Constructing an Interactive Form

PWS gives you the ability to get information from visitors to your Web site, and to respond to your visitors on the basis of the information they give you. This procedure is designed to help you customize a simple interactive form to meet your information-gathering needs. The procedure assumes that you do not know HTML, or a scripting or programming language, and it does not teach you these. Instead, you will use cut-and-paste and search-and-replace techniques to construct a working form that sends data to a sample database included with PWS. Because the database is created in Microsoft Access, you can view and edit the gathered data either by opening the database in Access, or by using another script, which is provided in Viewing A Database in a Browser.

To create the file

1. Open the file Sampform.asp in a text editor such as Notepad. Sampform.asp is located in your Windows\Help\Pws\Htm\Core directory.
2. Replace the text between the opening and closing tags and the opening and closing tags with a title and heading for the page. If you have trouble finding the text, search for the word Replace.
3. Preview the file in your browser by typing the path and file name in the Address bar. Because you are viewing the file with a file-open command rather than serving it, the script at the beginning of the file is visible. When the file is served as a document on your Web site, the script is not visible.

   Tip   If the heading seems too large for your page, reduce the height of the letters by changing the 1 in the opening and closing

   tags to a 2.

4. Save the file to your home directory. (C:\Inetpub\Wwwroot is the default home directory used by setup). Save the file in text-only format with the name sampform.asp.

   Tip   To prevent Notepad from adding .txt to the file name, select All Files(*.*) as the Save as Type option.

Adding Elements

You are now ready to paste in the sections of script that display various text boxes, check boxes, and radio buttons. You can add the individual elements in any order you choose. You are not required to use all the elements in your page, but each element can only be used once. For instance, First Text Box can only be used once. If you need another text box, you must use either Second Text Box, or one of the memo boxes for the next text box on the page. The following is a list of the form elements available:

To add the fields to your form

1. It is a good idea to plan your form by using the list of available elements above and sketching them out on a piece of paper.
2. Copy and paste the following sections of code into your Web page by using the order you sketched out in step 1. Be sure that all your code is placed after the comment and before the comment.

   Tip   When you copy, if you include the starting and ending comments before and after each section of code, your finished page is much easier to read and edit at a later date. The comments are not displayed on the page when viewed in a browser.

     
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the first text box:  
      
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the second text box:  
      
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the third text box:  
      
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the fourth box:  
      
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the first memo box:  
      
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the second memo box:  
      
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the first check box:    
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the second check box:    
    Replace this text with a label or caption for the first option. 
     Replace this text with a label or caption for the second option. 
     Replace this text with a label or caption for the third option.   

3. Replace the text labels accompanying each element with appropriate text. To find these quickly and easily, search for the word Replace.
4. Save the changes you have made to your file.
5. Preview the file in your browser to be sure the elements are in the correct order and that the text labels are displaying correctly. Again, you can ignore the script that is visible at the top of the page above the heading. If you do not see the changes you have made, use the browser’s Refresh button.

Accessing the Database

Now that the form is complete, you must edit the statements that insert data into the database so they match the fields in your form. The Sampform.asp file contains references to all the available fields and the input they receive. You must remove the references for elements you did not include in your form. The following table displays the element name and the corresponding field name.

Element	Field Name
First Text Box	TB1
Second Text Box	TB2
Third Text Box	TB3
Fourth Text Box	TB4
First Memo Box	MB1
Second Memo Box	MB2
First Check Box	CB1
Second Check Box	CB2
Radio Buttons	RB

To edit the database field references

1. Search for the text cm.commandtext= to find the insert statement.
2. Inside the parentheses following the word SampleDb are all of the database field names separated by commas. Delete any field name you are not using, and the separating comma that follows that name. For example, if you used only the First Text Box, Second Text Box, and First Check Box, your field section would now appear as: SampleDb(TB1,TB2,CB1)

   Note   Regardless of the order of the elements on your page, do not change the order of the field names in the statement.

3. Inside the parentheses following the word VALUES are nine questions marks separated by commas. The number of question marks must equal the number of elements you used in your form. Delete extra question marks, and the separating comma that follows the question mark. For example, if you used only the First Text Box, Second Text Box,and First Check Box, your values section would now appear as: VALUES (?,?,?)
4. Following the the cm.commandtext= statement are the parameter statements. For any elements you did not use in your page, place an apostrophe before each of the two lines listed below the element parameter statement. For example, if you did not use the Second Text Box, the statement would now appear as:

   ‘Second Text Box Parameter Statement ‘set objparam=cm.createparameter(, 200, , 255, strTB2) ‘cm.parameters.append objparam

5. Save your changes and preview your file by typing //localhost/sampform.asp in the Address bar of the browser.

 To add a link to the form on your home page

1. Open the PWS Personal Web Manager and click the Web Site icon on the sidebar.
2. Click the Edit your home page link and use the wizard to add a link to the form on your home page.

Related Topics

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