Performance" >
......
</application >
16.12.4
Reducing Page Size
By default, PRADO stores page state in hidden fields of the HTML output. The page
state could be very large in size if complex controls, such as TDataGrid, is used. To
reduce the size of the network transmitted page size, two strategies can be used.
First, you may disable viewstate by setting EnableViewState to false for the page or
some controls on the page if they do not need user interactions. Viewstate is mainly
used to keep track of page state when a user interacts with that page/control.
Second, you may use a different page state storage. For example, page state may be
stored in session, which essentially stores page state on the server side and thus saves
the network transmission time. The StatePersisterClass property of the page determines which state persistence class to use. By default, it uses System.Web.UI.TPageStatePersister
to store persistent state in hidden fields. You may modify this property to a persister
class of your own, as long as the new persister class implements the IPageStatePersister
295

interface. You may configure this property in several places, such as application configuration or page configuration using pages or page tags,
<pages StatePersisterClass="MyPersister1" ... >

<page ID="SpecialPage" StatePersisterClass="MyPersister2" ... />
</pages>
Note, in the above the SpecialPage will use MyPersister2 as its persister class, while
the rest pages will use MyPersister1. Therefore, you can have different state persister
strategies for different pages.
16.12.5
Other Techniques
Server caching techniques are proven to be very effective in improving the performance of PRADO applications. For example, we have observed that by using Zend
Optimizer, the RPS (request per second) of a PRADO application can be increased
by more than ten times. Of course, this is at the cost of stale output, while PRADOs
caching techniques always ensure the correctness of the output.
296
Chapter 17
Client-side Scripting
17.1
Introduction to Javascript
This guide is based on the Quick guide to somewhat advanced JavaScript tour of some
OO features by Sergio Pereira.
17.1.1
Hey, I didnt know you could do that
If you are a web developer and come from the same place I do, you have probably
used quite a bit of Javascript in your web pages, mostly as UI glue.
Until recently, I knew that Javascript had more OO capabilities than I was employing,
but I did not feel like I needed to use it. As the browsers started to support a more
standardized featureset of Javascript and the DOM, it became viable to write more
complex and functional code to run on the client. That helped giving birth to the
AJAX phenomena.
As we all start to learn what it takes to write our cool, AJAX applications, we begin
to notice that the Javascript we used to know was really just the tip of the iceberg.
We now see Javascript being used beyond simple UI chores like input validation and
frivolous tasks. The client code now is far more advanced and layered, much like a
real desktop application or a client-server thick client. We see class libraries, object
297
Chapter 17. Client-side Scripting

models, hierarchies, patterns, and many other things we got used to seeing only in
our server side code.
In many ways we can say that suddenly the bar was put much higher than before. It
takes a heck lot more proficiency to write applications for the new Web and we need
to improve our Javascript skills to get there. If you try to use many of the existing
javascript libraries out there, like Prototype.js, Scriptaculous, moo.fx, Behaviour,
YUI, etc youll eventually find yourself reading the JS code. Maybe because you
want to learn how they do it, or because youre curious, or more often because thats
the only way to figure out how to use it, since documentation does not seem to be
highly regarded with most of these libraries. Whatever the case may be, youll face
some kung-fu techniques that will be foreign and scary if you havent seen anything
like that before.
The purpose of this article is precisely explaining the types of constructs that many
of us are not familiar with yet.
17.1.2
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON,) is one of the new buzzwords popping up around
the AJAX theme. JSON, simply put, is a way of declaring an object in Javascript.
Lets see an example right away and note how simple it is.
var myPet = { color: black, leg_count: 4, communicate: function(repeatCount){

for(i=0;i<repeatCount;i++) alert(Woof!);} };
Lets just add little bit of formatting so it looks more like how we usually find out
there:
var myPet =
{
color: black,
legCount: 4,
communicate: function(repeatCount)
{
for(i=0;i<repeatCount;i++)
alert(Woof!);
298
17.1. Introduction to Javascript

}
};
Here we created a reference to an object with two properties (color and legCount) and
a method (communicate.) Its not hard to figure out that the objects properties and
methods are defined as a comma delimited list. Each of the members is introduced
by name, followed by a colon and then the definition. In the case of the properties
it is easy, just the value of the property. The methods are created by assigning an
anonymous function, which we will explain better down the line. After the object is
created and assigned to the variable myPet, we can use it like this:
alert(my pet is + myPet.color);
alert(my pet has + myPet.legCount + legs);
//if you are a dog, bark three times:
myPet.communicate(3);
Youll see JSON used pretty much everywhere in JS these days, as arguments to
functions, as return values, as server responses (in strings,) etc.
17.1.3
What do you mean? A function is an object too?
This might be unusual to developers that never thought about that, but in JS a
function is also an object. You can pass a function around as an argument to another
function just like you can pass a string, for example. This is extensively used and
very handy.
Take a look at this example. We will pass functions to another function that will use
them.
var myDog =
{
bark: function()
{
alert(Woof!);
}
};
299

var myCat =
{
meow: function()
{
alert(I am a lazy cat. I will not meow for you.);
}
};
function annoyThePet(petFunction)
{
//lets see what the pet can do
petFunction();
}
//annoy the dog:
annoyThePet(myDog.bark);
//annoy the cat:
annoyThePet(myCat.meow);
Note that we pass myDog.bark and myCat.meow without appending parenthesis "()"
to them. If we did that we would not be passing the function, rather we would be
calling the method and passing the return value, undefined in both cases here.
If you want to make my lazy cat start barking, you can easily do this:
myCat.meow = myDog.bark;
myCat.meow(); //alerts Woof!
17.1.4
Arrays, items, and object members
The following two lines in JS do the same thing.
var a = new Array();

var b = [];
As Im sure you already know, you can access individual items in an array by using
the square brackets:
300

var a = [first, second, third];
var v1 = a[0];
var v2 = a[1];
var v3 = a[2];
But you are not limited to numeric indices. You can access any member of a JS object
by using its name, in a string. The following example creates an empty object, and
adds some members by name.
var obj = {}; //new, empty object
obj[member_1] = this is the member value;
obj[flag_2] = false;
obj[some_function] = function(){ /* do something */};
The above code has identical effect as the following:

var obj =
{
member_1:this is the member value,
flag_2: false,
some_function: function(){ /* do something */}
};
In many ways, the idea of objects and associative arrays (hashes) in JS are not distiguishable. The following two lines do the same thing too.
obj.some_function();
obj[some_function]();
17.1.5
Enough about objects, may I have a class now?
The great power of object oriented programming languages derive from the use of
classes. I dont think I would have guessed how classes are defined in JS using only
my previous experience with other languages. Judge for yourself.
//defining a new class called Pet
301

var Pet = function(petName, age)
{
this.name = petName;
this.age = age;
};
//lets create an object of the Pet class
var famousDog = new Pet(Santa\s Little Helper, 15);
alert(This pet is called + famousDog.name);
Lets see how we add a method to our Pet class. We will be using the prototype
property that all classes have. The prototype property is an object that contains
all the members that any object of the class will have. Even the default JS classes,
like String, Number, and Date have a prototype object that we can add methods and
properties to and make any object of that class automatically gain this new member.
Pet.prototype.communicate = function()
{
alert(I do not know what I should say, but my name is + this.name);
};
Thats when a library like prototype.js comes in handy. If we are using prototype.js,
we can make our code look cleaner (at least in my opinion.)
var Pet = Class.create();
Pet.prototype =
{
//our constructor
initialize: function(petName, age)
{
this.name = petName;
this.age = age;
},
communicate: function()
{
alert(I do not know what I should say, but my name is + this.name);
}
};
302
17.1.6
Functions as arguments, an interesting pattern
If you have never worked with languages that support closures you may find the
following idiom too funky.
var myArray = [first, second, third];

myArray.each( function(item, index)
{
alert(The item in the position # + index + is: + item);
});
Whoa! Lets explain what is going on here before you decide Ive gone too far and
navigate to a better article than this one.
First of all, in the above example we are using the prototype.js library, which adds
the each function to the Array class. The each function accepts one argument that
is a function object. This function, in turn, will be called once for each item in the
array, passing two arguments when called, the item and the index for the current
item. Lets call this function our iterator function. We could have also written the
code like this.
function myIterator(item, index)

{
alert(The item in the position # + index + is: + item);
}
var myArray = [first, second, third];
myArray.each( myIterator );
But then we would not be doing like all the cool kids in school, right? More seriously,
though, this last format is simpler to understand but causes us to jump around in the
code looking for the myIterator function. Its nice to have the logic of the iterator
function right there in the same place its called. Also, in this case, we will not
need the iterator function anywhere else in our code, so we can transform it into an
anonymous function without penalty.
303
17.1.7
This is this but sometimes this is also that
One of the most common troubles we have with JS when we start writing our code it
the use of the this keyword. It could be a real tripwire.
As we mentioned before, a function is also an object in JS, and sometimes we do not
notice that we are passing a function around.
Take this code snippet as an example.
function buttonClicked()
{
alert(button + this.id + was clicked);
}
var myButton = document.getElementById(someButtonID);
var myButton2 = document.getElementById(someOtherButtonID);
myButton.onclick = buttonClicked;
myButton2.onclick = buttonClicked;
Because the buttonClicked function is defined outside any object we may tend to think
the this keyword will contain a reference to the window or document object (assuming
this code is in the middle of an HTML page viewed in a browser.)
But when we run this code we see that it works as intended and displays the id
of the clicked button. What happened here is that we made the onclick method of
each button contain the buttonClicked object reference, replacing whatever was there
before. Now whenever the button is clicked, the browser will execute something
similar to the following line.
myButton.onclick();
That isnt so confusing afterall, is it? But see what happens you start having other
objects to deal with and you want to act on these object upon events like the buttons
click.
var myHelper =
{
304

formFields: [ ],
emptyAllFields: function()
{
for(i=0; i < this.formFields.length; i++)
{
var elementID = this.formFields[i];
var field = document.getElementById(elementID);
field.value = ;
}
}
};
//tell which form fields we want to work with
myHelper.formFields.push(txtName);
myHelper.formFields.push(txtEmail);
myHelper.formFields.push(txtAddress);
//clearing the text boxes:
myHelper.emptyAllFields();
var clearButton = document.getElementById(btnClear);
clearButton.onclick = myHelper.emptyAllFields;
So you think, nice, now I can click the Clear button on my page and those three
text boxes will be emptied. Then you try clicking the button only to get a runtime
error. The error will be related to (guess what?) the this keyword. The problem is
that this.formFields is not defined if this contains a referece to the button, which is
precisely whats happening. One quick solution would be to rewrite our last line of
code.
clearButton.onclick = function()
{
myHelper.emptyAllFields();
};
That way we create a brand new function that calls our helper method within the
helper objects context.
305
17.2
Developer Notes for prototype.js
This guide is based on the Developer Notes for prototype.js by Sergio Pereira.
17.2.1
What is that?
In case you havent already used it, prototype.js is a JavaScript library written by
Sam Stephenson. This amazingly well thought and well written piece of standardscompliant code takes a lot of the burden associated with creating rich, highly interactive web pages that characterize the Web 2.0 off your back.
If you tried to use this library recently, you probably noticed that documentation is
not one of its strongest points. As many other developers before me, I got my head
around prototype.js by reading the source code and experimenting with it. I thought
it would be nice to take notes while I learned and share with everybody else.
As you read the examples and the reference, developers familiar with the Ruby
programming language will notice an intentional similarity between Rubys built-in
classes and many of the extensions implemented by this library.
17.2.2
Using the $() function
The $() function is a handy shortcut to the all-too-frequent document.getElementById()

function of the DOM. Like the DOM function, this one returns the element that has
the id passed as an argument.
Unlike the DOM function, though, this one goes further. You can pass more than one
id and $() will return an Array object with all the requested elements. The example
below should illustrate this.
<com:TClientScript UsingClientScripts="prado" />

This is a paragraph
306
17.2. Developer Notes for prototype.js

This is another paragraph
<input type="button" value=Test1 onclick="test1();" />

/*<![CDATA[*/
function test1()
{
var d = $(myDiv);
alert(d.innerHTML);
}
function test2()
{
var divs = $(myDiv,myOtherDiv);
for(i=0; i<divs.length; i++)
{
alert(divs[i].innerHTML);
}
}
/*]]>*/
</script>
Another nice thing about this function is that you can pass either the id string or
the element object itself, which makes this function very useful when creating other
functions that can also take either form of argument.
17.2.3
Using the $F() function
The $F() function is a another welcome shortcut. It returns the value of any field
input control, like text boxes or drop-down lists. The function can take as argument
either the element id or the element object itself.
<input type="text" id="userName" value="Joe Doe" />
307

/*<![CDATA[*/
function test3()
{
alert($F(userName));
}
/*]]>*/
</script>
17.3
DOM Events and Javascript
17.3.1
Basic event handling
The syntax for working with events looks like the code below.
Event.observe(element, name, observer, [useCapture]);
Assuming for a moment that we want to observe when a link was clicked, we could
do the following:
// <a id="clicker" href="http://foo.com">Click me</a>
Event.observe(clicker, click, function(event)
{
alert(clicked!);
});
If we wanted to get the element that fired the event, wed do this:
Event.observe(clicker, click, function(event)
{
alert(Event.element(event));
});
17.3.2
Observing keystrokes
If we wanted to observe keystrokes for the entire document, we could do the following:
308
17.3. DOM Events and Javascript

Event.observe(document, keypress, function(event)
{
if(Event.keyCode(event) == Event.KEY_TAB)
alert(Tab Pressed);
});
And lets say we wanted to keep track of what has been typed :
Event.observe(search, keypress, function(event)

{
Element.update(search-results, $F(Event.element(event)));
});
Prototype defines properties inside the event object for some of the more common
keys, so feel free to dig around in Prototype to see which ones those are.
A final note on keypress events; If youd like to detect a left click you can use
Event.isLeftClick(event).
17.3.3
Getting the coordinates of the mouse pointer
Drag and drop, dynamic element resizing, games, and much more all require the
ability to track the X and Y location of the mouse. Prototype makes this fairly
simple. The code below tracks the X and Y position of the mouse and spits out those
values into an input box named mouse.
Event.observe(document, mousemove, function(event)

{
$(mouse).value = "X: " + Event.pointerX(event) +
"px Y: " + Event.pointerY(event) + "px";
});
If we wanted to observe the mouse location when it was hovering over a certain
element, wed just change the document argument to the id or element that was
relevant.
309
17.3.4
Stopping Propagation
Event.stop(event) will stop the propagation of an event .
17.3.5
Events, Binding, and Objects
Everything has been fairly straight forward so far, but things start getting a little
trickier when you need to work with events in and object-oriented environment. You
have to deal with binding and funky looking syntax that might take a moment to get
your head around.
Lets look at some code so you can get a better understanding of what Im talking
about.
EventDispenser = Class.create();
EventDispenser.prototype =
{
initialize: function(list)
{
this.list = list;
// Observe clicks on our list items
$$(this.list + " li").each(function(item)
{
Event.observe(item, click, this.showTagName.bindEvent(this));
}.bind(this));
// Observe when a key on the keyboard is pressed.
// In the observer, we check for
// the tab key and alert a message if it is pressed.
Event.observe(document, keypress, this.onKeyPress.bindEvent(this));
// Observe our fake live search box.
When a user types
// something into the box, the observer will take that

// value(-1) and update our search-results div with it.
Event.observe(search, keypress, this.onSearch.bindEvent(this));
Event.observe(document, mousemove, this.onMouseMove.bindEvent(this));
},
310
// Arbitrary functions to respond to events

showTagName: function(event)
{
alert(Event.element(event).tagName);
},
onKeyPress: function(event)
{
var code = event.keyCode;
if(code == Event.KEY_TAB)
alert(Tab key was pressed);
},
onSearch: function(event)
{
Element.update(search-results, $F(Event.element(event)));
},
onMouseMove: function(event)
{
$(mouse).value = "X: " + Event.pointerX(event) +
"px Y: " + Event.pointerY(event) + "px";
}
}
Whoa! Whats going on here? Well, weve defined our a custom class EventDispenser.
Were going to be using this class to setup events for our document. Most of this
code is a rewrite of the code we looked at earlier except this time, we are working
from inside an object.
Looking at the initialize method, we can really see how things are different now.
Take a look at the code below:

{
}.bind(this));
311

Weve got iterators, binding and all sorts of stuff going on. Lets break down what
this chunk of code is doing.
First we are hunting for a collection of elements based on its CSS selector. This uses
the Prototype selector function $$(). After weve found the list items we are dealing
with we send those into an each iteration where we will add our observers.
Now looking at the code above, youll notice the bindEvent function. This takes the
method before it showTagName and treats it as the method that will be triggered when,
in this case, someone clicks one of our list items.
Youll also notice we pass this as an argument to the bindEvent function. This simply allows us to reference the object in context EventDispenser inside our function
showTagName(event). If the showTagName function requires additional parameters, you
can attach them to the later parameters of bindEvent. For example
this.showTagName.bindEvent(this, param1, param2);
//where the showTagName function is defined as
showTime : function (event, param1, param2) { ... }
Moving on, youll see bind(this) attached to our iterator function. This really has
nothing to do with events, it is only here to allow me to use this inside the iterator.
If we did not use bind(this), I could not reference the method showTagName inside the
iterator.
Ok, so well move on to looking at our methods that actually get called when an event
occurs. Since weve been dealing with showTagName, lets look at it.
showTagName: function(event)
{
alert(Event.element(event).tagName);
}
As you can see, this function accepts one argumentthe event. In order for us to get
the element which fired the event we need to pass that argument to Event.element.
Now we can manipulate it at will.
312

This covers the most confusing parts of our code. The text above is also relevant to
the remaining parts of our code. If there is anything about this you dont understand,
feel free to ask questions in the forum.
17.3.6
Removing Event Listeners
This one threw me for a loop the first time I tried to use it. I tried something similar
to what I did in the Event.observe call with the exception of using stopObserving, but
nothing seemed to change. In other words, the code below does NOT work.
{
Event.stopObserving(item, click, this.showTagName);
}.bind(this));
Whats the deal here? The reason this does not work is because there is no pointer to
the observer. This means that when we passed this.showTagName in the Event.observe
method before hand, we passed it as an anonymous function. We cant reference an
anonymous function because it simply does not have a pointer.
So how do we get the job done? All we need to do is give the observing function
a pointer, or the jargon free version: Set a variable that points to this.showTagName.
Ok, lets change our code a bit.
this.showTagObserver = this.showTagName.bindEvent(this);
{
Event.observe(item, click, this.showTagObserver);
}.bind(this));
Now we can remove the event listeners from our list like this:
{
Event.stopObserving(item, click, this.showTagObserver);
}.bind(this));
313
17.4
Javascript in PRADO, Questions and Answers
17.4.1
How do I include the Javascript libraries distributed with Prado?
The javascript libraries distributed with Prado can be found in the framework/Web/Javascripts/source
directory. The packages.php file in that directory defines a list of available package
names available to be loaded. They can be loaded as follows.
Adding libraries in the template
Adding libraries in PHP code

$this->getPage()->getClientScript()->registerPradoScript("effects");
The available packaged libraries included in Prado are

prado : basic PRADO javascript framework based on Prototype
effects : visual effects from script.aculo.us
ajax : ajax and callback related based on Prototype
validator : validation
logger : javascript logger and object browser
datepicker : datepicker control
colorpicker : colorpicker control
dragdrop : basic support for drag and drop control
dragdropextra : extra support for drag and drop controls
slider : slider control
keyboard : software keyboard control
tabpanel : tabpanel control
314
17.4. Javascript in PRADO, Questions and Answers

activedatepicker : ajax version of the datepicker control
activefileupload : ajax version of the fileupload control
accordion : accordion control
htmlarea : tinymce control
The dependencies for each library are automatically resolved. Components that require a particular library will also automatically load the necessary libraries. For
example, if you add a TDatePicker component on the page, the datepicker and its
dependencies will be automatically included on the page.
See TClientScript for options of adding your custom Javascript code to the page.
315

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PRADO v3.2.

August 26, 2014

Copyright 2004-2014. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to the PRADO Quickstart Tutorial

PRADO API Documentation

PRADO Issue Tracker

Chapter 1. Getting Started

1.2. What is PRADO?

Chapter 1. Getting Started

What Is PRADO Best For?

How Is PRADO Compared with Other Frameworks?

Is PRADO Stable Enough?

1.3. Installing PRADO

Chapter 1. Getting Started

2. Create a composer.json file for your project:

3. Now run the actual installation:

1.4. New Features

Added Adding toArray() and toJSON() to TActiveRecord

Added THtmlArea4 control based on TinyMCE4

TUrlMappingPattern support for constant parameters

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Added methods quoteTableName, quoteColumnName, quoteColumnAlias to TDbMetaData

1.4. New Features

Updated external packages to support Internet explorer 9

Added property ClientScriptManagerClass to TPageService

Added property TPage.EnableStateCompression and related modifications in TPageState-

Formatter since it is unnecessary to compress clientstate if TCachePageStatePersister/TSessionPageStatePersister

Added support for namespaces in TXmlDocument

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Added the ability to specify position of popup TDatePicker/TActiveDatePicker/a

Added Drag and drop controls

Added a new control TTabPanel that displays tabbed views.

1.5. Upgrading from v2.x and v1.x

Upgrading from v2.x and v1.x

PRADO v3.0 is NOT backward compatible with earlier versions of PRADO.

Chapter 1. Getting Started

public function setEnabled($value)

where TPropertyValue::ensureBoolean() is used to ensure that the input value be a boolean.

1.5. Upgrading from v2.x and v1.x

<com:MyComponent PropertyName=<%# PHP expression %> .../>

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Web Site Administration Tool

Generate one or all Active Record Classes.

Then you are ready to go to: http://localhost/yoursite/index.php?wsat=TWsatLogin and doing

Active Record classes generation

In order to generate AR classes you need to go to: http://localhost/yoursite/index.php?wsat=TWsatGenerateAR

1.7. Command Line Tool

an AR class. Let it as come by default with an * to generate them all.

Command Line Tool

Chapter 1. Getting Started

1.7. Command Line Tool

Creating a new Prado project skeleton

To create a Prado project skeleton, do the following:

Chapter 1. Getting Started

The output should be

1.7. Command Line Tool

Creating Active Record Classes

to adding the directory protected/database to PHP includep ath, whichallowsustousetheclasseswithoutexplicitlyinclu

Chapter 1. Getting Started