TIP 249: Verifying Form Field Entries

Name: VerifyForm

Developer: Walter Blady's Actions

Source: www.actionscafe.com

Cost: $45 US

If you have any forms on your Web site, you've probably wasted a lot of time correcting or reformatting some of the submitted data. Walter Blady of Actions Café has developed a commercial-grade product that verifies and reformats up to 15 selected fields in a single form (Figure 249) so that the data you receive is complete, verified, and formatted just how you need it.

Figure 249. Set the VerifyForm action to work on the FormSubmit event so it can verify the data before it's submitted.

The VerifyForm action goes to work as soon as the visitor clicks the Submit button. All data-entry errors are displayed to the visitor and must be corrected before the form is submitted. VerifyForm can also block blank and duplicate forms from being submitted as well as guard against profanities or other inappropriate entries. Walter's actions include exhaustive documentation to get you started.

Some other benefits of using the VerifyForm action include the following:

• Relieves server load by checking forms before they are sent.

• Great features for Web site owners who don't have access to CGI form handlers.

• Comprehensive set of form checking and field-formatting features.

• Checks text fields, radio buttons, and single and multiple select lists.

• Can send form data as a delimited string ready for importing into a database.

• Customizable form-entry error messages.

• Uses cookie technology to repopulate forms if a user revisits the form page.