if you are NOT editing this site with FrontPage, or publishing to
aFrontPage extension enabled
web server, you will need to link the form below to a CGI script, PHP,
ASP or some form of database connection provided by your web host. You may want
to check with your host to learn more about connecting form pages.
Microsoft FrontPage enables you to create a form based on the
type of information you want to gather from site visitors by either starting
with a blank form that you can build on (by adding fields) or by using the Form
Page wizard. You can specify how to collect the data the site visitors entered
— the form results — and decide how you want to display the results to the site
visitor in the form of a confirmation page.
Search query form allowing visitors to search your web site
Log on form that prompts the the site visitors for their user name and
password
Note FrontPage includes templates to create a guestbook,
registration, or feedback form. You can also use wizards ,such as the Database
Interface Wizard, to create a form that saves data to a database.
There are several steps to creating an online form with Microsoft FrontPage.
After you have completed all of them, you have the option to go back and change
certain properties. For example, if your list of products has expanded, you
can add those products to the options that a site visitor chooses from in a
drop-down box. Or, you may decide that instead of having form results sent to
you in an e-mail, you want FrontPage to create a database to store the information.
Textbox
Use text boxes to collect a small amount of text, such as a name
or a number.
Enter your e-mail address:
Option buttons Use option buttons (also called
radio buttons) when you want
the site visitor to select only one option from a group.
A
B
C
Text area Use text areas to collect one or more lines of text, such as
a comment. This field scrolls to accommodate varying amounts of
text.
Sign my guest book:
Drop-down box Use a drop-down box to present the site visitor with a list
of choices. This field is similar to using a group of option buttons,
but takes less space on your form. You can configure a drop-down
box to allow one or multiple selections.
Select a product:
Checkbox Use check boxes for optional items. The site visitor can select
or clear the check box. They can also select multiple items.
Push button Use push buttons to let site visitors submit the form after
filling it out, clear fields by resetting the form, or run your
custom scripts.
By inserting the Advanced
button into your form, you can write a script that will make your
form do what you need. The Advanced
button is highly customizable — you can use fancy fonts, colors,
or even tables on the button.
Group box
Add a group box to your form when you want to separate a group
of related controls or text from the rest of the information on
the page or in the current form.
File upload
You can give your site visitors the opportunity to send a file
to your web site. When you insert the
File Upload form field, site
visitors click on the Browse button,
locate their file, and then click Submit.
Password field
When you want a site visitor to enter a password to visit your
web site, add a password field to your registration form. A password
field is really just a one-line text box. When a site visitor types
in this field, most Web browsers will display the password as asterisks,
to protect confidentiality.
Setting up functionality for each field After you
have decided what types of fields to add to your form, you can define what
you want them to do and how you want them to look. You can type directly
on the firm to include field labels and instructions. You can also set the
properties for each field. For example, you can specify the length of a
text box, decide whether an option is selected by default, and define the
choices in a drop-down box.
Setting data entry rules Also called "validation,"
data entry rules ensure that a site visitor fills out the form correctly.
For example, you can set up an order form for your products, but unless
the name, address, and payment information are correctly entered, your customer
won't be able to complete and submit the order.
You can also specify a format for the information you want to collect.
For example, to collect a credit card number, you can set up a text box
that only accepts numbers and hyphens, and disallows other characters.
You can also require a fixed number of characters so that a site visitor
does not omit a number by mistake.
Setting up how you want to collect that information
After a site visitor submits the form, you must collect the data that
was entered — the form results — so you can view them, display them to the
visitor, or work with them as needed. FrontPage provides several
form handlers (form handler: A program
on a server that is executed when a site visitor submits a form. A form
in FrontPage is associated with a form handler.), which take
the form results and perform various actions. For example, when a site visitor
submits a form, FrontPage can save the contact information to a customer
database. Or, you can have the form results sent to you in an email or saved
as a text or HTML file.
Adding a confirmation page FrontPage automatically
displays a confirmation page to your site visitor (unless you are using
a custom script). You can also create your own confirmation page and decide
which fields to show your site visitor. If you do not create and assign
a confirmation page of your own, FrontPage will use the default confirmation
page, which displays a list of all the field names from the form and their
values.
Creating keyboard shortcuts A keyboard shortcut enables
a site visitor to select a field in a form by using the keyboard rather
than by clicking the field. The shortcut appears as an underlined letter
in the field label— the site visitor selects the field by pressing ALT plus
the underlined letter.
Specifying the
tab order for the form Site visitors can navigate through
a form — move from field to field — by pressing the TAB key. By default,
the order of fields on the page (from top to bottom) is the order in which
a visitor can tab through the form. You can, however, specify a different
tab order.