Adding "help" messages to fields

Question

I'm trying to add some help messages after each field in form in symfony2.

I have read about one solution in official docs : http://symfony.com/doc/current/cookbook/form/form_customization.html#adding-help-messages

But this solution makes little sense, because we've need to create all form manually. For example, it easy to define label: $formBuilder->add('myfieldname', 'text', array('label'=>'some my field label')); But how to pass help messages? (In other words, some custom variables)

score 25 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 13 '18 at 22:08

25

A another method without another extension :

In your form builder class:

$builder->add('yourField',null, array('attr'=>array('help'=>'text help')))

In your form template rewrite:

{% block form_row %}
    {% spaceless %}
            {{ form_label(form) }}
                {{ form_widget(form) }}
                {% for attrname, attrvalue in attr %}
                    {% if attrname == 'help' %}
                        <span class="help-block">{{ attrvalue }}</span>
                    {% endif %}
                {% endfor %}
            {{ form_errors(form) }}
    {% endspaceless %}
{% endblock form_row %}

edited Feb 13 '18 at 22:08

Nate

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answered Aug 22 '14 at 10:31

Alexandre Ouicher

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This solution will add attribute 'help' to input field so it's not ideal. It creates invalid html. – pulzarraider May 17 '16 at 08:35
3

@pulzarraider is right. Use `data-help` attribute instead. – Jazi Oct 21 '16 at 08:43

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 12 '13 at 10:14

19

$formBuilder->add('myFieldName', 'text', array('help' => 'My Help Message')); But it think you also need to add an extension that add this as a default option for all forms :
https://github.com/simplethings/SimpleThingsFormExtraBundle#helpextension
This makes you able to edit attributes directly from you FormTypes.

edited Apr 12 '13 at 10:14

zessx

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answered Sep 20 '11 at 18:14

Henrik Bjørnskov

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That bundle was refactored and the link doesn't work any more. Go here now: https://github.com/simplethings/SimpleThingsFormExtraBundle#helpextension – jmlnik Mar 07 '13 at 18:47

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 20 '18 at 11:36

5

Since symfony 4.1 you can do :

$builder->add('email', null, [
    'help' => 'Make sure to add a valid email',
]);

https://symfony.com/blog/new-in-symfony-4-1-form-field-help

answered Jun 20 '18 at 11:36

10us

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AaronRom · Answer 4 · 2014-08-14T17:55:49.883

You can use the solution in the official docs as you described.

But, the work is not complete yet. You have to create a Form Type Extention, based on this article: http://symfony.com/doc/current/cookbook/form/create_form_type_extension.html

After complete the Form Type Extention creation you can add Help Messages like this:

$form = $this->createFormBuilder()
          ->add('name', 'text', array(
                'help' => 'this is a help message to user',
         ))

I think this is a native better solution. Also, i recommend read this great article that shows you how to enable and set the help option in symfony2 forms: http://toni.uebernickel.info/2012/11/03/how-to-extend-form-fields-in-symfony2.1.html

I'm sure the answer is in the links but could you outline the solution from the documentation and the article? — Trudbert, Aug 14 '14 at 15:07

Francesco Casula · Answer 5 · 2018-03-07T09:03:55.803

A little off topic but still useful if you're planning to use Bootstrap for your project then you can take advantage of some form helpers provided by the Mopa Bootstrap Bundle.

Demo: http://bootstrap.mohrenweiserpartner.de/mopa/bootstrap/forms/help_texts

GitHub: https://github.com/phiamo/MopaBootstrapBundle

Example:

<?php

$form = $this->get('form.factory')
        ->createNamedBuilder('form_name')
        ->setMethod('POST')
        ->add('testSelect', 'choice', [
            'choices' => ['val1' => 'Value 1', 'val2' => 'Value 2'],
            'required' => true,
            'help_block' => 'Here some help text!!!'
        ])
        ->add('Save', 'submit')
        ->getForm();

return $form->createView();

Adding "help" messages to fields

5 Answers5