How to get form fields from a visual force page if I have multiple objects?

Question

I have a VF page that uses a custom controller.

The page is a summary page with multiple objects on the page, each one has a check box, that when checked, and saved will not display the object anymore.

I have commandLink action to a method in my controller.

public PageReference doChecks() { return null; }

If I could get the names of the checked boxed in my apex controller, I could save the data.

Here's my VF page:

<apex:page showHeader="false" sidebar="false" title="Warrany Case Info" controller="WarCase_controller">
<apex:pageBlock title="Cases Summary" tabStyle="Account"> 
    <apex:form >
        <apex:commandLink action="{!doChecks}" value="Hide Checked items"/>
        <table style="border-bottom:1px solid black;paddinf-bottom:20px" width="100%"><tr>
            <td style="border-right:1px solid black;padding-right:20px" valign="top">
            <font size="3em">New Cases (Created in the last 7 days)</font><br/>
            <apex:dataTable value="{!newCases}" var="case" id="theTable1"  width="100%" >
                    <apex:column >
                        <input type="checkbox" name="CH-New-{!case.ID}"/>
                        <apex:inputField value="{!case.summaryNewHide__c}"/>
                        <apex:outputLink value="/{!case.ID}" target="_top" style="padding-right:5px">{!case.Account.Name} ({!case.Owner_Name__c})</apex:outputLink>
                    </apex:column>

                    <apex:column >
                        <apex:facet name="header">Short Desc&nbsp;</apex:facet>
                        <apex:outputText value="{!case.Short_Desc__c}"/>
                    </apex:column>

                </apex:dataTable>
            </td>
            <td style="padding-left:20px" valign="top">
                <font size="3em">Closed Cases (Closed in the last 7 days)</font><br/>
                <apex:dataTable value="{!closedCases}" var="case" id="theTable2"  width="100%">
                        <apex:column >
                            <input type="checkbox" name="CH-Closed-{!case.ID}"/>
                            <apex:facet name="header">Account Name (Owner Name)&nbsp;</apex:facet>
                            <apex:outputLink value="/{!case.ID}" target="_top" style="padding-right:5px">{!case.Account.Name} ({!case.Owner_Name__c})</apex:outputLink>
                        </apex:column>

                        <apex:column >
                            <apex:facet name="header">Short Desc</apex:facet>
                            <apex:outputText value="{!case.Short_Desc__c}"/>
                        </apex:column>

                </apex:dataTable>

            </td>
        </tr></table>

        <br/>
        <font size="3em">Upcoming Scheduled Tasks (Scheduled for the next 7 days)</font><br/>

        <apex:dataTable value="{!tasks}" var="task" id="theTable"  width="100%" >

            <apex:column >
                <input type="checkbox" name="CH-Task-{!task.ID}"/>
                <apex:facet name="header">Account Name (Owner Name)&nbsp;</apex:facet>
                <apex:outputLink value="/{!task.ID}" target="_top" style="padding-right:5px">{!task.case__r.Account.Name} ({!task.case__r.Owner_Name__c})</apex:outputLink>
            </apex:column>

            <apex:column >
                <apex:facet name="header">Short Desc&nbsp;</apex:facet>
                <apex:outputText value="{!task.case__r.Short_Desc__c}" style="padding-right:5px"/>
            </apex:column>

            <apex:column >
                <apex:facet name="header">Task Description&nbsp;</apex:facet>
                <apex:outputText value="{!task.Description__c}" style="padding-right:5px"/>
            </apex:column>

            <apex:column >
                <apex:facet name="header">Scheduled Date</apex:facet>
                <apex:outputText value="{0,date,MM-dd-yyyy}">
                    <apex:param value="{!task.Schedule_Date__c}"/>
                </apex:outputText>
            </apex:column>

        </apex:dataTable>
    </apex:form>
</apex:pageBlock>

And my controller:

public with sharing class WarCase_controller {

public List<Case> getNewCases(){

    Date tempDate = Date.today(); 
    tempDate = tempDate.addDays(-7);

    List<Case> caseList=[
        Select Account.Name, Description, Owner_Name__c, Short_Desc__c, ID 
        From Case where ownerId=:Userinfo.getUserId() and TitanClosedDate__c=null and TitanCreatedDate__c>:tempDate and summaryNewHide__c=false ];

    return caseList;
}

public List<Case> getClosedCases(){

    Date tempDate = Date.today();
    tempDate = tempDate.addDays(-7);

    List<Case> caseList=[
        Select Account.Name, Description, Owner_Name__c, Short_Desc__c, ID 
        From Case where ownerId=:Userinfo.getUserId() and TitanClosedDate__c>:tempDate and summaryCloseHide__c=false];

    return caseList;
}

public List<Warranty_Task__c> getTasks(){ 
    Date tempDate = Date.today();
    tempDate = tempDate.addDays(7);

    List<Warranty_Task__c> caseList=[
        Select case__r.Account.Name, case__r.Owner_Name__c, case__r.Short_Desc__c, Description__c, Schedule_Date__c, ID 
        From Warranty_Task__c where case__r.ownerId=:Userinfo.getUserId() and Schedule_Date__c<:tempDate and summaryHide__c=false];

    return caseList;
}

public PageReference doChecks() {
    return null;

}

}

Answer 1

The answer I was looking for was:

Apexpages.currentPage().getParameters()

I can call this from my action method to get all the named form fields.

Answer 2

It would have been helpful it you'd posted some of your code. That said, I believe the gist of your question is: "Should I use apex:inputField or standard HTML to get the controller to save my data?"

If that's the essence of your question, the answer is there are several options available, but <apex:inputField> would definitely do the trick! Make certain you've set up the page with opening and closing <Apex:form> tags too. I'd highly recommend you download the VisualForce Workbook from the Salesforce Developer Resource pages. I think you'll find it a useful resource for help with questions of this sort. :)

Answer 3

For your scenario, allow users to select an object, you want to use a wrapper class with a boolean for a checkbox. This is a pretty common design patter for Salesforce and allows you to tell what was selected by the user.

Wrapper Class

public class SelectableAccount {
  public Boolean selected { get; set; }
  public Account account { get; set; }

  public SelectableAccount(Account account) {
    this.account = account;
    selected = false;
  }
}

Controller

public class MyController {

  public List<SelectableAccount> selectableAccounts { get; set; }

  public MyController() {
    selectableAccounts = new List<SelectableAccount>();
    for(Account account : [select .... from Account where ...]) {
       selectableAccounts.add(new SelectableAccount(account));
    }
  }

  public void doChecked() {
    for(SelectableAccount sAccount : selectableAccounts) {
      if(sAccount.selected == true) {
        // your logic
      }
    }
  }
}

Visualforce Page

<apex:commandButton value="Submit" action="{!doChecked}"/>
<apex:pageBlockTable value="{!selectableAccounts}" var="sAccount">
  <apex:column headerValue="Select">
    <apex:inputCheckbox value="{!sAccount.selected}"/>
  </apex:column>
  <apex:column value="{!sAccount.account.name}"/>
</apex:pageBlockTable>