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FrontPage Tutorial Part 3 (Page 2 of 3)

This is page 2 of a three part series.

forms | adding forms in Geocities

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:

check box:

radio button:

Drop down menu:

push button:


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:


Enter your thoughts:

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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.
| - -- -- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- --- -- ----- |

On the other hand:

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.
| - -- -- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- --- -- ----- |

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:

To leave a quote:
Enter name


Enter message:


(Note: Your message will be posted
within 24 hours.)
Please feel free to come back
anytime to splash some more on this
wall!

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.)


-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?

$20000- $20000 $20000+

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

-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
-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

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