Edit Forms and Saving

Unicorn's edit-view generator provides the controller and view flow for creating and updating a product. Its reusable fields include lists, dates, switches, and editors.

Generate the Edit View

Generate the edit view for the existing product module:

php windwalker g unicorn:view-edit Admin/Product

Use the generated edit form as the starting point. Define the form fields with fieldsets and the item namespace:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Module\Admin\Product;

use Unicorn\Field\CalendarField;
use Unicorn\Field\SwitcherField;
use Unicorn\Field\TinymceEditorField;
use Windwalker\Form\Attributes\Fieldset;
use Windwalker\Form\Attributes\FormDefine;
use Windwalker\Form\Attributes\NS;
use Windwalker\Form\Field\HiddenField;
use Windwalker\Form\Field\NumberField;
use Windwalker\Form\Field\TextField;
use Windwalker\Form\Field\TextareaField;
use Windwalker\Form\Form;

class ProductEditForm
{
    #[FormDefine]
    #[Fieldset('basic')]
    #[NS('item')]
    public function basic(Form $form): void
    {
        $form->add('id', HiddenField::class);

        $form->add('title', TextField::class)
            ->label('Title')
            ->addFilter('trim')
            ->required(true);

        $form->add('alias', TextField::class)
            ->label('Alias')
            ->addFilter('trim');

        $form->add('intro', TextareaField::class)
            ->label('Introduction')
            ->rows(5);

        $form->add('description', TinymceEditorField::class)
            ->label('Description')
            ->editorOptions(['height' => 550]);
    }

    #[FormDefine]
    #[Fieldset('meta')]
    #[NS('item')]
    public function meta(Form $form): void
    {
        $form->add('price', NumberField::class)
            ->label('Price');

        $form->add('inventory', NumberField::class)
            ->label('Inventory');

        $form->add('state', SwitcherField::class)
            ->label('Published')
            ->circle(true)
            ->color('success');

        $form->add('featured', SwitcherField::class)
            ->label('Featured')
            ->circle(true)
            ->color('warning');

        $form->add('created', CalendarField::class)
            ->label('Created');
    }
}

This form submits text and scalar values, so it does not require a multipart request or an upload route.

Render the Form

The generated edit view loads an existing entity when an ID is present and fills the form from it:

<form id="admin-form" action="{{ $nav->to('product_edit') }}" method="post">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-lg-8">
            <x-fieldset name="basic" :form="$form"></x-fieldset>
        </div>
        <div class="col-lg-4">
            <x-fieldset name="meta" :form="$form"></x-fieldset>
        </div>
    </div>

    <x-csrf />
</form>

The generated toolbar supplies save actions. Keep the route name and form action consistent with the generated edit route.

Extend the Save Lifecycle

The generated controller delegates persistence to Unicorn's CrudController. Use prepareSave to normalize form data before it is processed:

use App\Repository\ProductRepository;
use Unicorn\Controller\CrudController;
use Unicorn\Repository\Event\PrepareSaveEvent;
use Windwalker\Core\Application\AppContext;
use Windwalker\Core\Router\Navigator;
use Windwalker\DI\Attributes\Autowire;

public function save(
    AppContext $app,
    CrudController $controller,
    Navigator $nav,
    #[Autowire] ProductRepository $repository
): mixed {
    $form = $app->make(ProductEditForm::class);

    $controller->prepareSave(
        function (PrepareSaveEvent $event): void {
            $event->data['featured'] = (int) ($event->data['featured'] ?? 0);
        }
    );

    $uri = $app->call([$controller, 'save'], compact('repository', 'form'));

    switch ($app->input('task')) {
        case 'save2close':
            return $nav->to('product_list');

        case 'save2new':
            return $nav->to('product_edit')->var('new', 1);

        case 'save2copy':
            $controller->rememberForClone($app, $repository);

            return $nav->self($nav::WITHOUT_VARS)->var('new', 1);

        default:
            return $uri;
    }
}

prepareSave runs before form processing and can add or normalize input; its event is Unicorn\Repository\Event\PrepareSaveEvent. beforeSave can validate or adjust data before persistence, and afterSave is appropriate for work that requires the saved entity ID. Their event classes are Windwalker\ORM\Event\BeforeSaveEvent and Windwalker\ORM\Event\AfterSaveEvent.