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Web Engineering
Forms
Lecture 04
FORMS
• Its how HTML does interactivity. There are quite
new feature in HTML5. But the fundamental
idea does not change since the first web
browser.
• There basically two ways to use forms in HTML.
 Traditionally they are mostly use to interface with
the process on server using PHP/ASP.
 Today they are often use to interface with JavaScript
running on client machine.
Interactive Forms (1)
• Without forms, a Web site is “read-only” – it
just provides information to the user.
• Forms enable the user to provide information
to the Web site. For example, the user can:
– Perform searches on Web site
– Give comments
– Ask for info that is not available on the Website
– Place order for goods and services
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Interactive Forms (2)
• Can be simple or very complex
• Can fill a whole page or just a single line
• Can contain a single element or many
• Are always placed between the <BODY> and
</BODY> tags of a Web page
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Interactive Forms (3)
• Are GUI-based
• May contain:
– Text fields
– Check boxes
– Buttons
– Scrollable lists
FORM Tag
• All of the component of a form appear in the
content of a <form> tag.
• Example:
<form name=“sendEmail” method=“post”
action=“sendMailServerScriptURL”
autocomplete=“off” > </form>
• The action attribute specifies the URL of the
application on the web server that is to be
called when the user clicks the SUBMIT button.
• The method attribute specifies one of the two
techniques, get or post. Used to pass the form
data to the server.
INPUT Tag
• <input> tag is used for text, passwords,
checkboxes, radio buttons, action button reset
and submit.
• One attribute of <input> tag is type, which
specifies particular kind of controls
• Example
<form name=“sendEmail” method=“get”
action=“”>
<input type=“text” name=“name” size=“25”
maxlength=“25” />
</form>
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Single-Line Text Input Field
<INPUT
type=“text”
name=“fieldName”
size=“widthInCharacters”
maxlength=“limitInCharacters”
value=“initialDefaultValue”
placeholder=“initialDefaultValue”
autofocus
required
readonly
/>
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Password Input Field
<INPUT
type=“password”
name=“fieldName”
size=“widthInCharacters”
maxlength=“limitInCharacters”
value=“initialDefaultValue”
placeholder=“initialDefaultValue”
/>
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Multi-Line Text Input Area
<TEXTAREA
name=“areaName”
cols=“widthInCharacters”
rows=“numberOfLines”
spellcheck=“true/false”
>
</TEXTAREA>
EXAMPLE
<TEXTAREA
name=“message”
cols=“38”
rows=“6”
wrap=“virtual”
>
</TEXTAREA>
wrap=“virtual” specifies that text in the box
will wrap lines as needed
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Submit Button Input
<INPUT
type=“submit”
name=“buttonName”
value=“displayedText”
/>
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Reset Button Input Element
(Resets the contents of a form to default values)
<INPUT
type=“reset”
value=“dispalyedText”
>
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<FORM name="sendEmail" method="post" action=“sendMailScriptURL">
<table><tr>
<td>From: </td>
<td><INPUT type="text" name="sender" size="50“ /></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>To: </td>
<td><INPUT type=“email" name="receiver" size="50“ /></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Subject: </td>
<td><INPUT type="text" name="subject" size="50“ /></td>
</tr><tr>
<td valign="top">Message: </td>
<td><TEXTAREA name="message" cols="38"rows="6"> </TEXTAREA></td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="2" align="right">
<INPUT type="submit" name="sendEmail" value="Send eMail“ />
</td>
</tr></table>
</FORM>
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<form name="login" method="post" action="loginScript">
<table><tr>
<td>User Name: </td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="userName" size="10“ />
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Password: </td>
<td>
<input type="password" name="password" size="10“ />
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="2" align="right">
<input type="submit" name="login" value="Log me in“ />
</td>
</tr></table>
</form>
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Checkbox Input Element
<INPUT
type=“checkbox”
name=“checkboxName”
checked
value=“checkedValue”
/>
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Radio Button Input Element
<INPUT
type=“radio”
name=“radioButtonName”
checked
value=“selectedValue”
/>
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<form name="login" method="post" action="loginScript">
<table><tr>
<td>User Name: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="userName" size="10"></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Password: </td>
<td><input type="password" name="password" size="10"></td>
</tr><tr>
<td valign="top">Logging in from:</td>
<td>
<input type="radio" name="from" value="home“ checked=“checked”>
Home<br>
<input type="radio" name="from" value="office"> Home<br>
<input type="radio" name="from" value="university" > University
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="2" align="right">
<input type="submit" name="login" value="Log me in">
</td>
</tr></table>
</form>
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Select from a (Drop Down) List
<SELECT
name=“listName”
size=“numberOfDisplayedChoices”
multiple
>
<OPTION value=“value1”> text1
<OPTION value=“value2” selected> text2
<OPTION value=“value3”> text2
…
…
</SELECT>
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File Upload Input Element
<INPUT
type=“file”
name=“uploadfile”
enctype=“multipart/form-data”
size=“35”
>
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Date Input Element
<INPUT
type=“date”
name=“date1”
pattern=“d{4}-d{2}-d{2}”
title=“YYYY-DD-MM”
>
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Number Input Element
<INPUT
type=“number”
name=“number1”
min=“1”
max=“5”
value=“1”
/>
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Range Input Element
<INPUT
type=“range”
name=“range1”
min=“0”
max=“100”
step=“10”
value=“20”
/>
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Search Input Element
<INPUT
type=“search”
name=“search1”
/>
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URL Input Element
<INPUT
type=“url”
name=“url1”
/>
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Color Input Element
<INPUT
type=“color”
name=“color1”
value=“#336699”
/>
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16 Possible Values for the “type”
Attribute of <INPUT> tag
1. text
2. password
3. hidden
4. checkbox
5. radio
6. file
7. reset
8. submit
9. url
10. email
11. tel
12. time
13. date
14. search
15. range
16. datetime-local

Web engineering - HTML Form