FORMS
Form Method/Action
The first thing that you type for your guestbook is the Form Method and
Action. This is where you enter the Perl script. Most servers and Internet
Providers have scripts like this that they provide for you. Check with
yours. You cannot have any kind of forms without having a script. The
address of the one that I'll be using is:
http://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/fb.pl. If you would like the response sent
to your email address, and the address is "[email protected]", you would
type this for the first two lines:
<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="http://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/fb.pl">
<INPUT TYPE="input" NAME="recipient" value="[email protected]">TO:<P>
Here is what it will look like:
TO:
Next, you need to decide what questions that you want to ask, and what
you will use to ask them. Before you start, though, you might want to
check with your server to see if they have any questions that you MUST
ask. I know with some ISPs, you must ask what their email address is,
their first name, their last name, and what the subject of their question
is. You can use single or multiple text fields, larger fields, checkboxes,
radio buttons, pull-down lists and scroll-down lists.
Single or multiple fields
In your guestbook, you might want to ask questions that have a single
one word answer. To here is what you would type to have four fields that
ask for an email address, a first name, a last name, and a subject:
<INPUT TYPE="input" NAME="from">Your Email Address<P>
<INPUT TYPE="input" NAME="firstname">Your First
Name<P>
<INPUT TYPE="input" NAME="lastname">Your Last
Name<P>
<INPUT TYPE="input" NAME="subject">Subject<P>
Here is what the result is:
Your Email Address
Your First Name
Your Last Name
Subject
Larger Fields
I would recommend that you have one larger field at the end of your guestbook
for comments. You first need to decide how many columns and rows that
you want to have. Let's say that you want to have 7 rows, and 45 columns.
Here is what you would type:
Please place any questions or comments here:
<TEXTAREA Rows=7 Cols=45 NAME="suggestions"></TEXTAREA><P>
Here is what the result looks like:
Please place any questions or comments here:
Checkboxes
Let's say that you wanted to ask a question like "What are some things
that you like to do?" You could have a list of things with checkboxes.
If you wanted the list to be: Watch TV, play on the Internet, read a book,
play sports, and study, you would type:
What are some things that you like to do?
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="like" VALUE="TV">Watch
TV<P>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="like" VALUE="internet">Play
on the Internet<P>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="like" VALUE="read">Read
a book<P>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="like" VALUE="sports">Play
sports<P>
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="like" VALUE="study">Study<P>
The result:
What are some things that you like to do?
Watch TV
Play on the Internet
Read a book
Play sports
Study
Radio Buttons
If you ever want to ask a question with one answer, you can use radio
buttons. If you wanted to ask "What WWW browser are you using right
now?", and you wanted to have the choices Netscape Navigator 4.x,
Netscape Navigator 3.x, Netscape Communicator, Mosaic, and Microsoft Explorer,
you would type:
What WWW browser are you using right now?
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="browser" VALUE="Navigator
4.x">Netscape Navigator 4.x<P>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="browser" VALUE="Navigator
3.x">Netscape Navigator 3.x<P>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="browser" VALUE="Communicator">Netscape
Communicator<P>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="browser" VALUE="Mosaic">Mosaic<P>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="browser" VALUE="Internetex">Internet
Explorer<P>
The Result:
What WWW browser are you using right now?
Netscape Navigator 4.x
Netscape Navigator 3.x
Netscape Communicator
Mosaic
Internet Explorer
Pull-Down Lists
Another way to ask a question with only one answer is to use a pull-down
menu. You can use the SELECTED command to have an option besides the first
be selected, as you will see below. If you wanted to ask "What is
your favorite color?", and you wanted the list to be of red, yellow,
orange, green, blue, purple, black, and brown, with black selected, you
would type:
What is your favorite color?
<SELECT NAME="color">
<OPTION>Red
<OPTION>Yellow
<OPTION>Orange
<OPTION>Green
<OPTION>Blue
<OPTION>Purple
<OPTION SELECTED>Black
<OPTION>Brown
</SELECT><P>
The outcome is:
What is your favorite color? RedYellowOrangeGreenBluePurpleBlackBrown
Scroll-Down Lists
Some times, you might want to have a scroll-down list on your page. With
this, you can decide whether or not you want people to be able to select
more that one item. If you do have it with more that one items, the user
has to hold down the command or shift key. You can also decide how many
of the lines you want visible. Below are two lists of the same things.
In the first one, you can only select one item, and it is showing three
lines. In the second one, you can select one or more items by holding
down command or shift . The second list is showing four lines. The question
is "What is your favorite video game system?" The answers are:
Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation, Sega Dreamcast, or arcade video games.
The text that you type for each list is above the actual list.
What is your favorite video game system?
<SELECT NAME="video game" SIZE=3>
<OPTION VALUE="nintendo64">Nintendo 64
<OPTION VALUE="playstation">Sony Playstation
<OPTION VALUE="dreamcast">Sega Dreamcast
<OPTION VALUE="arcade">Arcade Games
</SELECT><P>
The outcome is:
What is your favorite video game system?
Nintendo 64Sony PlaystationSega DreamcastArcade Games
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is your favorite video game system? (Hold shift to select more that
one)
<SELECT NAME="video game" MULTIPLE SIZE=4>
<OPTION VALUE="nintendo64">Nintendo 64
<OPTION VALUE="playstation">Sony Playstation
<OPTION VALUE="dreamcast">Sega Dreamcast
<OPTION VALUE="arcade">Arcade Games
</SELECT><P>
The second outcome is:
What is your favorite video game system? (Hold shift to select more that
one) Nintendo 64Sony PlaystationSega DreamcastArcade Games
Reset Form
On most page that have fill-out forms, there is a reset button at the
bottom of the form, next to the "submit" or "send"
button. To have a reset button, just type:
To reset the all of the forms, press this button:<INPUT TYPE="reset"
VALUE="Reset">
The outcome is: (try it!)
To reset the all of the forms, press this button:
Submit Entry
When you are all finished with everything, you need to make a button so
that people can submit their entry. To do this, type:
To submit your choices, press this button:<INPUT TYPE="submit"
VALUE="Submit">
The result is: (NOTE: Please don't click this button. It has been disabled
and will not work.)
To submit your choices, press this button:
NOTE: At the very end of your form, you must type </FORM> or your
forms won't work!!