PHPRunner currently allows us to easily make a form control "read only" by using the makeReadonly();
Ex:
var ctrl = Runner.getControl(pageid, 'Make');
ctrl.makeReadonly();
However, the control can be disabled manually via browser inspector by a user, which requires us to add server-side validation to ensure our form rules are followed. The form field is simply "disabled" instead of actually changing into a read only type field (which you can set in the visual editor in phpr). This has implications in how the field is displayed on page (ex: Google Chrome the field gets grayed out but still retains the field with box border).
Additionally, when controlling fields to be read only based on some dynamic condition, we often need to pass PHP data over to JS by way of using the built-in $pageObject page class.
A simpler approach is to handle everything exclusively via PHP and bypass the need to JS all together.
Here's how:
Step 1:
In either "Process Record Values" events (Add/Edit pages) add whatever code you need that would dynamically determine whether your given record should turn a form field into a "read only" field when displayed.
Then declare a superglobal variable using $GLOBALS with a binary value.
//Insert here whatever php code you need to determine whether given field should be displayed as read only
Global $conn;
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users_tbl WHERE UserID = ".$values['UserID']." AND GroupID = ".$values['GroupID']."";
$rs = db_query($sql,$conn);
$fetch = db_fetch_array($rs);
//Then create a conditional that would handle the result of your code
if($fetch['GroupID'] < 8){
$GLOBALS['LockDepartmentField']= 1;//this will tell our form to turn the field into read only
}else{
$GLOBALS['LockDepartmentField']= 01;//this will tell our form to keep the field default as writeable
}
Step 2:
In Before Display event (Add/Edit pages) add conditional to convert a form field into read-only by reassigning the template engine object
//Here we are going to lock down the "department" field for a user based on the $GLOBALS we declared in our other script
if($GLOBALS['LockDepartmentField'] == 1){
$xt->assign('Department_editcontrol',$values['Department']);
}
Step 3:
Done! We've locked our field down into read-only mode and bypassed the need for any JS code to lock it... and it's all done dynamically from within our php events code.
