Note:

If you want to create a new page for developers, you should create it on the Moodle Developer Resource site.

formslib - checkboxes

Styling forms proves a bit difficult due to the way formslib.php renders the individual form items. Let's look at a simple example:

Example PHP

$mform->addElement('header', 'checkboxes', get_string('checkboxtest', 'block_simpleblock'));

 $mform->addElement(
   'checkbox',
   'TEACHER',
   'Mr. Smith',
   'History',                      
   array('class'=>'pe_teacher', 'id'=> 'SMITH')
   );
 $mform->addElement(
   'checkbox',                 
   'teachers',  
   'Ms. Miller',
   'Math',                         
   array('class'=>'pe_teacher', 'id'=> 'miller') 
   );

Screenshots

That looks quite unsuspicious:

Formslib checkboxes.png

Let's add some CSS to see the details:

fieldset#checkboxes {background-color: yellow;} fieldset#checkboxes * {margin: 5px; padding: 5px;}

legend{background-color: lime;} div.fcontainer {background-color: blue;} div.fitem {background-color: red;} div.fitemtitle {background-color: silver;} label {background-color: aqua;} div.felement {background-color: teal;} span {background-color: orange;} input.pe_teacher {background-color: fuchsia; border: 3px dotted purple;}

Formslib checkboxes-colorful.png

And with some margings and padding added:

Formslib checkboxes colorful-with-margins.png


Output HTML

So let's have a closer look at the markup Moodle provides (only first form item shown):

<fieldset class="clearfix" id="checkboxes">

 <legend class="ftoggler">Checkbox Test</legend>

</fieldset>

See also

  • MDL-10505 (Add group name to rendered elements for better CSS control)
  • MDL-11134 (Help links in forms are outside the <label> - they will be ignored in JAWS forms mode)