Because we don't always want to use <apex:detail> and yet still want our pages to respond to end user customisations of our objects. I’ve been looking at the <apex:repeat> tag to see what I can achieve as regards dynamically adding controls to a page. I’ve had partial success *, though I am binding to fields on Apex Classes again and not SObject fields ** so no <apex:inputField> benefits… L

* Can we nest <apex:repeat>’s as the drop down doesn’t appear to pick up the list items?  L

** Would be could to have indirect bindings e.g. <apex:inputField … value=”{!{!field.binding}}”> if you see what I mean?

<apex:page controller="dynamiccontroller">

<table>

<apex:repeat value="{!fields}" var="field" rows="50">

<tr>

<td><apex:outputLabel value="{!field.label}"/></td>

<td>

<apex:inputText rendered="{!field.showText}" value="{!field.text}"/>

<apex:inputCheckbox rendered="{!field.showCheckbox}" value="{!field.boolean}"/>

<apex:selectOneListbox rendered="{!field.showValues}" value="{!field.text}" size="1">

<apex:repeat value="{!field.values}" var="fieldvalue" rows="50">

<apex:selectItem itemValue="{!fieldvalue.value}" itemLabel="{!fieldvalue.label}"/>

</apex:repeat>

</apex:selectOneListbox>

</td>

</tr>

</apex:repeat>

</table>

</apex:page>

public class DynamicController

{

        DynamicFieldInfo[] fields;

        public DynamicFieldInfo[] getFields()

        {

                if(fields==null)

                {

                        fields = new DynamicFieldInfo[3];

                        // Edit

                        fields[0] = new DynamicFieldInfo();

                        fields[0].setLabel('Field A');

                        fields[0].setShowText(true);

                        fields[0].setText('Text');

                        // Checkbox

                        fields[1] = new DynamicFieldInfo();

                        fields[1].setLabel('Field B');

                        fields[1].setShowCheckbox(true);

                        fields[1].setBoolean(true);

                        // Dropdown

                        fields[2] = new DynamicFieldInfo();

                        fields[2].setLabel('Field C');

                        fields[2].setShowValues(true);

                        List<DynamicFieldInfoValue> values = new List<DynamicFieldInfoValue>();

                        DynamicFieldInfoValue red = new DynamicFieldInfoValue();

                        red.setValue('red');

                        red.setLabel('Red');

                        values.add(red);

                        DynamicFieldInfoValue yellow = new DynamicFieldInfoValue();

                        yellow.setValue('yellow');

                        yellow.setLabel('Yellow');

                        values.add(yellow);

                        fields[2].setValues(values);

                }                

                return fields;

        }

}

<apex:page controller="HelloWorldController">

<apex:form>

<apex:pageBlock title="Hello {!$User.FirstName}!">

<apex:inputTextarea></apex:inputTextarea> value="{!message}"/> <p/>

<apex:commandButton action="{!showmessage}" value="Show Message"/>

</apex:pageBlock>

</apex:form>

</apex:page>

public class HelloWorldController

{

String message;

public String getMessage()

{

return message;

}

public PageReference showMessage()

{

message = 'Hello World';

return null;

// Also tried this...no joy either

// return System.currentPageReference();

}

}

<apex:page controller="HelloWorldController">

<apex:form>

<apex:pageBlock title="Hello {!$User.FirstName}!">

<apex:inputTextarea></apex:inputTextarea> value="{!message}"/> <p/>

<apex:commandButton action="{!showmessage}" value="Show Message"/>

</apex:pageBlock>

</apex:form>

</apex:page>

public class HelloWorldController

{

String message;

public String getMessage()

{

return message;

}

public PageReference showMessage()

{

message = 'Hello World';

return null;

// Also tried this...no joy either

// return System.currentPageReference();

}

}