Zend_Form is fully configurable via setOptions() and setConfig() (or by passing options or a Zend_Config object to the constructor). Using these methods, you can specify form elements, display groups, decorators, and metadata.

As a general rule, if 'set' + the option key refers to a Zend_Form method, then the value provided will be passed to that method. If the accessor does not exist, the key is assumed to reference an attribute, and will be passed to setAttrib().

Exceptions to the rule include the following:

As an example, here is a config file that passes configuration for every type of configurable data:

[element]
name = "registration"
action = "/user/register"
method = "post"
attribs.class = "zend_form"
attribs.onclick = "validate(this)"

disableTranslator = 0

prefixPath.element.prefix = "My_Element"
prefixPath.element.path = "My/Element/"
elementPrefixPath.validate.prefix = "My_Validate"
elementPrefixPath.validate.path = "My/Validate/"
displayGroupPrefixPath.prefix = "My_Group"
displayGroupPrefixPath.path = "My/Group/"

elements.username.type = "text"
elements.username.options.label = "Username"
elements.username.options.validators.alpha.validator = "Alpha"
elements.username.options.filters.lcase = "StringToLower"
; more elements, of course...

elementFilters.trim = "StringTrim"
;elementDecorators.trim = "StringTrim"

displayGroups.login.elements.username = "username"
displayGroups.login.elements.password = "password"
displayGroupDecorators.elements.decorator = "FormElements"
displayGroupDecorators.fieldset.decorator = "Fieldset"

decorators.elements.decorator = "FormElements"
decorators.fieldset.decorator = "FieldSet"
decorators.fieldset.decorator.options.class = "zend_form"
decorators.form.decorator = "Form"

The above could easily be abstracted to an XML or PHP array-based configuration file.