NAME
HTML::DOM::Element::Form - A Perl class for representing 'form' elements in an HTML DOM tree
SYNOPSIS
use HTML::DOM;
$doc = HTML::DOM->new;
$elem = $doc->createElement('form');
$elem->method('GET') # set attribute
$elem->method; # get attribute
$elem->enctype;
$elem->tagName;
# etcDESCRIPTION
This class implements 'form' elements in an HTML::DOM tree. It implements the HTMLFormElement DOM interface and inherits from HTML::DOM::Element (q.v.).
A form object can be used as a hash or an array, to access its input fields, so $form->[0] and $form->{name} are shorthand for $form->elements->[0] and $form->elements->{name}, respectively.
This class also tries to mimic HTML::Form, but is not entirely compatible with its interface. See "WWW::Mechanize COMPATIBILITY", below.
DOM METHODS
In addition to those inherited from HTML::DOM::Element and HTML::DOM::Node, this class implements the following DOM methods:
- elements
-
Returns a collection (HTML::DOM::Collection::Elements object) in scalar context, or a list in list context, of all the input fields this form contains. This differs slightly from the
inputsmethod (part of the HTML::Form interface) in that it includes 'button' elements, whereasinputsdoes not (though it does include 'input' elements with 'button' for the type). - length
-
Same as
$form->elements->length. - name
- acceptCharset
- action
- enctype
- method
- target
-
Each of these returns the corresponding HTML attribute (
acceptCharsetcorresponds to the 'accept-charset' attribute). If you pass an argument, it will become the new value of the attribute, and the old value will be returned. - submit
-
This triggers the form's 'submit' event, calling the default event handler (see "EVENT HANDLING" in HTML::DOM). It is up to the default event handler to take any further action. The form's
make_requestmethod may come in handy.This method is actually just short for $form->trigger_event('submit'). (See HTML::DOM::EventTarget.)
- reset
-
This triggers the form's 'reset' event.
- trigger_event
-
This class overrides the superclasses' method to trigger the default event handler for form submissions, when the submit event occurs, and reset the form when a reset event occurs.
WWW::Mechanize COMPATIBILITY
In order to work with WWW::Mechanize, this module mimics, and is partly compatible with the interface of, HTML::Form.
HTML::Form's class methods do not apply. If you call HTML::DOM::Element::Form->parse, for instance, you'll just get an error, because it doesn't exist.
The dump and try_others methods do not exist either.
The click method behaves differently from HTML::Form's, in that it does not call make_request, but triggers a 'click' event if there is a button to click, or a 'submit' event otherwise.
The method, action, enctype, attr, inputs, find_input, value, param, make_request and form methods should work as expected.