Chapter 8. Using Dynamic Forms

8. Using Dynamic Forms

HTML forms are a standard tool for gathering information from site visitors. When creating a form, you use form objects, such as text fields, menus, radio buttons and check boxes, to gather information from visitors to the Web page. When visitors are finished filling out the form, they click a button, and the information is submitted to a server.

The information you gather from a form can be used to provide dynamic content for a page. You can also use a database to supply dynamic content for form objects, such as a menu list in which the items reflect the current contents of a database table field, or text fields that are filled in automatically when the page is requested by a browser.

In this chapter, you'll learn how to create an HTML form that includes dynamic form objects and use JavaScript with form objects to add actions, such as displaying a message or going to a new page when form fields are filled in or the form is submitted. You'll also learn how to use URL and form parameters to send data from one page to another. In addition, you'll learn how to add validation rules to a form, so that required fields are filled in before the form is submitted to the server and the data that's entered in the form fields is in the correct format.