DESCRIPTION
    FormBuilder is a fully-functional form engine with numerous features. It is far more than a form-generating module. For
    example, you can build a complete application with something as simple as this:

        use CGI::FormBuilder;

        # Let's assume we did a DBI query to get existing values
        my $dbval = $sth->fetchrow_hashref;

        my $form = CGI::FormBuilder->new(
                        method => 'POST',
                        fields => [qw/name email phone gender/],
                        values => $dbval,
                        validate => { email => 'EMAIL', phone => 'PHONE' },
                        required => 'ALL',
                   );

        # Change gender field to have options
        $form->field(name => 'gender', options => [qw/Male Female/]);

        if ($form->submitted && $form->validate) {
            my $fields = $form->field;    # get form fields as hashref

            # Do something to update your data (you would write this)
            do_data_update($fields->{name}, $fields->{email},
                           $fields->{phone}, $fields->{gender});

            print $form->confirm(header => 1);  # confirmation screen

            $form->mailconfirm(to => $fields->{email});

        } else {
            print $form->render(header => 1);   # print out the form
        }

    That simple bit of code would print out an entire form, laid out in a table, complete with JavaScript validation code.
    Default values would be filled in from the DBI hashref. It would also handle stickiness across multiple submissions
    correctly. It will also be able to tell if it's been submitted, and do server-side validation too.

    Overall, I just plain hate form generation and validation because the majority of the process is tedious and mindless.
    FormBuilder tries to get rid of the stoopid parts.

WHY USE FORMBUILDER?
    There are a lot of form modules, scripts, etc out there. So why use this one? Well, that's up to you, but here are the
    features that I feel are the real benefits of FormBuilder:

  DWIMmery

    This module tries to `Do What I Mean'. Tell it the fields you care about, and it takes care of all the stupid HTML and
    JavaScript generation and processing for you. It also gives you back the correct values that you want. It will even label
    your fields automatically.

  Input field abstraction

    You simply define your fields and their values, and this module will take care of figuring out what representation is
    best. It will then generate the appropriate input fields (input, select, radio, etc), even changing any JavaScript
    actions appropriately.

  Easy handling of defaults

    Just specify a hash of values to use as the defaults for your fields. This will be searched case-insensitively and
    displayed in the form. What's more, if the user enters something via the CGI that overrides a default, when you use the
    `field()' method to get the data you'll get the correct value.

  Correct stickiness

    Stickiness is a PITA. FormBuilder correctly handles even multiple values selected in a multiple select list, integrated
    with proper handling of defaults.

  Robust field validation

    Form validation sucks, and this is where FormBuilder is a big help. It has tons of builtin patterns, and will even
    generate gobs of JavaScript validation code for you. You can specify your own regexps as well, and FormBuilder will
    correctly check even multivalued inputs.

  Multiple submit mode support

    FormBuilder allows you to reliably tell whether the person clicked on the `Update' or `Delete' button of your form,
    normally a big pain.

  Template driver support

    FormBuilder can natively "drive" both major templating engines, `HTML::Template' and `Template Toolkit'. If you want to
    build a form application with a template in less that 20 lines of Perl, FormBuilder is for you.

INSTALLATION
    Installation is standard, the same way as for other Perl modules.

SUPPORT
    There is a website devoted to this module at www.formbuilder.org which has tutorials, code examples, full documentation,
    and much more!

AUTHOR
    Copyright (c) 2001-2003 Nathan Wiger, Sun Microsystems <nate@sun.com>. All Rights Reserved.

    This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or the Artistic
    License, copies of which should have accompanied your Perl kit.

