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Admin Forms and Smarty Plugins

CMSMS provides a set of Smarty plugins specifically designed for building admin forms. These plugins handle action IDs, CSRF tokens, URL generation, and admin theme integration automatically.

Form Plugins

{form_start} and {form_end}

The {form_start} plugin creates a <form> tag with all required hidden fields — module name, action ID, return ID, and CSRF token. The {form_end} plugin closes it.

{* Basic form — submits back to the current action *}
{form_start}
  <!-- form fields -->
{form_end}

{* Form that submits to a specific action *}
{form_start action='save_settings'}
  <!-- form fields -->
{form_end}

{* Form with additional hidden parameters *}
{form_start action='edit_holiday' hid=$holiday->id}
  <!-- form fields -->
{form_end}

{* Form with file upload support *}
{form_start action='upload_file' enctype='multipart/form-data'}
  <!-- file input -->
{form_end}

Parameters passed to {form_start} (like hid) are automatically prefixed with {$actionid} and included as hidden fields.

{cms_action_url}

Generates a URL to a module action. Use it for links, not forms:

{* Link to an action *}
<a href="{cms_action_url action=edit_holiday hid=$holiday->id}">Edit</a>

{* Assign to a variable for reuse *}
{cms_action_url action=edit_holiday hid=$holiday->id assign='edit_url'}
<a href="{$edit_url}">{$holiday->name}</a>

{* Link to a frontend action on a specific page *}
{cms_action_url action=detail hid=$holiday->id returnid=$detailpage}

The plugin automatically determines the module name. You can pass any additional parameters and they will be included in the URL.

{admin_icon}

Renders an icon from the admin theme:

{admin_icon icon='newobject.gif'}
{admin_icon icon='edit.gif'}
{admin_icon icon='delete.gif'}
{admin_icon icon='info.gif'}
{admin_icon icon='export.gif'}
{admin_icon icon='import.gif'}

Common icons available in the admin theme:

Icon	Typical use
newobject.gif	Add / create new item
edit.gif	Edit an item
delete.gif	Delete an item
info.gif	Information / help
true.gif	Active / enabled state
false.gif	Inactive / disabled state
export.gif	Export action
import.gif	Import action
copy.gif	Copy / duplicate
view.gif	View / preview

Input Plugins

{cms_textarea}

Creates a textarea that automatically integrates with the installed WYSIWYG editor (e.g., MicroTiny):

{cms_textarea prefix=$actionid name='description'
             value=$holiday->description enablewysiwyg=true}

{* Without WYSIWYG — plain textarea *}
{cms_textarea prefix=$actionid name='notes' value=$item->notes}

The prefix parameter should always be $actionid. The name parameter becomes the field name (prefixed automatically).

{cms_yesno}

Generates a yes/no dropdown:

<select name="{$actionid}published">
  {cms_yesno selected=$holiday->published}
</select>

Standard HTML inputs

For text inputs, selects, checkboxes, and other standard fields, use plain HTML with the {$actionid} prefix:

<!-- Text input -->
<input type="text" name="{$actionid}name" value="{$holiday->name|escape}" />

<!-- Date input -->
<input type="date" name="{$actionid}the_date"
       value="{$holiday->the_date|date_format:'%Y-%m-%d'}" />

<!-- Select dropdown -->
<select name="{$actionid}category">
  {foreach $categories as $key => $label}
    <option value="{$key}" {if $key == $item->category}selected{/if}>
      {$label|escape}
    </option>
  {/foreach}
</select>

<!-- Submit and cancel buttons -->
<input type="submit" name="{$actionid}submit" value="{$mod->Lang('submit')}" />
<input type="submit" name="{$actionid}cancel" value="{$mod->Lang('cancel')}" />

Note: Always prefix every input name with {$actionid}. This is how CMSMS routes form data back to the correct module action. Without the prefix, your parameters will not appear in the $params array.

Admin Style Guide

The CMSMS admin theme provides standard CSS classes for consistent form layout. Using these classes ensures your module looks consistent with the rest of the admin panel.

Form row layout

<div class="pageoverflow">
  <p class="pagetext">{$mod->Lang('name')}:</p>
  <p class="pageinput">
    <input type="text" name="{$actionid}name" value="{$item->name|escape}" />
  </p>
</div>

Action links area

<div class="pageoptions">
  <a href="{cms_action_url action=edit_item}">
    {admin_icon icon='newobject.gif'} {$mod->Lang('add_item')}
  </a>
</div>

List table

<table class="pagetable">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>{$mod->Lang('name')}</th>
      <th>{$mod->Lang('date')}</th>
      <th class="pageicon"></th>
      <th class="pageicon"></th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
  {foreach $items as $item}
    {cms_action_url action=edit_item hid=$item->id assign='edit_url'}
    <tr>
      <td><a href="{$edit_url}">{$item->name|escape}</a></td>
      <td>{$item->the_date|date_format:'%x'}</td>
      <td><a href="{$edit_url}" title="{$mod->Lang('edit')}">
            {admin_icon icon='edit.gif'}</a></td>
      <td><a class="del_item"
             href="{cms_action_url action=delete_item hid=$item->id}"
             title="{$mod->Lang('delete')}">
            {admin_icon icon='delete.gif'}</a></td>
    </tr>
  {/foreach}
  </tbody>
</table>

Error and message display

{* Display validation errors *}
{if !empty($errors)}
<div class="pageerror">
  <ul>
  {foreach $errors as $error}
    <li>{$error}</li>
  {/foreach}
  </ul>
</div>
{/if}

CSS Class Reference

Class	Element	Purpose
pageoverflow	div	Wrapper for a form row (label + input pair)
pagetext	p	Field label within a form row
pageinput	p	Input field within a form row
pageoptions	div	Action links area (e.g., "Add new item")
pagetable	table	Standard list/data table
pageicon	th / td	Narrow column for an icon (edit, delete)
pageerror	div	Error message container

The admin theme also includes a basic 12-column grid system for more complex form layouts.

Next Steps

Continue to Admin Tabs and Navigation to learn how to create tabbed interfaces and customize your module's position in the admin navigation.