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dummyok

A dummy field is a dynamic field for which there is no $obj (they, thus, must occur in groups since $obj is defined for a group). As for as ones MICdefine code goes, these fields must be handled (by testing on the existence of $obj or by not requiring $obj), but they act the same. The purpose of the distinction is to support two common functions of dynamic fields.

The first category is where a form is meant to support n user inputs where n may be limited (by maxnum) or infinite. In this case, we would want to support dummyok to be true since some or all of the fields might have no dependency on prior data.

The second category, for which we would want to set dummyok to false, or leave the parameter out, would be where we want to allow users to edit existing data, but not add anything of their own. In the latter case, it is obvious that once we run out of $obj's (where each $obj is a package of existing data for a group of fields), we don't need to create any more fields (or groups) and so stop.

This, in short, is the interaction of dummyok and the existence of $obj.


next up previous contents
Next: special variables Up: Description Previous: group setup   Contents