Forms

A form on a web site is similar to a paper form. You can use it to gather information from site visitors, such as collecting their order, shipping, and billing information. Typically, site visitors type their information in and indicate their preferences by clicking option buttons, check boxes, and drop-down boxes. The can also enter comments in text boxes.

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.

Note: For forms to function on a web site, you must publish your web site to a web server running the Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions. Your web administrator or Internet service provider (ISP) can tell you if this software is installed on your Web server.

Types of commonly used forms

	Contact information form
	Requests form
	Order form with shipping and billing information
	Feedback form
	Guest book
	Search query form allowing visitors to search your web site

Note: FrontPage includes templates to create a guestbook, registration, or feedback form. You can also use wizards to create a form.
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There are several steps to creating an online form with 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.

Adding fields to the form
Fields can be text boxes, option buttons, push buttons, and so forth, depending on the kind of information you want the get from the site visitor. After placing fields on your form, you can lay them out on the page as you would text, using line breaks, paragraphs, and tables.
There are many different kinds of fields, and you can even customize them to suit your needs.

The various form fields:

Textbox
Use text boxes to collect a small amount of text, such as a name or a number.
Example:
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.
Example:
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.
Example:
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.
Example:
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.
Example:
Yes, I would like to receive updates

Push button
Use push buttons to let site visitors submit the form after filling it out, or clear fields by resetting the form.
Example:

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.
Note: Only the UNIX operating system allows password validation and registration through a Web browser.
Example:
Password:

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 form 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 eate 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.

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