Building a Form

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The basic structure of a form is composed of fields (any kind you need) and one constant, the Submit button. You can call this button anything you'd like, but it still performs the same function in any form: when it's clicked, all of the data in the form is sent to its destination.


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Adding Option Buttons

A neat form feature that lets the reader pick one option from a multiple set of options is the option button. You can click on any option button, but only one will be selected at a time.


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NOTE

The name and value of a field is the information that will be applied to whatever data gathering tool you will use for your form. These values do not necessarily appear to the site visitor, but they are very important. Every field (or set of multiple-choice fields) must have a unique name for the database, and each field must ultimately provide a value to that database.


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NOTE

Some forms, if they are long, will be set up to let the user hit the Tab key to move from field to field. Entering a sequential value in the Tab Order field for each field will let you do this. Since this will be a pretty short form, we'll forego the example for now.


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NOTE

Make sure you give all of the option buttons in this set the exact same group name. This will tie them all together.

Adding Textbox Fields

Textbox fields are stand-alone boxes that will let the site visitor enter their own data.


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NOTE

Field names should be descriptive, but they also need to be one word. "Field1" is not too helpful for Web site database coders, but "UserName" would be much more descriptive. "User Name," however, would not be legal.


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Adding Text Area Fields

A text area field is basically the same thing as a textbox field, except it lets the user enter a lot of data.


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Adding Drop-Down Boxes

So far, adding fields has been pretty simple. You will find that the same procedures are used with pretty much every field, although drop-down boxes have a bit of a twist involved.


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Adding Check Boxes

Check boxes can appear singly or in sets. Unlike option buttons, you can select as many check boxes as you want.


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Editing Any Field

After you have the fields in your form created, you might discover an error or something you forgot to add. Changing existing fields in a form is a piece of cake.


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[ LiB ]


Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Fast & Easy
Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Fast & Easy (Fast & Easy (Premier Press))
ISBN: 1592000827
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 108

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