FORMS Lesson 10 Unit J

Why Forms? Free-form – input that is unstructured and does not limit choices. For example, lets say you ask clients to e-mail you the information about your pet so that your can book the pet a spot in the kennel. E-mail number 1 - Bowser is our new puppy. Bowser is brown and white. Bowser will be staying 3 days next week. E-mail number 2 - Bubba is our family dog. Bubba is a very gentle 5 year old terrier. Lately Bubba has had some medical problems but it should not be a problem during the stay on the upcoming holiday weekend. Do you know the gender, type of animal, status of shots or even exactly which days and nights the animal will be at the kennel?

Forms provide structured input.

What are the ADVANTAGES of using forms? User does the work Can require information Can limit choices Can validate input Can give default values Can put information into discrete pieces – “chunks” 2201989 Birthdate 02 20 1989 Better 6025551234 Phone number 602 555 1234 Better PatJones Pat Jones

Which IS Better? Which is better a persons age or their date of birth? ANSWER: Date of birth because it does not change and age can be calculated. Derived data - data value can be computed based upon other data.

Derive or update each visit? Dog’s weight? ANSWER: Enter each visit Dog’s shots? ANSWER: Enter each visit – law requires that they are current in their shots.

Where to start? What is the purpose of the form? How will the information be used? What type of data? Yes/no, numbers to what decimal, abbreviations, codes How discreet? First name, initial, last name Break down into multiple has advantages and disadvantages. Talk to the users if possible.

Where to start? Design on paper first. Put a title on the form Place a unique identifier of the form (usually in top right corner or in the footer). Provide instructions and explanations. Every input should have a label.

Where to start? Put related fields together. Order should be what users expect. Logical flow left  right top V bottom Place a field for questions or comments at the bottom of the form.

Form Essentials Define the form with form tags <form> </form> Your entire form MUST be within the form tags! Add input controls – they all must be within the form tags. Add action buttons – at bottom of form before the end form tag.

Without css

With css

Fieldset: group of fields that forms a logical unit Label: element containing descriptive text that is associated with a field Associate each field with a label to make the significance of the field clear to users Fieldset: group of fields that forms a logical unit Legend: a descriptive title for a fieldset Add legends to fieldsets to further increase usability of the form

How many fieldsets in the following code? Within contactinfo, what is the first legend and what is the first label?

Input Controls - TEXTFIELD Type is text for the first input, type is email for the second input name= is crucial for input id= is crucial for css Placeholder gives direction

Input from a FORM What is submit is the name attribute of a field with the associated value.

How does a TEXTFIELD get its size? In the css file #nameinput, #emailinput {width: 30em; maxlength: 60} #phoneinput {width: 12em; }

Input Controls - CHECKBOXES Why is value crucial?

Input Controls – OPTION BUTTONS In order for buttons to work, each group MUST use the same value for name. Checked indicates the default.

Suppose you wanted to know what county they live in. How many counties in Arizona? 15 Which state has the fewest counties? Alaska has 8 and Hawaii has only 5 But the trick answer is Louisiana has zero counties and 64 parishes Which state has the most counties? Texas has 254 Use Drop down menu for a selection of one from many. Limits choices and controls input.

Suppose you wanted to know what county they live in.

Input Controls provide a variety of input techniques.

ADDITIONAL INPUTS Textarea – multi-column text area.

ADDITION ITEMS

ADDITION ITEM Requiring input. New attribute in HTML5 Can be done with a script – javascript. <legend><span>Contact Information</span></legend> <label>Name <input type="text" name="name" id="nameinput" required="required" placeholder="First and last name" /> </label>

EVEN MORE ADDITIONAL ITEMS

ACTION BUTTONS <fieldset id="submitbutton"> <input type="submit" id="submit" value=“Submit" /> </fieldset>

TEXT on THE ACTION BUTTON <fieldset id="submitbutton"> <input type="submit" id="submit" value=“Submit my information" /> </fieldset>

MORE ABOUT BUTTONS On the begin form tag you can indicate an action and a method for how the form is submitted.

Submit button “action” attribute used to specify name and location of script that will accept form data “method” attribute used to indicate how data should be submitted On the form tag you might have: <form action=“my_form.asp" method="get"> or <form method="post" action="http://www.sample.com/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi">

Figure J-19: HTML code for form action and submit button Figure J-22: results.html page showing submitted form data