WebEd User Guide - Creating a form

Creating a Form

Forms are created with text and/or images and an input type. The text outlines the question to a visitor about what action needs to be done on the form and the input type consists of the field for the response, which your browser will relay.

It is good practice to build a form within a table. This makes creating , developing and editing a form easier. See How Do I Create a Table for further information.

How to Create a Form

Navigate to the page you wish to create the form on and enter the edit mode.

Create the Form Tag

The first element of the form that needs to be created is the 'Form tag'. This defines the method by which the browser sends the information on a completed form to you, amongst other parameters. The most common use is to email the form to a specified recipient. For example you may have an enquiry page for your website, which gets sent to the sales staff.

Put your cursor to where you want to insert the form and Click on the Form Editor icon, which is located on the editing toolbar and then select Form in the drop down list.

In the displayed Webpage Dialog box, three fields need to be completed, as shown below:

Name: Enter the name you wish to use to refer to this form.

Action: The action defines what happens to the information once it has been entered and submitted. The most common use of forms is to email someone what the visitor has inserted into the form. Eg; you may have an enquiry page for your website which gets sent to the sales staff.

To have the form send an email to you, use the following actions :

EmailForm.asp?EmailTo=XXX	Who the form is to be emailed to (eg. EmailTo=info@CustomerCommunity.com.au)
EmailForm.asp?EmailSubject=XXX	The subject line that is to appear in the email (eg. (:Feedback from WebSite") - This is optional and if not supplied, the subject line will read "From Website".
EmailForm.asp?EmailFrom=XXX	Who the email will appear to come from - This is optional and if not supplied, the form part of the email will read "website@{your domain name}" eg : website@customercommunity.com.au

You can also combine the actions.

Example:
Website&EmailFrom=website@MyDomain.com

Method: Left set to the default 'post' (for advanced users only).

Set up the Action in Notepad first before pasting into the Action field. Here is an example of an email form action:

EmailForm.asp?EmailTo="email@yourdomain.com.au"&EmailSubject="Form On Website"

When completed click on insert. A green box will be displayed on the page, which is the form tag as demonstrated in the image below.

Place your cursor inside the green box and create a table to layout the contents of your form.

The number of rows will equal the number of lines in your form. The number of columns will depend on the design and purpose of the form. You will need to have at least 2 columns, the first column for the question or label, the second column for the response or input.

Add form control

Click on the the Form Editor icon. The drop down list has a number of controls that can be used on the form.

	Text Field
	List
	Checkbox
	Radio Button
	Hidden Field
	File Field
	Button

Each option produces a different Webpage Dialog box requesting information and design particulars. See Controls to Use on Forms for further information on their use. Complete the respective Webpage Dialog box and click insert, which will add the input to the web page.

To add multiple input fields, go to the position where you would like to add the input field and click the Form Editor icon. Complete the Webpage Dialog box and click insert. Repeat this process for each input field.

Be sure to enter a label for each field as well so that it is clear to the user what input the form is asking for, this should go in the left hand side column, see an example form to highlight the layout considerations that you will need to make with your form.

Add a Submit Button

Each form requires a confirmation button that will action the browser to send the information entered into the form to you.

To add this button use the Form Editor icon located on the toolbar and select 'Button' from the list.

Type	Submit
Name	Submit
Value	The value you wish to apper in the button

Add a Cancel Button (Optional)

A site's visitor should be able to cancel or clear information entered in a form without the information being sent. To do this you will need to create a Reset button.

Type	Reset
Name	Reset
Value	The value you wish to appear in the button

Create a Database

You can also have the form automatically create a database for you which can be downloaded at anytime. The database is created based on the fields you add to the form. Even better, if you add new fields to the form at a later date, the database will automatically update to include the new fields.

Just insert a hidden field with the name of Database and name it anything that makes sense to you. Eg. MyFormData.

The form data can be retrieved from the admin module under the item Form Data