Forms are one of the vital elements of HTML. Today almost all the web pages are dynamic and interactive in nature. They are capable of receiving the input from the user and process it. As the e-commerce gained popularity, it became necessary for web developers to create web sites which are capable of taking the input from each user and update their records. For this purpose HTML forms were introduced. A HTML form is like a console where you can provide all the required information and submit it on the web.
To create a form in HTML, <FORM>….</FORM> tags are used. Below is the different attributes of form tag:
1) Action: It represents the URL which will accept the details of the user via form. If this attribute is not mentioned, then it means that the base URL will accept the form. Base URL is that URL where the form is located on the web server.
2) Enctype: It specifies the media type.
3) Method: It indicates the method that will be used for processing the action script. Method has two possible values. One is ‘get’ and other one is ‘post’. Get is used when the form does not make any changes in the database, hypertext or any other value. On the contrary, Post is used when after submission, the form affects the database, hypertext or changes any other value.
Example of form tag:
<FORM Action=http://www.contentmantra.com/submit Method=”POST”> contents of the form </FORM>
In the above example the Action=”http://www.contentmantra.com/submit” specifies the query program to the server on which the particulars of the form has to be submitted.
ELEMENTS of FORM
Form elements build up the contents, design and layout of the form. The different form elements are: INPUT, SELECT, OPTION and TEXTAREA.
A) INPUT: It is used to take input form the user using variety of tools and options. The INPUT element defines the graphical user interface of the form. Via INPUT the web developer can insert drop down menus, radio buttons, text boxes, check boxes etc. In order to specify the type of input, ‘TYPE’ attribute is used. For example:
• <INPUT type=”text” size=”40” name=”content_mantra”>
• <INPUT type=”radio” name=”radio1” value=”M”> Male
<INPUT type=”radio” name=”radio1” value=”F”> Female
B) SELECT and OPTION: It allows the user to choose one option form a set. It is used to insert drop down menus in the form. The OPTION element is used with SELECT in order to make the list of available options. For example:
<SELECT Name=”select1”>
<OPTION> Bangalore
<OPTION> Delhi
<OPTION> Mumbai
<OPTION> Chennai
<OPTION> Gujarat
<OPTION> Patna
</SELECT>
C) TEXTAREA: This element is used to take textual data from the user. The difference between TEXTAREA and INPUT is that in TEXTAREA the user can enter several lines (like while giving feedback for a product), but in INPUT the user can enter only one line (like his name). For example:
<TEXTAREA NAME=”feedback” ROWS=”4” COLS=”40”></TEXTAREA>
The ROWS and COLS indicate the maximum limit to which the user can write in the text area. Another important thing is that with each HTML form element, ‘NAME’ attribute is used. This is very important because while writing the scripts for the form these names are used.