InputEX - javascript library to build fields and forms.

Introduction

inputEx is a javascript library to build fields and forms.
It can also be considered as an interface framework, since it provides a good structure to create you own fields.

It is built on top of the YUI library, and we try to keep it as close as possible to the YUI philosophy.

It is of course fully skinable using CSS and currently supports Firefox 1.5+, Safari 2.0+, IE 7.0+, Chrome 0.2+ and Opera 9+.

A unique field library

With so many form libraries out there, why would we create another one ?

• HTML fields/forms are very limited: no interaction, missing basic features, etc...
• no existing good input library for YUI (let me know if I'm wrong !)
• Implement multiple browsers hacks once and for all
• it's not all about validation !

Here are the features we implemented that makes inputEx unique :

• json configuration for each field
• complex data structures (list/objects/tree/list of urls/objects of objects etc...)
• composition between the fields (for "meta"-fields such as CombineField,InPlaceEdit,List,Tree,...)
• javascript object mapping for greater interactivity
• a common "updated" event to handle different browsers and different field interactions

No HTML ?

InputEx uses no html (it is the opposite of unobtrusive librairies): all the fields and forms are configured using json, then rendered by manipulating the DOM.
It is therefore a library to create javascript web applications, not webpages.

This approach has a great advantage: adding/modifying a field is made in one place only. Combined with the json configuration that can be stored server-side, it makes customization of your web application very easy.

Important Reference Sites

http://javascript.neyric.com/inputex/
http://javascript.neyric.com/inputex/doc/js_docs_out/index.html
http://javascript.neyric.com/blog/