form_build_id must start with a letter for XHTML compliance [#145135]

XHTML requires that the id attribute begin with a letter. form_build_id is set to an MD5 hash so 10 times out of 16 it begins with a number. This patch just puts an 'f' at the front of every form_build_id.

It is not clear to me why we are outputting an id field containing a randomly-generated hash in the first place. How can it ever be useful? Scripting, I guess.

Comment	File	Size	Author
#4	xhtml-valid-form-id.patch	1.07 KB	Stefan Nagtegaal
#4
	form-build-id.patch	1.08 KB	bjaspan

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Comments

Comment #1

Stefan Nagtegaal CreditAttribution: Stefan Nagtegaal commented 19 May 2007 at 14:12

Isn't it nicer todo:

-      $form_build_id = md5(mt_rand());
+      $form_build_id = 'form-'. md5(mt_rand());

instead of:

-      $form_build_id = md5(mt_rand());
+      $form_build_id = 'f'.md5(mt_rand());

Just my $0,02..

Comment #2

Stefan Nagtegaal CreditAttribution: Stefan Nagtegaal commented 19 May 2007 at 14:13

Title:

form_build_id must start with a letter

» form_build_id must start with a letter for XHTML compliance

Set better title

Comment #3

nedjo

he/him/his

English

CreditAttribution: nedjo commented 28 May 2007 at 15:07

Status:

Needs review

» Needs work

Yes, we should make this change.

I agree that 'form-' is a better prefix.

Comment #4

Stefan Nagtegaal CreditAttribution: Stefan Nagtegaal commented 28 May 2007 at 18:28

Status:

Needs work

» Reviewed & tested by the community

File	Size
xhtml-valid-form-id.patch	1.07 KB

Updated code, that works!

Comment #5

Dries CreditAttribution: Dries commented 28 May 2007 at 18:53

Status:

Reviewed & tested by the community

» Fixed

Committed! Thanks.

Comment #6

eaton CreditAttribution: eaton commented 28 May 2007 at 22:58

It is not clear to me why we are outputting an id field containing a randomly-generated hash in the first place. How can it ever be useful? Scripting, I guess.

For the record, we do this because it allows us to identify, via the incoming $_POST data, what specific version of a form is coming in. Not just the form's identification (like, 'node-story-form') but the specific instance of that form, built on a particular page at a particular time for a particular user.

This is particularly useful when AJAX code is making client-side modifications to a form; it can relay information back to the server to keep the server side validation code in sync with the client side form, for that particular instance.

Comment #7

bjaspan CreditAttribution: bjaspan commented 29 May 2007 at 00:22

Eaton,

For the record, we [are outputting an id field (emphasis added) containing a randomly-generated hash] because it allows us to identify, via the incoming $_POST data, what specific version of a form is coming in.

No, you are outputting a hidden form field whose value is a randomly-generated hash for that purpose. Outputting an id field as well has no such benefit as id fields are not transmitted back to the server. It has very little cost and I suppose it can help with debugging, but it has no benefit in any other case I can think of.