class Application_Form_Abstract extends Zend_Form {
	function loadDefaultDecorators() {
		if ($this->loadDefaultDecoratorsIsDisabled()) {
            return $this;
        }
		
		// for elements
		$decorators = $this->_elementDecorators;
		if (empty($decorators)) {
			$this->setElementDecorators(array(
				'ViewHelper',
				'Errors',
				array('Description', array('tag' => 'p')),
				'Label',
				array('HtmlTag', array('tag' => 'p'))
			));
			$this->getElement('submit')->removeDecorator('Label');
		}

		// for form
        $decorators = $this->getDecorators();
        if (empty($decorators)) {
            $this->addDecorator('FormElements')
				 ->addDecorator('Description', array('placement' => 'PREPEND', 'tag' => 'p'))
                 ->addDecorator('Form');
        }
        return $this;
	}
	function setValue($element, $value) {
		$this->getElement($element)->setValue($value);
	}
	function setValues($values) {
		foreach ($this->getElements() as $elem) {
			if (!$elem->getIgnore() && array_key_exists($elem->getName(), $values)) {
				$elem->setValue($values[$elem->getName()]);
			}
		}
	}
}

2 main objectives:

- change default decorators of element and form
- `setValues()` mainly used for persisting form entry from request params across requests

Custom Zend_Form: Changed Decorators & added methods

PHP