How To Create an HTML Form With DHTML Page Designer

MORE INFORMATION

You can build a simple HTML form using the DHTML Page Designer. The form will have two fields and a submit button. The information will be posted to an ASP file on the server. The server will simply display the values entered in the fields. Follow these steps:

1. Start Visual Basic 6.0 and create a new DHTML Application project.
2. Open the DHTMLPage1 from Designers.
3. From the toolbox, drag a textbox and change its NAME to Field1.
4. Drag another textbox and change its NAME to Field2.
5. Drag a submit button and change its VALUE to Submit.
6. Save the project.
7. You now need to save the HTM as an External HTML file. To do this:
   
   
   1. Bring up the DHTML Page Designer Properties.
   2. Select "Save the HTML as an External file" check box.
   3. Click the "New" button.
   4. Specify the location and name of the file you want.
8. Click the Launch Editor button on the Designer tool bar. You will see HTML similar to the following in your editor:

         <BODY>
         <INPUT id=TextField1 name=TextField1>
         <P>
         <INPUT id=TextField2 name=TextField2>
         <P>
         <INPUT id=SubmitButton1 name=Submit1 type=submit value=Submit></P>
         </BODY></HTML>
   
   						

   Notice that there are some tags missing. First the HTML tag is missing. Secondly, there is no FORM tag. Edit the file manually to enter these tags so that the final HTM looks like the following:

         <HTML>
         <BODY>
         <P<
         <FORM ID=Form1 NAME=Form1 METHOD=POST
               ACTION="http://MyServer/MyDir/Test1.ASP">
         <INPUT id=TextField1 name=TextField1>
         <P>
         <INPUT id=TextField2 name=TextField2>
         <P>
         <INPUT id=SubmitButton1 name=Submit1 type=submit value=Submit></P>
         </FORM>
         </BODY>
         </HTML>
   
   						

9. Save the file from the HTML editor and, when prompted by the designer, say Yes to reloading the file into the designer
10. At this point, you can add some validation code. This can be done by writing the onSubmit event handler for the form as follows:

          Private Function Form1_onsubmit() As Boolean
    
              Dim Valid As Boolean
    
              Valid = True
              If TextField1.Value = "" Then
                  BaseWindow.alert "You must enter a value for Field1"
                  Valid = False
              End If
              If TextField2.Value = "" Then
                  BaseWindow.alert "You must enter a value for Field2"
                  Valid = False
              End If
    
              Form1_onsubmit = Valid
    
          End Function
    
    						

11. Save the Visual Basic 6.0 project.
12. Now create the Test1.asp file you used in the ACTION attribute in your FORM tag. This file must be stored on your IIS web server. If you are not using IIS, you will not be able to use ASP. Use NotePad to save the following as test1.asp on your server:

          <%@ LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" %>
    
          You entered the following values from your DHTML Page Designer
          form:<p>
          TextField1 = <%=Request.Form("TextField1") %><br>
          TextField2 = <%=Request.Form("TextField2") %><br>
    
    						

13. Run the project. You should see the values you enter into Field1 and Field2 returned to you by the server.