CMS_INPUT_TEXTAREA

CMS_INPUT_TEXTAREA

This input component is suitable for longer text inputs. Formatting is specified via the template development and cannot be selected by the editor in this input component.

For the input of longer texts which are to be formatted by an editor, the numerous editing options of the DOM Editor can be used.

From FirstSpirit Version 2.1 there is a PDF channel for generating PDF files. If you would like to use this channel you should avoid use of CMS_INPUT_TEXTAREA and use CMS_INPUT_DOM instead!

The input component CMS_INPUT_TEXTAREA is supported by the WebClient. For restrictions see chapter Restrictions in WebEdit.

Parameter

The following table gives the parameters of the TEXTAREA input component.

Overview

name

The attribute "name" is the variable name of an input component with which the the result object of the input component can be used in the templates - with the help of $CMS_VALUE()$ - or the content can be output.

Overview

allowEmpty

The "allowEmpty" parameter is used to specify whether a value has to be entered for an input value or not.

If allowEmpty="YES" input is not mandatory; however, it is if allowEmpty="NO".

Input components with allowEmpty="NO" are also called mandatory input components.

The default value for allowEmpty is YES.

Overview

columns

The columns parameter can be used to specify the width of the input component in characters.

The parameter expects an integer value.

Overview

convertEntities

The "convertEntities" attribute is used to convert special characters entered in the input components for output in HTML characters.

There are three forms:

• convertEntities="NONE" (standard)
• convertEntities="STANDARD"
• convertEntities="QUOTE"

With the NONE form, no conversion rules whatsoever are applied.

If STANDARD is given the conversion rules in the "convert" area of the selected conversion rule of the presentation channel are applied.

The form QUOTE explicitly includes STANDARD too. However, the "quote" area of the conversion rule is also applied.

Overview

hFill

An input component is always displayed with a pre-defined width.

However, if the input component is to use the full available display width the parameter hFill must be given with the value YES .

Overview

hidden

With the "hidden" parameter an input component can be hidden from the editor.

If hidden="YES" the input component is not visible for the editor, if hidden="NO" it is visible.

The default value for hidden is NO.

Overview

length

The length parameter can be used to specify the width of the input component.

The parameter expects an integer value.

Overview

maxInputLength

The maxInputLength parameter can be used to limit the number of characters for input in an input component.

As a default, any number of characters can be entered in an input component.

If a value is specified with maxInputLength it is not possible to enter more than the given number of characters in the input component.

The parameter expects an integer value.

If the number of characters (i.e. the value of maxInputLength) is reduced later, and if characters had been already entered in the related input component, the characters will be reduced to the new number when switching to the edit mode, superfluous characters will be deleted and the input component will be treated as being modified.

Overview

noBreak

The noBreak parameter can be used to suppress automatic line break after an input component.

The noBreak parameter must be given with value "YES" (noBreak="YES") to suppress the automatic line break.

Overview

preset

Using the preset attribute the handling of default values in an input component can defined (see also chapter Default values). If preset="default" is set, the retrieval value defined in the form is used. If this value in the form is changed later on, these changes will be affect all usages of this default value in the input components maintained by the editor, as long as a value will be set manually in the input component. This is the default setting. If preset="copy" is set, the value entered by the editor is copied directly into the input component. Subsequent changes to the default value in the form do not have any effect on the usages of this default value in the input components maintained by the editor.

Overview

rows

The rows parameter can be used to specify the height of the input component in rows.

The parameter expects an integer value.

If the input component is used within a group (CMS_GROUP), the height will comply with the height of the highest input component of the group.

Overview

useLanguages

The useLanguages parameter can be used to specify whether or not an input component is to store different or deviating values for different languages (multi-lingual maintenance).

If the parameter is not given, deviating values are stored for the different languages as a default.

If NO (...useLanguages="NO") is specified, one value is stored for all languages.

Overview

LANGINFOS

Using the tag LANGINFOS language-dependent information can be defined for each input component, e.g. which title is to be used for the input component in the different project languages (parameter label), which tooltip is to be displayed (parameter description) etc. For reasons of clarity, definitions which are identical in multiple languages will be merged. For example,

<LANGINFOS> 
 <LANGINFO lang="*" label="Datum"/> 
 <LANGINFO lang="DE" label="Datum"/> 
 <LANGINFO lang="EN" label="Datum"/>
</LANGINFOS>

will be merged to

 <LANGINFOS> 
 <LANGINFO lang="*" label="Datum"/> 
</LANGINFOS>

after saving.

Up to and including FirstSpirit version 4.2R2 language definitions will be deleted only in the case if the values are identical in all languages (as in example above). Furthermore, only the parameters lang, description and label are taken into account when merging.

Since FirstSpirit version 4.2R4 all parameters are taken into account (e.g. format and length). Furthermore, language definitions are also merged within LANGINFOS tags, if they are identical in at least two languages. For example,

<LANGINFOS> 
 <LANGINFO lang="*" label="Date" format="dd.MM.yy"/>
 <LANGINFO lang="DE" label="Date" format="dd.MM.yy"/>
 <LANGINFO lang="EN" label="Date" format="MM/dd/yy"/>
</LANGINFOS>

will become

 <LANGINFOS> 
 <LANGINFO lang="*" label="Date" format="dd.MM.yy"/>
 <LANGINFO lang="EN" label="Date" format="MM/dd/yy"/>
</LANGINFOS>

after saving.

The definition for the fallback value (*) will not be deleted in any case. If there are two or more language definitions with identical values the first one will be maintained, the other will be deleted.

IMPORTANT: Up to and including FirstSpirit version 4.2R2 at least one definition for the fallback labelling ("*") must be given:

<LANGINFOS>
 <LANGINFO lang="*" label="TEXT"/>
</LANGINFOS>

From FirstSpirit version 4.2R4 the fallback definition can be omitted. In this case, the language which is defined first will be used automatically as fallback value. For example,

<LANGINFOS>
 <LANGINFO lang="EN" label="Date"/>
 <LANGINFO lang="DE" label="Datum"/> 
</LANGINFOS>

will become

 <LANGINFOS> 
 <LANGINFO lang="*" label="Date"/>
 <LANGINFO lang="DE" label="Datum"/> 
</LANGINFOS>

after saving.

LANGINFO

The LANGINFO tag is used to give values or attributes for a language as well for use as fallback values.

In order to state values or attributes for a language it is necessary to give the abbreviation of the project language in the lang parameter:

...
<LANGINFO lang="DE".../>
...

Fallback values are given with the special language abbreviation * ("for all languages"):

...
<LANGINFO lang="*".../>
...

The lang parameter is a mandatory parameter.

Overview

lang

The lang parameter is used to give the language abbreviation which is entered in the server properties see FirstSpirit Manual for Administrators, Chapter "Language templates") to specify for which project languages the definitions are to apply, e.g. DE for German, EN for English, FR for French etc. The following characters can be used as often as required: -, _, 0-9 and A-Z. Lower case letters are transformed automatically into upper case letters after having saved the template. In addition * can be used for fallback values.

Overview

description

The description parameter can be used to give a description which is used to display a tool tip (mouse-over).

Overview

label

The label parameter is used to give the surface labelling for input and visualisation components.

Overview

LanguageAbbreviation	Language abbreviation, e.g. DE, EN, FR or * for return values
PositiveInteger	Positive integer
YesNo	Switch to apply an attribute or not NO Do not apply attribute YES Apply attribute
String	A random character string
Preset	Define the general preset modes. Default Retrieve default from definition, if no value is set. Copy Copy default from definition and save automatically.
ConvertEntity	Switch with which to define the conversion rule NONE Do not use any conversion rules STANDARD Use the conversion rules of the "convert" area QUOTE Use the conversion rules of the "convert" and "quote" area
Designator	Unique identifier of variable length; must start with a letter or underscore and may only contain the characters "A-Z", "a-z", "0-9" and "_", e.g. "fr_st_varName"

Example

An example of the input component TEXTAREA:

<CMS_INPUT_TEXTAREA useLanguages="YES" name="IDENTIFIER">
  <LANGINFOS>
    <LANGINFO lang="*" label="TEXT" description="TEXT"/>
    <LANGINFO lang="DE" label="TEXT" description="TEXT"/>
    <LANGINFO lang="EN" label="TEXT" description="TEXT"/>
  </LANGINFOS>
</CMS_INPUT_TEXTAREA>

Example of use in the template syntax

An example of the output of a TEXTAREA.

$CMS_IF(!st_textarea.isEmpty)$
     $CMS_VALUE(st_textarea)$
$CMS_END_IF$