# Create A Form

For our guestbook to be useful, we need a form for submitting new entries.

Our first order of business is to create the actual form class. To create the empty form class, execute:

    % zf create form Guestbook
    Creating a form at application/forms/Guestbook.php
    Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'

This will create the directory `application/forms/` with the classfile `Guestbook.php`. Open that file and update it so it reads as follows:

    // application/forms/Guestbook.php

    class Application_Form_Guestbook extends Zend_Form
    {
        public function init()
        {
            // Set the method for the display form to POST
            $this->setMethod('post');

            // Add an email element
            $this->addElement('text', 'email', array(
                'label'      => 'Your email address:',
                'required'   => true,
                'filters'    => array('StringTrim'),
                'validators' => array(
                    'EmailAddress',
                )
            ));

            // Add the comment element
            $this->addElement('textarea', 'comment', array(
                'label'      => 'Please Comment:',
                'required'   => true,
                'validators' => array(
                    array('validator' => 'StringLength', 'options' => array(0, 20))
                    )
            ));

            // Add a captcha
            $this->addElement('captcha', 'captcha', array(
                'label'      => 'Please enter the 5 letters displayed below:',
                'required'   => true,
                'captcha'    => array(
                    'captcha' => 'Figlet',
                    'wordLen' => 5,
                    'timeout' => 300
                )
            ));

            // Add the submit button
            $this->addElement('submit', 'submit', array(
                'ignore'   => true,
                'label'    => 'Sign Guestbook',
            ));

            // And finally add some CSRF protection
            $this->addElement('hash', 'csrf', array(
                'ignore' => true,
            ));
        }
    }

The above form defines five elements: an email address field, a comment field, a CAPTCHA for preventing spam submissions, a submit button, and a CSRF protection token.

Next, we will add a `signAction()` to our `GuestbookController` which will process the form upon submission. To create the action and related view script, execute the following:

    % zf create action sign Guestbook
    Creating an action named sign inside controller
        at application/controllers/GuestbookController.php
    Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'
    Creating a view script for the sign action method
        at application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml
    Updating project profile '.zfproject.xml'

As you can see from the output, this will create a `signAction()` method in our controller, as well as the appropriate view script.

Let's add some logic into our guestbook controller's sign action. We need to first check if we're getting a POST or a GET request; in the latter case, we'll simply display the form. However, if we get a POST request, we'll want to validate the posted data against our form, and, if valid, create a new entry and save it. The logic might look like this:

    // application/controllers/GuestbookController.php

    class GuestbookController extends Zend_Controller_Action
    {
        // snipping indexAction()...

        public function signAction()
        {
            $request = $this->getRequest();
            $form    = new Application_Form_Guestbook();

            if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
                if ($form->isValid($request->getPost())) {
                    $comment = new Application_Model_Guestbook($form->getValues());
                    $mapper  = new Application_Model_GuestbookMapper();
                    $mapper->save($comment);
                    return $this->_helper->redirector('index');
                }
            }

            $this->view->form = $form;
        }
    }

Of course, we also need to edit the view script; edit `application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml` to read:

    <!-- application/views/scripts/guestbook/sign.phtml -->

    Please use the form below to sign our guestbook!

    <?php
    $this->form->setAction($this->url());
    echo $this->form;

## Better Looking Forms

No one will be waxing poetic about the beauty of this form anytime soon. No matter - form appearance is fully customizable! See the decorators section in the reference guide for details.

Additionally, you may be interested in our tutorial on form decorators.

## Checkpoint

Now browse to "http://localhost/guestbook/sign". You should see the following in your browser: