chapter 12 working with forms principles of web design, 4 th edition
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Chapter 12
Working with Forms
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-2
Objectives
• Understand how forms work
• Understand form syntax
• Create input objects
• Build forms within tables
• Build and test a sample form
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-3
Understanding How Forms Work
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-4
Understanding How Forms Work
• Forms let you build interactive Web pages that collect information from a user and process it on the Web server
• The HTML form is the interface for the user to enter data
• The data is processed by applications that reside on the Web server
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-5
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-6
Using CGI Scripts
• The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is the communications “bridge” between the Internet and the server
• Using programs called scripts, CGI can collect data sent by a user via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and transfer it to a variety of data processing programs including spreadsheets, databases, or other software running on the server
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-7
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-8
Using CGI Scripts (continued)
• The data processing software can then work with the data and send a response back to CGI, and then onto the user
• The user enters data via an HTML form
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-9
Understanding Form Syntax
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-10
Forms Syntax
• Five basic form elements are commonly
supported by the major browsers:– <form>– <input>– <select>– <option>– <textarea>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-11
Forms Syntax (continued)
• HTML 4.01 introduced five new form elements:– <button>– <fieldset>– <label>– <legend>– <optgroup>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-12
Using the <form> element
• The <form> element is the container for creating a form
• A variety of attributes describe how the form data will be handled
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-13
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-14
Using the <form> element (continued)
• The following code shows a typical <form> element:
<form action=http://www.website.com/cgi_bin/script.cgi method=”post”>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-15
Creating Input Objects
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-16
Creating Input Objects
• The <input> element defines many of the form input object types
• The type attribute specifies the type of input object
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-17
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-18
Creating Text Boxes
• The text box is the most commonly used form element
<input type="text" name="firstname" size="20" maxlength="35" value="First Name">
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-19
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-20
Creating Check Boxes
• Check boxes are an on/off toggle that the user can select
<input type="checkbox" name="species" value="smbass"> Smallmouth Bass
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-21
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-22
Creating Radio Buttons
• Radio buttons are like check boxes, but only one selection is allowed
<input type="radio" name="list" value="yes" checked> Yes
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-23
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-24
Creating Submit & Reset Buttons • The submit and reset buttons let the user
choose whether to send the form data or start over
<input type="submit" value="Submit your answers">
<input type="reset" value="Clear the form">
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-25
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-26
Creating a Custom Event Button
• Custom event buttons activate a function in some associated program or script
Click the calculate button to total your order:
<input type="button" value="Calculate">
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-27
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-28
Creating an Image for the Submit Button
• You can choose an image file and use it instead of the default submit button
<input type="image" src="submit.gif" alt="submit button">
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-29
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-30
Letting the User Submit a File
• Users can select a file on their own computer and send it to the server
Use the browse button to select your file:<br>
<input type="file" size="30">
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-31
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-32
Creating a Password Entry Field
• The password input box works like the text input, but the entered text is hidden by asterisks
password: <input type="password" size="30">
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-33
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-34
Using the <select> Element • The <select> element lets you create a list
box or scrollable list of selectable options
<select name="boats"><option>Canoe</option><option>Jon Boat</option><option>Kayak</option><option>Bass Boat</option><option>Family Boat</option></select>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-35
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-36
Using the <select> Element (continued) • You can choose to let the user pick multiple
values from the list by adding the multiple attribute
<select name="snacks" multiple size="6"><option>Potato Chips</option><option>Popcorn</option><option>Peanuts</option><option>Pretzels</option><option>Nachos</option><option>Pizza</option><option>Fries</option></select>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-37
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-38
Using the <select> Element (continued) • You group and label sets of list options with
the <optgroup> element and label attribute
<optgroup label="Salty Snacks"><option>Potato Chips</option><option>Popcorn</option><option>Peanuts</option><option>Pretzels</option></optgroup>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-39
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-40
Using the <textarea> Element
• The <textarea> element lets you create a larger text area for user input
<p><b>Briefly tell us your favorite fish story:</b><br><textarea name="fishstory" rows="5" cols="30">Enter your story here...</textarea></p>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-41
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-42
Creating Input Groupings
• You can use the <fieldset> and <legend> elements to create groupings of different types of input elements
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-43
Creating Input Groupings (continued)
<fieldset><legend><b>Select the species you prefer to fish:</b></legend><input type="checkbox" name="species" value="smbass"> Smallmouth Bass<input type="checkbox" name="species" value="lgbass"> Largemouth Bass <br><input type="checkbox" name="species" value="pike"> Pike</fieldset>
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-44
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-45
Building Forms within Tables
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-46
Building Forms within Tables
• Placing forms within a table can enhance the layout and legibility of the form
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-47
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-48
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-49
Summary
• You will need to work with some type of server-based software program to process the data from your form
• You have a variety of form elements to choose from when building a form– Use the correct type of form element for the type of
data you are gathering
– For example, use check boxes for multiple-choice questions; for a long list of choices, use a select list
Principles of Web Design, 4th Edition 12-50
Summary (continued)
• The <fieldset> and <legend> elements let you create more visually appealing forms that have logical groupings of input elements with a title
• You can control the ragged look of forms by placing them within tables to control the alignment of input elements
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