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FrontPage Tutorial Part 3 (Page 2 of 3)
This is page 2 of a three part series.
Forms: Forms are one of the important ways in which a website use as means to
communicate with its viewers. Two things are involved with forms: creating it, and
submitting it. The latter will not be discussed in detail, because there are so many ways
of submitting a form: cgi, email ( like a form you create in Geocities), and so on. Also,
because I've only used the form submitting method (which is via email) here at Geocities,
and nothing more, so I simply aren't familiar with the rest. What will be talked about,
though, is submitting forms in Geocities. But first thing's first. There are a handful of
different form boxes; you can insert them by clicking insert, then form
field, and finally choosing a form field box.
on-line text box:
scrolling text box:
| Drop down menu:
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push button:
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Before we continue, let me make a point. Whenever you insert a form box, you
should see a dashed external line surrounding the box. This line sets the
"territory" of this form, meaning that whatever other form box you insert should
go inside this dashed line if these other boxes are also part of the
form. If you don't, FrontPage will think they're separate forms. Ok, you didn't get a word
I said, but don't worry, I'll illustrate further:
A form box, upon insertion, will always have a dashed (- - --- - -- ---) box
(line) surrounding the form box. This is the "territory" of the form. Every
other form box that belongs in the same form should be inserted such that they're enclosed
within this dash box, so when someone submits something, all information will be
submitted, instead of just one, or two boxes's.
For example, this is the "correct" way to edit forms:
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Enter name please:
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Since everything is within this dash line, when you submit, you
can be sure that everything-name & your thoughts will be submitted. |
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On the other hand:
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Enter name please:
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Enter your thoughts:
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When you submit, only the your thoughts part will be submitted, because only that part is enclosed within the
dashed line. |
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So always enclose everything within the dashed line if its part of the
same form.
Now, lets discuss some basic things we can do with each form box:
To manipulate the form boxes, double click them. After double
clicking them, for on-line text box & scrolling
text box:
- name: The name of
the box. Choose whatever name you like and type it in. The name is not viewable on the
browser when someone is submitting info. It is used solely by the webmaster. When someone
submits a form, the webmaster, you, will receive a report that contains what has been
submitted.. The name will be displayed on this report to help you identify which box
you're looking at. I'll explain this:
Using a form I have on my site as an example, whenever someone submits
something, this is what I receive through email: (IN GREEN)
| www.geocities.com Email Sent |
Here is the form used: |
| The following message has been sent: Reply-to:
lgchiang@sfu.ca
(Geocities WebMonitor mail)
From: lgchiang@sfu.ca
(Geocities WebMonitor mail)
To: lgchiang@sfu.ca
Subject: FORM results
(Here is my signed name!) George
(my name for message) optional
(Here is my entered message!) hi there
(B2) lets go! |
To just sign your name:
Enter your name:
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All those red text are names for the boxes. Notice that these names,
such as " Here is my signed name!" does not appear on the right, the actual form. Submitters do NOT see this
name on the form, only you do to help you identify which form box you're looking at.
-Initial value: You
can include initial text in a text form. i.e.:
What's your name? (Leave it blank for none.)
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-Width in characters: specifies the width of the box.
-Password field: selecting
"yes will turn all text typed within text box to be asterisks.
-for check box and radio button:
-name: see above.
(exact same definition)
-value: the value
returned to the webmaster if that particular check box/radio button is selected. (If it's
not selected, nothing will be returned.) You HAVE to type in a value here. For example,
say you have a series of radio buttons:
What's your income status?
You might give the first button the value 2-, the second 2, and the third 2+ If someone selects $20000-, like above, you'll see 2-, and just 2- on your report. The other two will not show on the report. So the value is just used to help
identify which button has been selected...sort of like name.
You can choose whatever value that'll help you
identify which button has been selected.
-Initial state: select
selected if you want the button to be already selected upon loading, not
if not.
for drop down menu:
-name: see above.
(exact same definition)
To enter info in the second box, (the big one) click Add
on the right hand side.You see:
choice: this is
what actually goes into the drop down box. For ex, you type "yes", and than the second time around,
"no". Here is what
you'll get:
Specify value: see
above. Exact same definition
initial state: see
above. Exact same definition
Finally, looking at the bottom two options, they are:
-Height:
| Height of one |
Height of two |
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-Allow multiple selections:
If you select yes, users can than select more
than one choice at the same time by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking.
for push button:
name: see above.
(exact same definition)
value/Label: this
option allows you to change the default text that'll appear on the button. The default
text is either "button", "submit", or "reset." If you enter
nothing, FrontPage will use the default text. For example, you could have a submit button
that says "Hit it baby" instead of just "submit".
Button Type: This
controls the type in want for the button.
Normal: a button that does "nothing" by itself.
"Nothing" in the sense that you need to write external code to dictate what the
button does...ie: using JavaScript.
Submit: This is the button used to submit info.
Reset: This will reset (clear) everything in a form upon pressing.
Adding forms in geocities: Even before completing this site, I got a lot of mail asking me to include
a section on how to submit forms in Geocities using FrontPage... so here it is. It's so
easy, its gonna surprise you.
Step 1: Create your form (Duh, you say)
Step 2: Now add the "submit button" to the end
of your form. Go down to the "submit button" of your form. Now
double click it to manipulate it.
Step 3: Down there, there's a option called "form"...click
it.
Step 4: Upon clicking it, look to your right. Click on the button "settings".
| Step 5: For Action,
.............enter : |
/cgi-bin/homestead/mail.pl?member_name |
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-Note there is NO quotation mark around it.
-member_name is your Geocities name. |
| ...........For Method,
.............select: |
POST |
Now, forget about all the rest. Keep hitting OK and get out
of there! You're done.
GO ON TO TUTORIAL 3 PART 3  |
