Changing constraints on the fly - dojo

Question

I have a dijit.form.NumberTextBox input field that starts out with these parms:
new dijit.form.NumberTextBox({
id: din1,
style: "width:60px",
constraints: {
places: 0,
pattern: '######'
}
},
din1);
Everything works great..My question is I would like to change 'places' and 'pattern' parms on the fly. So I wrote this to change 'places' and 'patterns' parms:
var myFldObj = dijit.byId(din1);
if (myFldObj) {
var myConstObj = myFldObj.attr('constraints');
if (myConstObj) {
myConstObj.places = 2;
myConstObj.pattern = '#####.0';
}
}
So, after I show the form again, I'd expect the entry field to allow 2 decimal places but the form still acts like places=0 and pattern='######'. When I check the values of 'places' and 'pattern' I get what I'd expect (2 and #####.0). My question:
Can you change these values on the fly??
OR
Do you have to destroy the original dijit object and recreate with new parms??
Thx!!

Answer 1

So, here is what worked for me:
First, I think this is a bug because an input field that starts out like
new dijit.form.NumberTextBox({
id: "fieldID",
style: "width:60px",
constraints: {
places: 0
}
},
"fieldID");
that is then changed on the fly with code like:
NOTE: ntbArry - Array of dijit.form.NumberTextBox objs tied to a html
input tag id.
for (var x=0;x < ntbArry.length;x++) {
var handle = ntbArry[x];
if (handle) {
handle.attr('constraints').places = 2;
handle.attr('constraints').pattern = '#####.0#';
}
}
Does not exhibit the same behavior as a field created this way (no constraints mods on the fly):
new dijit.form.NumberTextBox({
id: "fieldID",
style: "width: 60px",
constraints: {
places: 2,
pattern: '#####.0#'
}
},
"fieldID");
It's close in behavior but every time you type a decimal point, the error message pops up stating invalid entry. This message doesn't pop up when typing the decimal point on a field that was originally created with the constraints places=2 and pattern '#####.0#'.
So, to get original behavior I wanted:
fieldIDEvents is an array of dojo events tied to NumberTextBox fields.
Before continuing disconnect dojo events
for (var x=0;x < fieldIDEvents.length;x++) {
var handle = fieldIDEvents[x];
if (handle) {
dojo.disconnect(handle);
}
}
then destroy the NumberTextBox dojo objects
for (var x=0;x < ntbArry.length;x++) {
var handle = ntbArry[x];
if (handle) {
handle.destroy();
ntbArry[x] = null;
}
}
Next, place the input tag back into the html because it gets destroyed:
NOTE: tdtag and an id on a html td tag which should contain the input tag.
var fld1 = this.document.getElementById("tdtag");
if (fld1) {
//alert("\""+fld1.innerHTML+"\"");
fld1.innerHTML = "<input id=\"fieldID\">";
}
Now, create the NumberTextBox object again:
ntbArry[0] = new dijit.form.NumberTextBox({
id: "fieldID",
style: "width: 60px",
constraints: {
places: 2,
pattern: '#####.0#'
}
},
"fieldID");
It's a few extra steps but, at least I know this is what works for me..If I'm missing something basic, let me know, it's easy to miss the small details with this stuff.

Answer 2

I use Dojo 1.3 and I can see that dijit.form.NumberTextBox has no pattern and places properties, but has editOptions property. So I would try to change the constraints like this:
myConstObj.editOption.places = 2;