NAME
   Class::DBI::AsForm - Produce HTML form elements for database columns

SYNOPSIS
       package Music::CD;
       use Class::DBI::AsForm;
       use base 'Class::DBI';
       use CGI qw/:standard/;
       ...

       sub create_or_edit {
           my $class = shift;
           my %cgi_field = $class->to_cgi;
           return start_form,
                  (map { "<b>$_</b>: ". $cgi_field{$_}." <br>" } $class->Columns),
                  end_form;
       }

       # <form method="post"...>
       # Title: <input type="text" name="Title" /> <br>
       # Artist: <select name="Artist">
       #           <option value=1>Grateful Dead</option>
       #           ...
       #         </select>
       # ...
       # </form>

DESCRIPTION
   This module helps to generate HTML forms for creating new database rows
   or editing existing rows. It maps column names in a database table to
   HTML form elements which fit the schema. Large text fields are turned
   into textareas, and fields with a has-a relationship to other
   "Class::DBI" tables are turned into select drop-downs populated with
   objects from the joined class.

METHODS
   The module is a mix-in which adds two additional methods to your
   "Class::DBI"-derived class.

 to_cgi
   This returns a hash mapping all the column names of the class to HTML
   snippets.

 to_field($field [, $how])
   This maps an individual column to a form element. The "how" argument can
   be used to force the field type into one of "textfield", "textarea" or
   "select"; you can use this is you want to avoid the automatic detection
   of has-a relationships.

AUTHOR
   Simon Cozens, "[email protected]"

SEE ALSO
   Class::DBI, Class::DBI::FromCGI.