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XHTML Tutorial - "form" Element Attributes

By: FYIcenter.com

(Continued from previous topic...)

What Are the Attributes of a "form" Element?

There are 3 commonly used attributes for a "form" element:

  • "action" - Required attribute. Used to specify the URL of the form processing program.
  • "method" - Optional attribute. Used to specify the form submission method: "get" or "post". method="get" is the default setting.
  • "enctype" - Optional attribute. Used to specify the input data encryption type. enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" is the default setting.

The URL of the form processing program is usually given to you by the Webmaster. You just put it into the "action" attribute directly. If you specify an empty "action" attribute, the URL of the current XHTML document will be used to submit the form data.

From an XHTML document author's point of view, method="get" and method="post" have no differences. Both of them will submit viewers input data to the submission program specified in the "action' attribute.

The default setting for enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" for most of your forms. But you want upload files through a form, you need to use enctype="multipart/form-data" and method="post".

Some examples of "form" element with different attributes:

 <!-- Submitting to the URL of the current document -->
 <form action=""></form>

 <!-- Submitting to a perl program -->
 <form action="/cgi-bin/survey.pl"></form>

 <!-- Submitting to a PHP program -->
 <form action="/survey.php" method="post"></form>

 <!-- Submitting to a PHP program for file uploading -->
 <form action="/upload.php" method="post"
  enctype="multipart/form-data"></form>

(Continued on next topic...)

  1. What Is a "form" Tag/Element?
  2. What Are the Attributes of a "form" Element?
  3. What Is an "input" Tag/Element?
  4. How Many Input Types Are Supported by "input" Elements?
  5. How To Use "text" Input Fields?
  6. How To Use "password" Input Fields?
  7. How To Use "checkbox" Input Fields?
  8. What Are the Values Submitted on Checkbox Fields?
  9. How To Use "radio" Input Fields?
  10. What Are the Values Submitted on Radio Button Fields?
  11. How To Use "submit" Input/Action Fields?
  12. What Are the Values Submitted on Submit Button Fields?
  13. How To Use "reset" Input/Action Fields?
  14. How To Use "file" Input Fields?
  15. How To Use "hidden" Input Fields?
  16. How To Use "image" Input Fields?
  17. What Are the Values Submitted on Image Button Fields?
  18. How To Use "button" Input Fields?
  19. What Is a "textarea" Tag/Element?
  20. What Are the Attributes of a "textarea" Element?
  21. What Is a "select" Tag/Element?
  22. What Is an "option" Tag/Element?
  23. What Is a "label" Tag/Element?
  24. Can Two Forms Be Nested?
  25. Do Broswers Support Multiple Forms?


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