Simple Text Box (enter your e-mail address here)
This is this the most common and easiest
control to use. In this case the value is used as the destination e-mail
address. Therefore, I named the control mail_to (a special
E-Forms EZ name).
Drop Down Menu #1
Your Favorite Color
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow
Purple
Drop Down Menus contain a list of items the
user can select. By default the value submitted with the form is the
same as the value displayed. In other words if you select Blue, then
Blue is what E-Forms EZ will see. The HTML looks like this: <option>Blue</option>
Drop Down Menu #2
Expiration Month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Sometimes you need to show the users a list
of options, but see a different value when the form is submitted. For
example, you might want to show the names of the months, but see the
number of the month when the form is submitted, In that case you specify
a value for each item in the list like this: <option
value="04">April</option>
Radio Buttons (what kind of shape are you in?)
Overweight
Average
Underweight
Radio buttons are similar to drop down menus
in that they force the user to make a choice. Each button has the same
group name (shape in this case). When the user submits the form, the
value of the selected radio button is sent. It is up to you as to
whether the text next to each button matches its value.
Checkboxes (favorite fruits)
Apples
Oranges
Jim J.
Bullock
Checkboxes are actually the most confusing
controls to use if you don't fully understand how forms are processed.
When you a submit a form, the values of each control are sent to the web
server and subsequently E-Forms EZ. Except for Checkboxes, that is. Only
if a Checkbox is checked is its value sent to the web server. If it's
not checked, it's as though it never even existed. The browser doesn't
send any information about it to the web server. This makes it terrible
for Yes/No types of uses since you never see the NO value. That's not
what you would expect. It also makes it difficult for other uses.
Multi-Line Textboxes
These controls behave that same as regular
textboxes and are easy to use.
Hidden Fields
Hidden Fields are used to supply E-Forms EZ
with special values it might need. For example the subject of this
e-mail will be "Advanced Controls". Nowhere on the form do you
see it. That's because it's contained in a hidden field that looks like
this:
<input type="hidden" name="mail_subject"
value="Advanced Controls">