Server Events and Client Scripts

You can implement your own business logic by writing your own server events and client scripts. Your code is stored in the project so you can migrate your project to other templates or future versions easily. This feature reduces the need of template customization and create maximum possibilities for you to customize and create more advanced features for your projects.

After loading the database, the database objects (tables, views, custom views and reports) will be shown in the left pane (the database pane). Click on any table to go to the Field Setup Page and then select the Code tab.

Note For simplicity, we use "table" in the following description to refer to any of database object in the project. A database object can be either a table, a view, a custom view or a report.

The treeview shows the available server events and client scripts that you can add to your project:

Server Events

Server-side PHP code

Global

The events are applicable to all PHP pages

Table-Specific

The set of events are table-specific, the events are applicable to the selected table only

Other

The events are applicable to some common pages in the project only

Client Scripts

Client-side JavaScript

Global

The JavaScript are included in all pages with header and footer

Table-Specific

The JavaScript are table-specific, they are included to pages for the selected table only

Other

The JavaScript are included in some common pages in the project only

To add your custom scripts to the server events or client scripts, select an item in the treeview, then enter your code in the editor.

The editor supports Find and Replace. Press Ctrl-F to open the Find dialog and press Ctrl-R to open the Replace dialog.

You can click the Clear button to discard the existing code and reset template code for the server event or client script.

Code Repository

PHPMaker provides a Code Repository for easy reuse of your code across projects and sharing with other users. Click the Code Repository button to open it, categorized reusable code will be displayed:

You can add the code to the editor by clicking the Add button. The reusable code is stored in XML files which reside in s subfolder name "code" under the installation folder. The format of the XML files is simple, there are 3 sections:

description

Description of the code.

script

The script to be run before inserting the code. The script is same as that supported by Template Tags. There is a special tag supported by this section, {TblName}, which stands for the table name of the current table.

Example - Get the fields for the page

code

The code to be inserted to editor. Note that the code supports scripts.

Example - Loop through fields for the page to generate Custom Template

Note All contents for above sections must be enclosed by CDATA section.

There are many examples in the "code" folder, you can copy and modify for your own code and then save them under the "code" folder for reuse.

Code Editor

Since v2022.2 PHPMaker supports a new browser-based code editor. If WebView2 Runtime is installed on your PC, PHPMaker will use it automatically.

The new editor supports much more editing features than the classic editor. For example, you can press Ctrl+Space or by typing a trigger character to get a list of field names for the current table. If you continue typing characters, the list of field names is filtered to only field names containing your typed characters. Pressing Tab or Enter will insert the selected field name.

Notes

If you prefer the old editor, click Tools -> Advanced Settings, change the Code Editor setting to "Classic", then close and open PHPMaker.
If you want to enable new editor again, make sure your PC is connected to internet and you have installed WebView2 Runtime, then just change the Code Editor setting to "Default", close and open PHPMaker again.

Server Events

In general, server events are fired in the following order: (not all pages are the same)

Global Code (Global)
Table_Load (Table class method)
Language_Load (Language class method)
Database_Connecting/Connected (Global function)
User_CustomValidate (Security class method)
UserLevel_Loaded (Security class method)
User_Validated (Security class method)
TablePermission_Loading/Loaded (Security class method)
TablePermission_Loaded (Security class method)
UserID_Loading/Loaded (Security class method)
Page_Loading (Global function)
Page_Load (Page class method)
Page_Rendering (Global function)
Page_Render (Page class method)
Page_Head (Global)
MenuItem_Adding (Global function)
Menu_Rendering/Rendered (Global function)
Page_DataRendering (Page class method)
Recordset*/Grid*/Row* (Page class method)
Page_DataRendered (Page class method)
Page_Foot (Global)
Page_Unload (Page class method)
Page_Unloaded (Global function)
Page_Redirecting (Page class method)

Notes

The page classes inherit from the table classes, so you can use $this in the page class methods to access table class members. For backward compatibility, the table object is kept and it is an alias of the page object, so you can also use $this in the table class methods to access page class members.
The Page_Unload and Page_Unloaded are server side events to be fired every time the page is accessed and before the HTML is outputted to the browser on the client side. They are NOT events to be fired before you leave the page and reload the page or go to another page. For example, if you submit a form in the page, usually it submits to the page itself, you are actually reloading the page, all server events will be fired again. For another example, if you click a hyperlink which links to another page, the page on the server side is not even accessed again and no server events for the page will be fired.
If a server event is a global function, there is NO $this in the function context. If you want to refer to the current page object, you can use the global function CurrentPage().
In the following table, the <fieldname> in code, e.g. in $this-><fieldname>-><property> or x_<fieldname>, represents the field variable name (see Database, Table and Field Variable Names). However, note that if the field name is quoted, e.g. as a key in $rs['<fieldname>'], <fieldname> is the actual field name as in the database, not the field variable name.
Server events are functions or class methods, if you need to use global variables in the events, note the PHP variable scope, you must use the global keyword or $GLOBALS.

Available server events are:

Global -> All Pages

Page_Head

The code you entered in this event will be placed in the page header before closing the <head> section. You can use this event to can add your code in head section. Note: This is a global function.

Example 1

Load JavaScript and/or stylesheet by PHP:

Note Both AddStylesheet() and AddClientScripts() use loadjs to load JavaScript or stylesheet by JavaScript (asynchronously by default).

Example 2

Use HTML tag to load JavaScript and/or stylesheet synchronously:

Example 3

You can even use both PHP and HTML, but in such case you MUST use <?php ... ?>, e.g.

Example 4

Execute some JavaScript immediately (in the <head> section), .e.g.

Example 5

Load JavaScript and/or stylesheet by JavaScript (after the scripts in the <head> section are loaded):

Note loadjs is used to load JavaScripts and stylesheets asynchronously, you can use loadjs() and loadjs.ready() functions in your <script> tags.

Page_Foot

The code you entered in this event will be placed in the pager footer after the <footer> section. You can use this event to can add your code for the website. Note: This is a global function.

Example 1 - Add a dropdown menu on the right navbar by Auto JS Template (see below)

Example 2 - Add a control sidebar on the right side of the site.

Example 3 - Replace the Send Push Notifications dialog and service worker.

Note You can copy code from the originally generated views\pushnotification.php and sw.js and then customize them to suit your own notifications.

Database_Connecting

This event will be called by all PHP pages before connecting to the database. Note: This is a global function.

If general, the argument is an array with the following keys: host, port, user, pass, db. You can use this event to change the connection info for the database, or even connect to other databases.

Example 1 - Change connection info

Example 2 - Add connection options for encrypted connection to MySQL

See Connection Details for detailed info about connection options.

Database_Connected

This event will be fired by all PHP pages after connecting to the database. Note: This is a global function.

The argument is the connection object, you can use it to execute your own statements.

Example

Call a stored procedure after connection.

Language_Load

This event will be fired when the language file is loaded. You can use it to change the language phrases if necessary. Note: This event is a language class member.

Example 1

Example 2

Change the HTML markup of the language selector.

Route_Action

This event allow you to add your own controller actions in the controller. Read Slim Framework's Routing for details about routing.

Example

Add an action to return JSON result.

Api_Action

This event allow you to add your own API actions in the API controller. Read Slim Framework's Routing for details about routing.

Example

Add an action to return JSON result.

Container_Build

This event allow you to add your own services in the container. Read Slim Framework's Dependency Container for details about container.

Example

Add your own service to the container.

You can then retrieve the service from the container later in your server events.

Page_Loading

This event will be called by all PHP pages at the beginning of the page. If the pages involves database connection, it will be called after connecting to the database and before the Page_Load event. Note: This is a global function, NOT page class member.

Page_Rendering

This event will be called by all PHP pages before outputting HTML for the page. Note: This is a global function, NOT page class member.

Page_Unloaded

This event will be called by all PHP pages at the end of the page. If the pages involves database connection, it will be called before closing database connection and after the Page_Unload event. Note: This is a global function, NOT page class member.

Global Code

Code to be included in all PHP pages. This may contain your constants, variables, functions and classes.

Example 1

Use another class for Export to Excel (not PhpSpreadsheet)

Example 2

Add the package aws/aws-sdk-php (AWS SDK for PHP) to composer.json by Tools -> Composer Packages (see the topic Composer Packages in Tools) and register Amazon S3 Stream Wrapper

Example 3

Use my SMS provider

User_CustomValidate

For use with security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired before default user validation. You can use this event to validate the user yourself. The arguments are the user name and password the user entered. Return true if the username and password pass your custom validation. Note: This event is a security class member.

Notes

If you use "Windows" or "LDAP" authentication (see Advanced Settings), returning true or false in this event does not matter. The user will be validated by Windows or LDAP later.
If you use "LDAP" authentication (see Advanced Settings), you can use this event to modify the username and password, if necessary, for subsequent validation with LDAP server.
Default validation will continue after this event is fired. If you return true, the user will always pass the default validation and get the User ID and User Level, if any. If you return false, the default validation proceeds as normal. If you use Advanced Security, you still need the user table to store user information such as User ID and User Level, although the password field value can be empty or any value if you return true.

Example

Remove the domain name to match the user name in user table (for User ID/Level Security, if enabled) after Windows authentication, if the user table stores the user name without domain name.

Ldap_Validated

For use with "LDAP" authentication (see Advanced Settings) only. This event is fired after User_CustomValidate (see above). When this event is fired, the user bind is already done successfully, but you can use this event to do further validation or to get some more information of the user from the LDAP server. You can also change the username and password here (if necessary) to let the user continue to log in to Advanced Security. Return true if the user your custom validation. Note: This event is a Ldap class member.

Example 1

Check groups of Active Directory user.

Example 2

Check groups of Active Directory user with LdapRecord query builder

User_Validated

For use with security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired after validating the user with the user table. Note: This event is a security class member.

Notes

This event is not fired for the hard-coded administrator (who is not an user in the user table).
If the user is found in the user table, the argument $rs is an array, you can get a field value by $rs['<fieldname>']. If the user is not found, $rs is null. By default most user info is already loaded into the global user profile object, Profile(), but the info does not include the password field, BLOB fields, and memo fields, you can use this event to get more info from the user table.
You can use this event to override the user name, User ID, Parent user ID and User Level (if User ID/Level Security is enabled) for the validated user by the LoginUser() method of the security class. The arguments of the method are: If any argument is null, the corresponding property will not be affected.

Example 1

Add additional current user info to the global user profile object

You can get it later elsewhere by Profile()->get("Country").

Example 2

Check if an user password has expired by custom code with Enable password expiry (see Security Settings) enabled

Example 3

UserLevel_Loaded

For use with User Level security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired after successful user login and after the User Level settings are loaded. It is possible to do actions such as changing or adding User Level permissions. Note: This event is a security class member.

Example 1

Change the permissions of an User Level for a table

Example 2

Grant all permissions to an User Level for a table

MenuItem_Adding

This event is fired for custom menu items before it is added to the menu. The menu item info is passed to the event as an instance of the MenuItem object (see below). Return false if you don't want to show the menu item. If you return true, the menu item will be added to the menu, but it does not mean that it will be always displayed. A menu item will be displayed only if its Allowed property is true. When the menu item is passed to this event, the Allowed property is set based on the User Level Security of the project, you can however change it by setting $Item->Allowed as true or false as needed. Note: This is a global function.

Example 1

Only show a menu item after the user has logged in

Example 2

Set the menu item properties

Note If your project is multi-language, the $item->Text will be different for each language, you may check $item->Name or $item->Url instead. Check the generated menu.php (under the views folder) to see the item names or URLs.

Menu_Rendering

This event is fired before the menu is rendered. You can manipulate the menu items in this event. The argument is the menu object. (See Menu Object below.) Note: This is a global function.

Example 1

Add an additional menu item to the menu for logged in users only.

Example 2

Remove all the default menu items and use your own menu items.

Example 3

Change options of sidebar menu (vertical menu).

Menu_Rendered

This event is fired after the menu is rendered. You may want to clean up in this event if you have created something in the Menu_Rendering event. The argument is the menu object. (See Menu Object below.) Note: This is a global function.

TablePermission_Loading

For use with User Level security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired before the user permission for the table of the current page is loaded. It is possible to do actions such as changing or adding more User Level permissions to the current user. Note: This event is a security class member.

Note This is an event fired for the current table only. If you change the permissions of the other tables in this event, there will be no effect. Use the UserLevel_Loaded event if you need to change permissions of other tables.

Example

Grant another User Level to the user and let the user have permissions of more than one User Level for the current table.

TablePermission_Loaded

For use with User Level security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired after the user permission for the table of the current page is loaded. It is possible to change the permission by using the setCanXXX methods of the Security class. Note: This event is a security class member.

Example

Grant more permissions to the user and let the user have more permissions than his/her User Level allows for the current table.

UserID_Loading

For use with User ID security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired after successful user login and before loading the User ID and its child User IDs of the current user. These User IDs determine which records the current user can access. It is possible to do actions such as changing the User ID of the current user so the user can access records that he/she can access by its original User ID. Note: This event is a security class member.

Example

Change the user's User ID to his parent user's user ID and let the user access more records (accessible by the parent user).

UserID_Loaded

For use with User ID security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired after loading the User ID and its child User IDs of the current user. These User IDs determine which records the current user can access. It is possible to do actions such as adding or deleting the loaded User IDs for the current user so the user can access more or less records that he/she can access by its originally loaded User IDs. Note: This event is a security class member.

Example

Add more User IDs to the user and let the user access more records

User_PasswordExpired

This event will be called if the user password is already expired. User information is passed to the event as argument, you can get user information by $rs["<fieldname>"] where <fieldname> is a field name of the user table. Note: This event is a security class member.

AuditTrail_Inserting

This event will be called before an audit trail record is written. The audit trail information is passed to the event as argument, you can get the information by $rsnew["<fieldname>"] where <fieldname> is the audit trail field name. Return False to cancel the insert. Note: This is a global function.

PersonalData_Downloading

This event will be called when Use Personal Data Page is enabled and before the user downloads his personal data. The personal data is passed to the event as an associative array, you can get the information by $row["<fieldname>"] where <fieldname> is an user table field name. You can also add additional data to the array so it will also be downloaded by the user. Note: This is a global function.

PersonalData_Deleted

This event will be called when Use Personal Data Page is enabled and before the user deletes his personal data. The personal data is passed to the event as an associative array, you can get the information by $row["<fieldname>"] where <fieldname> is an user table field name. Note: This is a global function.

Chart_Rendered

This event is fired after the chart renderer has set up data and options and before the code for drawing the chart is outputted. You can modify the data and options using this event. Note: This event is a chart class member.

The argument is the chart renderer instance, you can change the Data and Options properties.

Example

Modify chart dataset and/or options

Otp_Sending

This event is fired when Two Factor Authentication is enabled for Email or Sms and before an one time password is sent. You can modify the one time password content and recipient using this event. Note: This is a global function.

The argument is the sending user name and client (Email Or Sms object), you can change the client Content and Recipient properties, or return false to skip sending.

Example

Skip sending Otp for blocked users, and modify one time password content and recipient if necessary

Table-Specific -> Common (Note: These events are members of the table/page class)

Table_Load

This event will be called after the table is loaded. You can use this event to set table level properties.

Example

Set UseAjaxActions for the table.

Recordset_Selecting

This event will be called before selecting records. The argument of the event is the filter (part of the WHERE clause of the SQL) for selecting records, you can customize the filter to change the records to be selected.

Example

Add your own filter. Note that the $filter may have value, if you want to add some additional filter, append your filter to it, not replace it.

Recordset_Selected

This event will be called after selecting records. Note: The argument is the recordset object (not array).

Recordset_SearchValidated

This event will be called after the Form_CustomValidate event and the search criteria is assigned to the table/field objects. You can modify the search criteria in this event.

This event is a member of the table class. There is no arguments for this event. To change the Quick Search criteria, change the BasicSearchKeyword and BasicSearchType property of the table object. To change the Advanced Search criteria, change the AdvancedSearch property (which is an object of the AdvancedSearch class) of the field object.

Example

Recordset_Searching

This event will be called before the search criteria is saved for the session. The argument of the event is the part of WHERE clause built from the Quick/Extended/Advanced search criteria. You can modify the WHERE clause in this event.

Example

Search a MySQL DATE field for a selected date or within 3 days after the selected date.

Row_Deleting

This event will be called before deleting a record. The argument of the event is the record to be deleted as an array.

Row_Deleted

This event will be called after deleting a record. The argument of the event is the record deleted as an array.

Example

Delete detail records from the detail table after the master record is deleted.

Row_Inserting

This event will be called before inserting a record. The arguments of the event are the arrays of the old (if copying record) and new record to be inserted. You can change the values in the $rsnew.

Example

Make sure a field value is valid.

Row_Inserted

This event will be called after inserting a record. The arguments of the event are the arrays of the old (if copying record) and new record just inserted.

Example

Get the ID (autoincrement field) of the just inserted record

Row_Rendering

This event will be called before rendering (applying the View/Edit Tag settings) a record.

Row_Rendered

This event will be called after rendering a record.

This is an extremely useful event for conditional formatting, you can do a lot of things with this event, such as changing font color, font styles, row background color, cell background color, etc. by changing the table or field class properties in the event according to field values.

Note The table class has a RowAttrs property which is an associative array of HTML attributes for the table row. The field class has CellAttrs, ViewAttrs and EditAttrs for the table cell, View Tag and Edit Tag of the field respectively. The keys of these arrays must be valid HTML attributes for the HTML tag, always use lowercase for the keys. The attribute values will be outputted as double quoted attributes, so if you have double quotes in your values, try to use single quotes if possible, or use """.

To view the properties of the field class for development or debugging, you can use the PHP's var_dump function in the server event, e.g.

Example

Change CSS styles of row and cells:

Row_Selecting

This event will be called before selecting a record. The argument of the event is the filter (part of the WHERE clause of the SQL) for selecting the record, you can customize the filter to change the record to be selected.

Row_Selected

This event will be called after selecting a record. The argument is the record selected as an array. The event is still fired when inserting a new record, but in such case there is no "selected" row and the argument is an array with all field values as null.

Example

Disable a field in Edit page

Row_UpdateConflict

This event will be called if conflicts is found before updating a record (if Check Conflicts is enabled, see Table Setup). The arguments of the event are the old record (as array) and new record (as array) to be updated.

You can use this event to resolve the conflicts according to your own criteria. If you want to ignore conflicts or you have resolved the conflicts in the event (by setting new values to the argument $rsnew) and want to continue update, return false. Otherwise, return true. By default the event returns true.

Row_Updating

This event will be called before updating a record. The arguments of the event are the arrays of the old and new record to be updated.

Example

Make sure a field value is not changed

Row_Updated

This event will be called after updating a record. The arguments of the event are the arrays of the old and new record updated.

Example

After updating a field in detail table, update a field in the master table.

Grid_Inserting

For use with Grid-Add for a table and Master/Detail-Add for a detail table, this event will be called before inserting records. This event has no arguments.

You can use this event to check all records to be inserted. If you want to cancel insert, return false. Otherwise, return true. By default the event returns true.

Note If you only need to check individual record, there is no need to use this event, simply use Row_Inserting (see above) which will be called for each row in the grid.

Example

Check all records before inserting. Note that this event is called before Row_Inserting, the field values are not loaded yet, but you can load them yourself.

Note Data returned from getGridFormValues() is read only, do NOT try to change the values. To change the values, use Row_Inserting (see above) which will be called for each row in the grid.

Grid_Inserted

For use with Grid-Add for a table and Master/Detail-Add for a detail table, this event will be called after inserting all records. The argument of the event ($rsnew) is array of records inserted (retrieved from database).

For example, you can use this event to update a field in the master table (similar to the example for Row_Updated above) after Master/Detail-Add.

Grid_Updating

For use with Grid-Edit for a table and Master/Detail-Edit for a detail table, this event will be called before updating records. The argument of the event ($rsold) is array of records to be updated (retrieved from database).

You can use this event to check all records to be updated. If you want to cancel update, return false. Otherwise, return true. By default the event returns true.

Note If you only need to check individual record, there is no need to use this event, simply use Row_Updating (see above) which will be called for each row in the grid.

Example

Check all records before updating. Note that this event is called before Row_Updating, the field values are not loaded yet, but you can load them yourself.

Note Data returned from getGridFormValues() is read only, do NOT try to change the values. To change the values, use Row_Updating (see above) which will be called for each row in the grid.

Grid_Updated

For use with Grid-Edit for a table and Master/Detail-Edit for a detail table, this event will be called after updating all records. The argument of the event ($rsold and $rsnew) are array of records before and after update (retrieved from database).

For example, you can use this event to update a field in the master table (similar to the example for Row_Updated above) after Master/Detail-Edit.

Email_Sending

This event is fired before the email notification is sent. You can customize the email content using this event. Email_Sending event has the following parameters:

$email - the email object instance which contain all the information about the email to be sent. It is an instance of the Email class (see below).
$args - an array which contains additional information.

If Add, the new record in the format of array can be access by $args["rsnew"].
If Copy, the old record in the format of array can be access by $args["rsold"].
If Edit/Update, the old data of the records in the format of array can be access by $args["rsold"], the new data of the records in the format of array can be access by $args["rsnew"].
If Register, the new record in the format of array can be access by $args["rs"].

You can get a field value by, e.g.

Return false in the event if you want to cancel the email sending.

If Grid-Add/Edit or Update page, there are more than one records, the arguments are array of array.

Example

Assume there is an email field in the record, and you want to change the recipient to the value of that field.

Lookup_Selecting

This event is fired before building the SQL for selecting records from the lookup table. You can use this event to change the filters.

In the event, the field name, Lookup object and filter for the lookup can be viewed by:

$fld->Lookup is an object. To change the lookup SQL, you can modify the following properties of the Lookup object:

UserSelect

SELECT Statement (SELECT clause and FROM clause only)

UserFilter

WHERE clause

UserOrderBy

ORDER BY clause

Example 1

Add additional filter to the lookup table filter

Example 2

Change filter operator

Example 3

Modify lookup SQL SELECT / ORDER BY

Example 4

Use static array

Example 5

Use data from ExecuteRows

UserID_Filtering

For use with User ID security. (See Security Settings) This event is fired before adding the User ID filter to the WHERE clause of the table. It is possible to modify, replace or add filter so the user can access more or less records that he/she can access by its originally loaded User IDs.

Example

Assume you have 2 User ID fields in the current table and in the user table, and you want to filter by both User ID fields.

Table-Specific -> Add/Copy page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Example

Enable image cropper for a file upload field in the current page.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. The argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default after inserting a record user is redirected back to the List page. You can change that by using Return Page (see Table Setup). However, If you want to change by code, you can also use this event.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown.

The first argument $msg is the message to be shown, the second argument $type is the type of the message, possible values of type are: "" (empty string), "success", "failure", and "warning".

Example

Replace an error message by custom message

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. In general, the form data can be accessed by $this-><Field>->FormValue (e.g. $this->HP->FormValue). Alternatively, you can get all the form values in an array first, e.g.

To add error message for a field only, you can use addErrorMessage() method. An argument $customError is also passed to the event, you can add other error message and return false if the form values do not pass your validation.

Example

Make sure an integer field value meet a certain requirement

Note If you use this server event, make sure you have enabled server-side validation, see Validation in PHP Settings.

Table-Specific -> Delete Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default after deleting record(s) user is redirected back to the List page. You can change that using this event.

Table-Specific -> Edit Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default after updating a record user is redirected back to the List page. You can change that by using Return Page (see Table Setup). However, If you want to change by code, you can use this event.

Table-Specific -> List Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Note The export links are stored as a ListOptions object (also see ListOptions_Load, ListOptions_Rendering and ListOptions_Rendered event below), you can manipulate the links in the same way. The default names of the options are:

print
html
excel
word
xml
csv
pdf
email

Note that the names are in lowercase and are case-sensitive.

Example 1

Hide the export to PDF link in List page:

Example 2

Add a custom link at the end of the export links

Example 3

Add a custom action to submit selected records by HTTP POST

Note that the constructor of the ListAction class is:

Note To process the action, you also need to write a handler with Row_CustomAction server event (see below).

Example 4

Add a custom action to submit selected records by Ajax

Note To process the action, you also need to write a handler with Row_CustomAction server event (see below).

Example 5

When Custom Templates (see Custom Templates) is used, they will be used for export to Word/Excel/PDF/Email (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord) by default. You can however change it.

Example 6

Enable AdminLTE fixed header table.

You can use the following utility CSS classes for height:

"h-50px" to "h-1000px" (height, at 50px intervals),
"mh-50px" to "mh-1000px" (max-height, at 50px intervals)
"vh-10" to "vh-100" (viewport height, at 5vh intervals)

Note You can also use your own CSS class for height, but do NOT use CSS styles with the method.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content before the main table.

Example 1

Hide a field from the main table

Example 2

Add HTML during export (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord)

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content after the main table.

Example

Add HTML during export (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord)

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. See description of Form_CustomValidate for Add/Copy page above.

Note This event is used by Inline/Grid-Add/Edit and Multi-Edit (List Page) as well as Grid-Add/Edit (Detail Grid Page).

ListOptions_Load

This event will be called before the main table is rendered. Use this event to create or modify the non data columns of the main table (i.e. the links and the checkbox for each record). You can modify these columns or add your own columns using this event. You can get a column by name using $this->ListOptions->Item["name"].

Note The following predefined names are reserved, do not use them for your own columns. These names are case-sensitive and are in lowercase except for the detail table names.

checkbox
view
copy
delete
edit
detail_<DetailTable> - Detail table column
detailreport_<Report> - Report (as detail table) column
details - the Multiple Master/Detail column
preview - column for preview row of the Detail Preview extension (for registered users) only
sequence - column for sequence number
button - column for button group or button dropdown

Example 1

Add a new column.

Note If you have enabled Use buttons as links and/or Use button dropdown for links (see PHP Settings), note that the feature will hide the list options and try to move hyperlinks to the button group or button dropdown. If your Body property (see below) is not hyperlink(s), it cannot be shown in the button group or button dropdown, you should remove your list option from the button group or button dropdown by adding, e.g.

Example 2

Hide the "view" column.

Example 3

Hide a detail table named "MyDetailTable" in Preview Row or Overlay (requires Detail Preview extension which is for registered users only)

ListOptions_Rendering

This event will be called before list options are rendered. To access field object of the current row, you can use $this-><Field>-><Property> (e.g. $this->HP->CurrentValue).

Example 1

Disable Master/Detail-Add/Edit/View, e.g. if the detail table name is "orderdetails"

Example 2

Append a CSS class to all cells (including header/footer cell) of a field in the List page

Notes

The addClass() method add class to all cells including those in table header and footer. Do not use this method if you want to add class for the current row only.
Use this example carefully if your List page supports Inline/Grid-Add/Copy/Edit. If a field is only visible in large screen, it cannot be updated in smaller screens.

ListOptions_Rendered

This event will be called after list options are rendered. Use this event to modify content of the non data columns for the record. To access field object of the current row, you can use $this-><Field>-><Property> (e.g. $this->HP->CurrentValue).

Note Do NOT try to show/hide a column dynamically by setting the Visible property of the list option in this event. If the column is visible in one row but invisible in another, the table will be malformed. If you want to hide the content dynamically, you can set the Body property as empty string.

Example 1

Set the content of the new column dynamically based on a field value.

Example 2

Add a link to perform a custom action for the row by Ajax.

Note To process the action, you also need to write a handler with Row_CustomAction server event (see below).

Row_CustomAction

If you have used Page_Load server event (see above) to add your custom action to the List page, the page will show the checkbox column for users to select records (similar to Multi-Update and Mulit-Delete). When user clicks the custom action link or button, the page will post back to itself and this event will be fired (after Page_Load and before Page_Render) for each selected row to process the custom action.

Return true to proceed to next record or return false to abort custom action.

Example

Update the status of the selected records, assuming the table has a field named "Starred" for storing the status, and the primary key is an integer field names "ID".

Note If you cancel the action by returning false in the event, you can use the setFailureMessage() method to set your message. However, note that if the event returns false, subsequent rows will not be processed and the database changes for previous rows will be rollbacked (if your database supports transaction). So if you just want to cancel action for a row without affecting other rows, the event should still return true and use setSuccessMessage() method to set your message.

Page_Exporting

This event will be called before the page is exported. You can use this event to add your additional code to the beginning of file to be exported. Return false to skip default export and use Row_Export event (see below). Return true to use default export and skip Row_Export event. Check $this->Export or use $this->isExport() for the export type (e.g. "excel", "word").

The argument ($doc) is the object of the export class, you can change the properties of the object in this event. For example, you can access the content of the export document by $doc->Text (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord). Note also that the argument is passed by reference, that means you can even replace it with your own object if you want to export with your own export class. However, your export class should inherit from the AbstractExport class, see source code in the template.

Note If Custom Templates is used (see Custom Templates), this event is not supported.

Example 1

Add a title to the export document and use custom export if export to PDF

Example 2

Set custom file name for the output file

Row_Export

If you return false in Page_Exporting event (see above), this event will be called when a row is exported for you to export in your own code. Check $this->Export or use $this->isExport() for the export type (e.g. "excel", "word").

The arguments are:
$doc - The object of the export class. You can set the properties of the object. The content of the export document is $doc->Text (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord).
$row - An array of field values to be exported. The values in $row are unformatted database values. If you want to export formatted values, use $this->MyField->ViewValue.

Notes

If you return true in Page_Exporting event (see above), default export will be used and this event will NOT be called.
If Custom Templates is used (see Custom Templates), this event is not supported.

Example

Export a record with custom code if export to PDF

Page_Exported

This event will be called after the page is exported. You can use this event to add your additional code to the end of the file to be exported. The argument ($doc) is the object of the export class, the content of the export document is $doc->Text (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord).

Note If Custom Templates is used (see Custom Templates), this event is not supported.

Example 1

Add a footer to the export document if export to PDF

Example 2

Get the Document object to manipulate the content

Table-Specific -> Multi-Update Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default after updating records user is redirected back to the List page. You can change that by using this event.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. See description of Form_CustomValidate for Add/Copy page above.

Table-Specific -> Summary/Crosstab Report

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

The export links are stored as a ListOptions object, you can manipulate the links in the same way. You can get a link by name using $this->ExportOptions["name"]. The default names of the options are:

print
excel
word
pdf
email

Note that the names are case-sensitive. They are in lowercase.

Example

This example hides the export to PDF link in List page:

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_Selecting

Example

Add your own filter. Note that the $filter may have value, append your filter to it, not replace it.

Page_FilterLoad

This event allows you to add custom filters for field in Extended Search.

Example 1

Add 'StartsWithA' filter to a string field.

You can use the RegisterFilter() function to add your custom filter, the parameters of the event are:

fld - the field object
FilterName - the filter name
DisplayName - the display name of the filter to be displayed in the popup filter
FunctionName - the PHP function to be called for building the WHERE clause. The function must have one and only one parameter which is the field expression to be used in the WHERE clause. You can put the function in Global Code. This argument is optional, if you use function, you can add your code in Page_Filtering event

Then you can enter event code as below:

Example 2

Alternatively, If you don't write a function in Global Code, you can use Page_Filtering server event, then you can register your custom filter with the function name, e.g.

Also see the example for Page_Filtering event below.

Page_FilterValidated

This event will be called after the search criteria is assigned to the field objects. You can modify the search criteria in this event.

This event is a member of the table class. There is no arguments for this event. To change the search criteria, change the SearchValue, SearchOperator, SearchCondition, SearchValue2, SearchOperator2 property of the field's AdvancedSearch property.

Example

Page_Filtering

This event will be called before the search criteria is saved for the session. The argument of the event is the part of WHERE clause built from Extended Search. You can modify the WHERE clause in this event.

The arguments are:

fld - the field object
filter - the partial WHERE clause built from the selected filter
typ - the type of the filter, possible values are: dropdown (Extended Search as selection list), extended (Extended Search as textbox), or custom (Custom Filter)
opr - the current filter operator (for dropdown type or extended type only) or current custom filter ID (for custom type only)
val - the filter value (for dropdown type or extended type only)
cond - the condition to join the second filter operator and value, either AND or OR (optional, for extended type only)
opr2 - the second filter operator (optional, for extended type only)
val2 - the second filter value (optional, for extended type only)

Example

If you have registered a custom filter using Page_FilterLoad event (see above), you can implement your filter here, e.g. referring to example 2 for Page_FilterLoad above,

Also see the example for Page_Filtering server event below.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before report rendering. You can use this event to add HTML above the report.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called after report rendering. You can use this event to add HTML below the report.

Page_Breaking

This event will be called before inserting HTML page breaks (DIV tag by default) for print/export. You can use this event to change the HTML code. The parameters are:

break - Boolean. Specify to insert code or not
content - HTML code as page break

Row_Rendering

This event will be called before rendering (e.g. applying the View Tag settings) a record.

Row_Rendered

This event will be called after rendering a record.

The table class has a RowAttrs property which is an associative array of HTML attributes for the table row. The field class has CellAttrs, ViewAttrs for the table cell and View Tag of the field respectively. The keys of these arrays must be valid HTML attributes for the HTML tag, always use lowercase for the keys. The attribute values will be outputted as double quoted attributes, so if you have double quotes in your values, try to use single quotes if possible, or use """.

Example

Click "Sales By Customer" node on the database panel, select [Server Events/Client Scripts], and click [Table Specific] - > [Summary Report] - > [Row_Rendered] server event. The default Row_Rendered event code is shown. Change as follow:

Cell_Rendered

This event will be called after rendering a cell.

Note This event is fired before Row_Rendered event, if you set the same setting in the Row_Rendered event, it will be overwritten by the Row_Rendered event.

This is another extremely useful event for conditional formatting. It is especially useful for the dynamic columns for Crosstab reports as there are many dynamic columns for the same Column Field in the report. This event saves you from accessing the arrays for the columns, you can get/set the values passed to the event as arguments directly.

The arguments are:

Field - the field object
CurrentValue - current value of the cell (unformatted)
ViewValue - view value of the cell (formatted)
ViewAttrs - View Tag attributes
CellAttrs - table cell attributes
HrefValue - href attribute of the hyperlink for the ViewValue
LinkAttrs - attributes of the hyperlink for the ViewValue

The keys of the CellAttrs, ViewAttrs and LinkAttrs arrays must be valid HTML attributes for the HTML tag, always use lowercase for the keys. The attribute values will be outputted as double quoted attributes, so if you have double quotes in your values, try to use single quotes if possible, or use """.

Example

Click "Sales By Customer" node on the database panel, select Server Events/Client Scripts, and click Table Specific -> Summary Report -> Cell_Rendered server event. The default Cell_Rendered event code is shown. Change as follow:

Email_Sending

This event is fired before the email is sent. You can customize the email content using this event. Email_Sending event has the following parameters:

Email - the email object instance which contain all the information about the email to be sent. It is an instance of the Email class, refer to the class in the template for members of the object.

Args - an array which contains additional information. By default it is empty.

Return false in the event if you want to cancel the email sending.

Example

Add user name at the end of the email

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown.

The first argument $msg is the message to be shown, the second argument $type is the type of the message.

Example

Replace an error message by custom message

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. In general, the form data can be accessed by $this-><Field>->SearchValue (e.g. $this->HP->SearchValue). Refer to the generated code for actual variable names.

Example

Make sure an integer field value meet a certain requirement

Lookup_Selecting

For use with Extended Search (see Field Setup). This event is fired before selecting records from table. You can use this event to change the filter.

UserID_Filtering

Table-Specific -> Dashboard

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Table-Specific -> Search Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default user is redirected to the List page after the search criteria is processed. You can change that by using this event.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. See description of Form_CustomValidate for Add/Copy page above.

Table-Specific -> View Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Note Please also see above description for List page.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Page_Exporting

Note If Custom Templates is used (see Custom Templates), this event may be overridden. You can disable using Custom Templates for report, see example for Page_Load above.

Row_Export

The arguments are:
$doc - The object of the export class. The content of the export document is $doc->Text (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord).
$row - An array of field values to be exported. The values in $row are unformatted database values. If you want to export formatted values, use $this->MyField->ViewValue.

Note If Custom Templates is used (see Custom Templates), this event may be overridden. You can disable using Custom Templates for report, see example for Page_Load above.

Page_Exported

This event will be called after the page is exported. You can use this event to add your additional code to the end of the file to be exported. Check $this->Export or use $this->isExport() for the export type (e.g. "excel", "word"). The argument ($doc) is the object of the export class, the content of the export document is $doc->Text (except PhpSpreadsheet/PHPWord).

Note If Custom Templates is used (see Custom Templates), this event may be overridden. You can disable using Custom Templates for report, see example for Page_Load above.

Table-Specific -> Preview Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page content is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called after the page content is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Table-Specific -> Add Option Page

Page_Load

This event will be called after connecting to the database.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called before closing database connection.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page content is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called after the page content is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Table-Specific -> Dertail Grid Page

ListOptions_Load

This event will be called before the main table is rendered. Use this event to create or modify the non data columns of the main table.

ListOptions_Rendering

This event will be called before list options are rendered.

ListOptions_Rendered

This event will be called after list options are rendered. Use this event to modify content of the non data columns for the record.

Other -> Login Page

Page_Load

This event will be called at the beginning of the page.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called at the end of the page.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default user is redirected to the index page after successful login. You can change that by using this event.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

User_LoggingIn

This event will be called before validating the username and password.

User_LoggedIn

This event will be called after the user login.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation.

User_LoginError

This event will be called if the user fail to login.

Other -> Logout Page

Page_Load

This event will be called at the beginning of the page.

Page_Unload

This event will be called at the end of the page.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default user is redirected to the index page after successful login. You can change that by using this event.

User_LoggingOut

This event will be called before user logout.

User_LoggedOut

This event will be called after user logout.

Other -> Registration Page

Page_Load

This event will be called at the beginning of the page.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called at the end of the page.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default user is redirected to the index page after successful login. You can change that by using this event.

Email_Sending

This event is fired before the email notification is sent. You can customize the email content using this event. Email_Sending event has the following parameters:

$email - the email object instance which contain all the information about the email to be sent. It is an instance of the Email class (see below).
$args - an array which contains additional information. For registration page, the new record in the data type of a recordset can be accessed by $args["rs"].

Return false in the event if you want to cancel the email sending.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. See description of Form_CustomValidate for Add/Copy page above.

User_Registered

This event is fired after successful registration of a new user. Argument is a recordset of the new record in the user table.

User_Activated

This event is fired after activating a new user (if user activation is required, see Security Settings). Argument is a recordset of the new record in the user table.

Other -> Change Password Page

Page_Load

This event will be called at the beginning of the page.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called at the end of the page.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default user is redirected to the index page after successful login. You can change that by using this event.

Email_Sending

This event is fired before the email notification is sent. You can customize the email content using this event. Email_Sending event has the following parameters:

$email - the email object instance which contain all the information about the email to be sent. It is an instance of the Email class (see below).
$args - an array containing additional information. For Change Password page, the old data of the records in the data type of recordset can be accessed by $args["rsold"], the new data of the records in the data type of recordset can be accessed by $args["rsnew"].

Return false in the event if you want to cancel the email sending.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation.

Other -> Password Recovery Page

Page_Load

This event will be called at the beginning of the page.

Page_Render

This event will be called before outputting HTML for the page. You can use this event to make some last minute changes to the page before it is outputted.

Page_Unload

This event will be called at the end of the page.

Page_DataRendering

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the top of page content.

Page_DataRendered

This event will be called before the page is outputted. You can use this event to add content at the bottom of page content.

Page_Redirecting

This event will be called before redirecting to other page. Event argument is the URL to be redirected to.

By default user is redirected to the login page after successful login. You can change that by using this event.

Email_Sending

This event is fired before the email notification is sent. You can customize the email content using this event. Email_Sending event has the following parameters:

$email - the email object instance which contain all the information about the email to be sent. It is an instance of the Email class (see below).
$args - an array containing additional information. For Password Recovery Page, the old data of the records in the data type of recordset can be accessed by $args["rs"].

Return false in the event if you want to cancel the email sending.

Message_Showing

This event is fired before the message stored in the session variable is shown. You can use this event to change the message which is passed to the event as argument.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation.

User_RecoverPassword

This event is fired after the password is recovered. Argument is a recordset of the user's record in the user table.

Client Scripts

Since v2020, JavaScripts are loaded asynchronously for better loading performance of a page. The page will not be held up while loading JavaScripts. However, this also means that the scripts are not immediately available in the body of the page. You need to wait until the required scripts are loaded before you can use them.

Each page has two blocks of JavaScript:

Client Script - The first block of JavaScript to be included at the beginning of the page, you can put your JavaScript variables and functions there. Client script is executed after all JavaScripts added in the <head> section are loaded.

Startup Script - The second block of JavaScript to be included at the end of the page, Startup Script is executed when all JavaScripts added in the page are loaded, you can put JavaScript code here to "start up" your page.

Note If you need to load a script which should be loaded synchronously, you can add your <script> tag in Page_Head event (see above).

Note In the following table, the <fieldname> in code represents the field variable name. In general, if the field name is alphanumeric, field variable name is same as the field name. Otherwise, spaces are replaced by underscores, and other non alphanumeric characters are replaced by their hexadecimal string representation of their unicode value. If the variable is a reserved word or starts with a digit, it will be prepended with an underscore. If in doubt, always inspect HTML source in your browser to check the actual id, name, and other attributes of the elements.

Global -> Pages with header/footer

Client Script

The script will be placed in the header and therefore included in all pages with header.

Notes

This event is NOT related to the No header/footer setting in the Generate form (see Generate Settings). Even if No header/footer is enabled, this event will also be fired.
Do NOT use any server side code in this section.

Startup Script

The script will be placed in the footer and therefore included in all pages with footer. This is a very useful event which is fired for all pages with footer, you can almost do everything by changing the document DOM.

Notes

This event is NOT related to the No header/footer setting in the Generate form (see Generate Settings). Even if No header/footer is enabled, this event will also be fired.
Do NOT use any server side code in this section.

Global Code

JavaScript code to be included in all pages with header. This may contain your global constants, variables and functions.

Notes

Do NOT use any server side code in this section.
If you want to add global constants, variables and functions, add it to the window object.

Example

Add a global function to window object.

Table-Specific -> Add/Copy page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header. This may contain your JavaScript variables and functions for the page. You can also use this event to subscribe JavaScript events.

Example 1

Set Multi-Page (see Table Setup) properties

Note The argument of the set() method is a JavaScript object, if you modify above example, make sure that the syntax is correct and that the last property value does not have a trailing comma.

Example 2

Subscribe the jQuery ajaxSend event before an Ajax request is sent (e.g. "updateoption", "autosuggest", "autofill")

Example 3

Subscribe the "updatedone" event for Dynamic Selection Lists. The event fires after options of a child field is updated.

Example 4

Subscribe the "create.editor" event for the field named "MyField" to change configuration of the HTML editors. The event fires before the HTML editor is created.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer. This is a very useful event which you can almost do everything by changing the document DOM.

Example 1

Add onchange event to the field named "Field1" in Add/Edit page to change other fields by jQuery plugin .fields()

Example 2

Add onclick event to the field named "Field2" which uses CHECKBOX as Edit Tag.

Example 3

Add onchange event to the field named "Field1" in Grid-Add/Edit page to change other fields by jQuery plugin .fields()

Example 4

Toggle visibility of a page in Multi-Page (see Table Setup)

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. Note: This function is a member of the JavaScript form object.

Return false if the form values do not pass your validation.

Notes

If you use this client side event, make sure you have enabled client-side validation, see Validation in PHP Settings.
From v2021 this event is generated as customValidate() method, NOT Form_CustomValidate(), of the Form object.

The HTML form element can be accessed by the argument fobj passed to the event. Other than the traditional way of accessing the list of the form's data-containing elements by examining the form's elements property, you can also get the input values by other easier ways in this event.

Example 1 - Get all input values (except files) as a JavaScript object for validation.

Notes

The field values are retrieved from the form elements directly, the data type is string. If you need to do calculation, make sure you convert the value to the correct data type first.
The this.value does not support file upload fields.
You can use await operator inside the function if you add the async keyword before function(fobj).
You can return a thenable object using .then() to provide callbacks for adding custom error messages, if any.

Alternatively, you can use the jQuery plugin .fields() to easily convert the input value (string) to other data types for calculation.

Example 2 - Convert the input value to number and make sure the value meet some requirements

Example 3 - Convert input values to JavaScript Date objects and compare the values

Example 4 - Manipulation of date values by converting the input values to Moment object.

Table-Specific -> Delete Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Table-Specific -> Edit Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. The form object can be accessed by the parameter fobj. Return false if the form values do not pass your validation.

Table-Specific -> List Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

This event is fired after the normal form validation. You can use this event to do your own custom validation. Return false if the form values do not pass your validation.

The form object can be accessed by the parameter fobj.

Note that the form element names are different in Inline-Add/Copy/Edit or Grid-Add/Edit mode of List page. They are named as "x0_<fieldname>" in Inline-Add/Copy, as "x1_<fieldname>" in Inline-Edit mode, and as "x1_<fieldname>", "x2_<fieldname>", etc. in Grid-Add/Edit since there are multiple rows. Inspect the elements in your browser to check the actual form element names.

Notes

This event is fired for EVERY row in the grid. You can also use the jQuery plugin .fields() to manipulate the fields, but remember that the plugin return field(s) of the CURRENT row only. If you need to access fields in other rows, either use fobj.elements or jQuery with CSS selectors.
This event is used by Inline/Grid-Add/Edit and Multi-Edit (List Page) as well as Grid-Add/Edit (Detail Grid Page).

Table-Specific -> Multi-Update Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Table-Specific -> Summary Report

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Example

Modify Chart.js bar chart dataset by subscribing to "chart" event.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Example

Draw Gantt Chart by Google Gantt Charts. Make sure you add https://www.gstatic.com/charts/loader.js under Tools -> Scripts & Stylesheets -> Scripts (Global) first.

Note Above sample code can also be found in Code Repository.

Form_CustomValidate

Table-Specific -> Crosstab Report

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Table-Specific -> Calendar Report

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Table-Specific -> Dashboard

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Table-Specific -> Search Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Table-Specific -> View Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Table-Specific -> Add Option Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Other -> Login Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Other -> Registration Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Other -> Change Password Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Other -> Password Recovery Page

Client Script

The script will be placed after the header.

Startup Script

The script will be placed before the footer.

Form_CustomValidate

Note It is recommended that you develop your server event and client scripts in the generated script so you can edit and test it immediately. When you finish your custom script, copy it to PHPMaker custom script editor and save it.

Objects in Generated Code

The following objects are available in the generated code and you can use them in the Server Events to add more power to the code. The most important objects are:

Page Object
The Page object is generated for most pages. You can access the object properties using the -> notation (e.g. CurrentPage()->PageID). The page class inherits from the table class generated for each table. The methods and properties of the page class varies with page, for the complete list of methods and properties, please refer to the generated page class in the generated scripts and the class <Table> (e.g. Cars) in the generated file "models/<Table>.php".

Field Object
A Field object is generated for each field in a table. For example, the "Trademark" object is generated for the "Trademark" field in the "Cars" table. You can access the object properties using the -> notation (e.g. CurrentPage()->Trademark->CurrentValue). For the complete list of methods and properties, please refer to the class DbField in the DbField.php.

Security Object
The Security object is used to store the current Advanced Security settings. Please refer to the class AdvancedSecurity in the generated file AdvancedSecurity.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

Email Object
The Email object contains the required information of the email to be sent, the instance of the object will be passed to the Email_Sending events as argument and let you modify the email. Please refer to the class Email in the generated file Email.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

Menu Object
The Menu object contains all information of a menu, the instance of the menu will be passed to the Menu_Rendering and Menu_Rendered events as argument and let you work with the menu. Please refer to the class Menu in the generated file Menu.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

MenuItem Object
The MenuItem object contains all information of the menu item, the instance of the menu item will be passed to the MenuItem_Adding events as argument and let you work with the menu item. Please refer to the class MenuItem in the generated file MenuItem.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

ListOptions Object
The ListOptions object contains all information of the non data columns in the main table of the List page. Please refer to the class ListOptions in the generated file ListOptions.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

ExportOptions Object
The ExportOptions object contains all information of the export links in the List page. It is also an instance of the class ListOptions. Please refer to the class ListOptions in the generated file ListOptions.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

Language Object
The language Object lets you retrieve a phrase of the active language during runtime. The phrase can be retrieved in the generated scripts using methods such as phrase(), tablePhrase(), chartPhrase() and fieldPhrase(). Please refer to the class Language in the generated file Language.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

Breadcrumb Object
The Breadcrumb object contains all information of the breadcrumb at the top of page. Please refer to the class Breadcrumb in the generated file Breadcrumb.php for the complete list of methods and properties.

There are other objects in the generated code, please refer to the list of files in the "src" folder in the template or generated scripts.

Some Global Functions

The following are some useful global function available in the generated code for you to get information easier in server events:

Notes

In the following table, the argument $dbname or $tablename or $fieldname is the database/table/field variable name. It is case-sensitive. In general, if the name is alphanumeric, the variable name is same as the name. Otherwise, spaces are replaced by underscores, and other non alphanumeric characters are replaced by their hexadecimal string representation of their unicode value. If the variable is a reserved word, it will be prepended with an underscore. If you use databases with the same name, check the database variable name in the Add Linked Table form, see Linked Tables.
Argument in square brackets means that the argument is optional.
If $dbname is not specified, the database of the project is assumed. If $dbname is specified, the specified database of Linked Tables is used.
The following is not a complete list, always refer to the source code of the file "phpfn.php" in template or generated scripts for complete information.

Function

Description

Get($name[, $default])

Get a value from $_GET. If the value is not set, the default value $default (null by default) is returned.

Example

Post($name[, $default])

Get a value from $_POST. If the value is not set, the default value $default (null by default) is returned.

Example

Param($name[, $default])

Get a value from $_POST. If the value is not set, get the value from $_GET. If the value is not set, the default value $default (null by default) is returned.

Example

Config($name[, $value])

Get/Set config. If value is of array type, dot notation is supported.

Example

Route([$i])

Get the route value by index (nth, 0-based) or by name. If $i unspecified, all route values are returned as array.

For example, if you make a request to API like /api/hello/world, the parameters are hello/world, the first value, Route(0), is the action name "hello", the second value, Route(1), is "world".

Example

Conn([$dbname])

Get the global connection object.

If $dbname is not specified, it returns the connection object for the database of the project. If $dbname is specified, it returns the connection object for the specified database of a Linked Table.

Example

Security()

Get the global security object

Example

Language()

Get the global language object

Example

Profile()

Get the global user profile object

Example

Session()

Get the global session helper object

Example

CurrentUserName()

Get current user name.

Example

CurrentUserEmail()

Get current user email. Requires Email Field enabled.

Example

CurrentUserID()

For used with User ID Security (see Security Settings). Get current User ID.

Example

CurrentUserLevel()

For used with User Level Security (see Security Settings). Get current user's User Level ID (integer). (Note NOT current user's permission as integer.)

Example

CurrentUserInfo($fieldname)

For used with Advanced Security (see Security Settings). Get current user's info from the user table. The argument is the field name in the user table.

Example

CurrentPageID()

Get current page ID. A page ID identifies the page type, it can be "list", "view", "add", "edit", "delete", "search", etc.

Example

CurrentPage()

Get current page object.

Example

CurrentPageName()

Get current page (route) name without path.

Example

CurrentPageTitle()

Get/Set current page title.

Example

CurrentTable()

Get current table object.

Example

CurrentTableName()

Get current table name.

Example

CurrentLanguageID()

Get current language ID.

Example

Page([$tablename])

Get page object of another table in the page, e.g. the page object of the master table or detail table. If $tablename is not specified, it returns CurrentPage().

Example

Container($tablename)

Get (or create if not exist) table object.

Example

IsLoggedIn()

For used with Advanced Security (see Security Settings). Get the login status of the current user.

Example

IsAdmin()

For used with Advanced Security (see Security Settings). Check if the current user is an administrator.

Example

IsExport([$format])

Check if the page is exporting data.

Example

ExecuteQuery($sql [,$dbname])

Executes SELECT statement and returns the Doctrine\DBAL\Result instance for accessing the results by fetch API

Example

ExecuteStatement($sql [,$dbname])

Executes UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE statements and returns number of rows affected.

Example

ExecuteRow($sql [,$dbname])

Executes the query, and returns the first row as an array.

Example

ExecuteRows($sql [,$dbname])

Executes the query, and returns the rows as an array.

Example

ExecuteScalar($sql [,$dbname])

Executes the query, and returns the first column of the first row.

Example

ExecuteHtml($sql [,$options] [,$dbname])

Executes the query, and returns the data as HTML table. See source code for options.

Example

ExecuteJson($sql [,$options] [,$dbname])

Executes the query, and returns the data as JSON. See source code for options.

Example

QueryBuilder([$dbname])

Create a QueryBuilder for the database connection.

Example

Insert($tablename [,$dbname])

Create a QueryBuilder of INSERT statement for the specified table.

Example

Update($tablename [,$dbname])

Create a QueryBuilder of UPDATE statement for the specified table.

Example

Delete($tablename [,$dbname])

Create a QueryBuilder of DELETE statement for the specified table.

Example

SetClientVar($name, $value)

Pass server side data to client side as a property of the ew.vars object.

Example

jQuery .fields() Plugin

The jQuery plugin .fields() is available for you to easily get/set the form values and convert the data type for manipulation in client side events for input elements, such as jQuery .change() event, Client side events (see Field Setup) and client side Form_CustomValidate (see above) event of the form. For example,

The jQuery object of the field is the jQuery object of the input element of the field. For example, if the page is an Edit page and the field is named "Field1", $(this).fields("Field1") is equivalent to $("#x_Field1").

Note The this in above code must be the input element of a field or the HTML form element.

The advantages of using .fields() plugin is that the returned jQuery object has the following additional methods:

.value([value])

.value() get field value, .value(value) set the field value.

Note This method is NOT the same as jQuery's .val() method. This method takes other features (e.g. HTML editor, AutoSuggest) into consideration.

.visible([value])

.visible() get the visibility of the field, .visible(value) set the visibility of the field. The value should be a boolean value.

Note This method shows/hides the row of the field (i.e. the <tr> or the <div>), NOT just the input element(s) of the field itself in Add/Edit page.

.readonly(value)

Get/Set the readonly attribute of the input element. The value should be a Boolean value.

Note For <input type="text"> and <textarea> only.

.disabled(value)

Get/Set the disabled attribute of the input element. The value should be a Boolean value.

Note A disabled control's value is NOT submitted with the form. Use this carefully in Add/Edit page or the field may be updated with an empty value.

.row()

Get the jQuery object of the row (<tr> or <div>) of the field.

Notes

If Add/Edit page, the row is the <tr> or the <div> of the field.
If Grid page, the row is the <tr> of the record.

.toNumber()

Get the input value as a JavaScript Number (by default the input value is string).

.toDate()

Get the input value as a Luxon object (by default the input value is string).

.toJsDate()

Get the input value as a JavaScript Date object (by default the input value is string).

Auto JS Template

Auto JS Template is a JsRender template that will be rendered automatically as soon as the DOM is ready. Using these templates you can change virtually everywhere of the whole layout.

Syntax:

Attributes:

type

Type of the script. Use text/html so the script will not be executed by browser as JavaScript.

class

Class of the script. Must contain "ew-js-template" (case-sensitive).

data-name

(Optional) Name of the template.

Notes

If a template is named, it will only be rendered once.
If more than one templates have the same name, only the first template will be used.

data-target

(Required) The target (CSS selector) of the template. To be used with data-method (see next).

Notes

This must be a valid CSS selector, otherwise the target cannot be found and the template cannot be rendered.
Press F12 in browser, inspect the HTML elements, check the id and class attributes to find the correct CSS selector of your target.

data-method

(Optional) The jQuery method name to apply the template. In general, the template will be rendered by:

$(<html>)[method](target);

The following jQuery methods are supported:

Name

Method

Description

appendTo

.appendTo()

Insert HTML to the end of the target

prependTo

.prependTo()

Insert HTML to the beginning of the target

insertAfter

.insertAfter()

Insert HTML after the target

insertBefore

.insertBefore()

Insert HTML before the target

replaceAll

.replaceAll()

Replace target with the HTML

If method is unspecified, the template will be rendered by:

$(target).html(<html>);

data-data

(Optional) Data to be passed to the template. It must be a property name of the ew.vars object or the window object. If you want to pass data to the template, make sure you set the data first.

For example, menu data is set to ew.vars.menu and then data-data="menu" is set for the menu template. You can override the default menu template by adding your own with same name (i.e. data-name="menu") in Page_Head event. Similarly for the multi-language selector (data-name="languages") and the logged-in user dropdown panel (data-name="login").

data-seq

(Optional) The sequence number of the template to be applied. If unspecified, it is 0. The larger the number, the later the template will be applied. If there are more than one templates for the same target, you may need to use this attribute to determine which template applies first.

Notes

Auto JS Template can be used in Page_Head or Page_Foot (see above).
An empty Auto JS Template can be found in Code Repository.