Constellations User Guide
Contents
1. Constellations User Guide Working with Forms 25 July 2004 Draft A Table of Contents 1 INTRODUC TION 3 2 FORM TOOLS 4 2 1 CREATING A FORM lr T 4 3 MAILER OR FEEDBACK FORM itor Ree thee ede eae ees 6 A uio Res dne G 12 57 SEARG FORM eet RE 15 5 1 LOGIN FORM AND OTHER SPECIALISED FORMS den a d dn Mte en i eO DE 15 Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 2 1 Introduction Forms allow you to develop web pages that interact with your users and allow them the opportunity to become more involved with your website Forms are typically used to allow your users to make choices or to enter information Some typical uses for forms are e To provide a feedback or enquiry form for a service or product that requires the user to enter a variety of information such as their contact details and comments e A login form to a secure page e A search form to allow users to find specific products or information by using various criteria to either expand or narrow the search e As a means to modify or enter information into an online database either for the purpose of administering an online database as an administrator or to enter selected information as a user For example to provide a product review e To provide a decision point or2. bile Fax Comments To send the visitor a 7h Constellations Version 3 8 Web Page Dialog confirmation email a M Loo LLLI second Form Mailer is inserted as per this Below are the options that allow your farm ta be emailed sou can use the data entered in example which in this case vour forms by selecting the appriate field names in the grey drop down boxes the To Email address is the visitors Insert Form Emailer Normal e Info constelatons o msnm mn T RH Constelations thanks pou tor your l Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 9 Constellations Working with Forms Of course you also need to create a thank you message for the main body text A web page is also created to display a confirmation message on submission of the form To personalise the submission confirmation page the first_name field from the form is passed via URL to the web page To do this we insert the dynamic data type Values passed through form see Section TBA for details As seen in this example the tag post first_name is used to retrieve the first name from the submission form To link to this page from the form the action property is used to select the web page to be displayed when the form is submitted Constellations Yersion 3 8 Web Page Dialog ES Insert Form Emailer Below are the options that allow your fa
3. clarification for example a simple form that asks Are you sure your details are correct Forms can be as simple as a button that needs to be clicked to a complex form with multiple text boxes drop down lists check boxes buttons and so on Constellations not only provides a powerful set of tools to make form design easy it also provides tools to allow you to integrate forms with your databases and a number of pre defined or quick forms that will allow you to rapidly develop certain types of commonly used forms such as search forms and mailer forms that ask for user details to be entered Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 3 2 Form Tools Forms fa fF m E Form Creates a blank form into which all the other form tools can be added As minimum a form requires a Button 1 Form Mailer 15 used to format then email the contents of the form to the recipients listed in the mailer Iv Check Box Inserts a check box s Radio Button Inserts a radio button Jab Text Field Inserts a text field Hidden Field Inserts a hidden field This field is identical to the text field except it is not visible on the web page It is used to transfer information Password Field Inserts a password field This field is the same as the text field except that as text 1s entered asterisks are displayed in place of any characters entered Comment Box Insert
4. e fab Insert Text Field is used to enter a single line of text Size specifies the width of the text field in characters Eg A size of 10 is characters wide Max length is the maximum number of characters that can be entered Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence 1 Insert Checkbox OK Cancel Constellations ersion 3 8 Web Page Diala xl Insert Radio Button Radio Button E Checked OK Cancel d Constellations Version 3 8 Web Page ab Insert Text Field Mame TextField value mdi Eu Size Length IER OK Cancel Draft A 25 7 04 Page 12 Constellations Working with Forms Insert Hidden Text Field This Text Field E Constellations ersion 3 8 Web Page Dial is not displayed on the final web page and is Insert Hidden Text Field used only to transfer data from the form to a Create a hidden text field for use in moving data subsequent web page It is typically used to behind the sceens transfer dynamic data between pages r Pin x __ EC Constellations Version 3 8 Web Dial Insert Password Field 15 used to create a 9 E password field See the Members Tools section Insert Password Field Passyyord Field um PN for details on this field Insert Comment Box is identical in e Constellations Version 3 8 Web Page Dial ES operation t
5. e of login forms and secure pages Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 15
6. he To email field info constellations net au has been entered Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Contact Us Constellations 123 Southern Cros Drive Sydney HSW 2000 Tek 02 9999 1234 you send eR SS LEE ERR ERE Eee eee Fire Name i 44535355515 41 535555 553535355 251515555535 25 2555555355255 5155353552552 5 5 15 5 eh ph th ho hob EH HS i ETETETT Company she Pha hae hab Pe he hae RPE EES bat BERGE SEERA RAE EERE RELATE ESE Pha he htt SERS REE PERE bea 5 moa m eee m m m Constellations Yersion 3 8 Web Page Dialog Update Form Emailer Below are the options that allow your farm to be emailed ou can use the data entered in Wour forms selecting the appriate field names in the grey drop down boxes Settings Record Emails vw Normal From first name From Email first_name To Email infomconstellations net au Hub name Subject ebsite request for information phone Priority Text Email Email Save Cancel Draft A 25 7 04 Page 7 Constellations Work
7. in which the form will be displayed Post this 15 the default value for this field Get TBA Is used to create a Quick Form that has a number of pre defined fields that are commonly used to create forms such as Contact Us Feedback or Comment forms Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 5 3 Mailer or Feedback Form The mailer is used to create a form which is emailed to any number of recipients A common use for this is to allow your visitors to request further information about your products or services Typically you will need to know some details about your visitor such as their contact details so that you can reply to their request You will also need to let your visitor know that their request form has been submitted which can be done by e Bringing up a web page confirming that the form has been emailed e Sending an email to the visitor stating that the form has been emailed e A combination of the above The steps to create a mailer are e Create the mail form Using the Quick Form feature is an easy way to do this e Insert the Form Mailer Format the Form Mailer and specify the recipient of the form If more than one recipient 15 required insert multiple Form Mailers Ifa confirmation email is to be sent to the visitor insert a Form Mailer using the visitor s email address for the to email field Ifa confirmation web page is required create the page then set the Action field
8. ing with Forms The Text Email page is Constellations Yersion 3 8 Web Page Dialog used to create the body of the email this option does G Insert Form Emailer not allow you to format the Below are the options that allow your form to be emailed You can use the data entered in text If you want to format vour forms selecting the appriate field names in the grey drop down boxes the text then you should use the HTML Email page Select field to use in message Settings ifirst name 1first name of company name This page allows you Text Email combine text with any of the form fields This example shows how to combine these two elements to make a Contact Us email that is easy to read HTML Email Has made the following comments Comments OK Cancel The Form Mailer icon indicates that a mailer has been created for the form Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 8 Constellations Working with Forms This shows what the final web page looks like and Contact Us the steps taken are the minimum required for a Constellations mailer However it would be a good idea to let the 123 Southern Cross Drive visitor know that the email Sydney NSW 2000 has been sent Tel 02 9999 1234 or you can send us an email First Name sumame Emal Phone Mo
9. o the Text Field except that you can 2 Insert Comment specify the height and width of the box for text entry Comment Box Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 13 Constellations Working with Forms Constellations Version 3 8 Web Page Dial Insert Select Box 15 used where single or multiple selections are to be made from a list ef InsertSelectBox 7 Insert Select Box In this example a list of Australian states is created which can be used to enhance the operation of the Quick Form New items are added by clicking on Items are deleted from the list by clicking on 66 66 Constellations Version 3 8 Web Page Dial et mg Insert Button Insert Button 15 used to insert a button on the form toolbar images storm button git Label is text that appears on the button itself Submit is used to submit the form and Reset clears all values on the form or sets them to their default value Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 14 5 Search Form Constellations search forms are used in combination with the Database Tools to specifically search for data in your databases They are not designed as a general purpose search facility such as a Google web Search for example 5 1 Login Form and other specialised forms The Members Tools section provides details on the use of specialised forms related to the us
10. of the form to the confirmation page The Quick Form option of Constellations Yersion 3 8 Web Page Di the Insert Form tool is used to create a general Ej Insert Form purpose Contact Us page m with a single comments Name formi box to allow visitors to eee 50 am enter whatever text they like The page you want this form to submit to Target Method Post Keep as POST if you don t know what this means Quick Form V show quick form options Title Address 1 Full Address 2 First Suburb Surname State Company Mame Postcode Email Country Phone Fax Comments Cancel Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 6 Constellations Working with Forms This is what the basic design of the Contact Us page looks like We are now ready to insert a Form Mailer which can be inserted anywhere in the form but a good choice is the top left hand side of the form The Settings page of the Form Mailer is used to specify to whom the form will be mailed who it is from and what it is about You may select any of the fields created within the form itself or enter your own text When the Quick Form option is chosen the fields names are pre defined These fields are displayed as field_name You also have the option of typing any text you wish eg for t
11. rm to be emailed sou can use the data entered in vour forms selecting the appriate field names in the grey drop down boxes Farm elements ta use Select field to use in message Settings EI Text Email Dear 1first HTML Email Thank you for your enquiry One of our representatives will contact you The team at Constellations OK Cancel Dear post hirst name Thank you for your enquiry one of our representatives will contact you soon i Target Fre mignon pj Hama ace bao Mall E Fam Cenna Un Mathed Peat Draft A 25 7 04 Commercial in Confidence Tel Net Pty Ltd Page 10 Constellations Working with Forms This example shows the submission confirmation page that has been personalised to display a thank you message Dear Chnstan Thank you for your enquiry one of our representatives wall contact you soon Book Search Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 11 Constellations Working with Forms 4 Form Controls The following are the controls that are used to place form elements into a web page in Contellations Insert Checkbox 15 used where there only two choices available such as Yes No or True False There is the option of setting the default value to Checked or Not Checked Insert Radio Button is used where only one of small number of multiple choices can be mad
12. s a comment box EJ Select Box Inserts a select box Can be set to behave as either a drop down list box or a list box Button This 15 the only mandatory field in the form and 15 used to initiate an action such as a form submission E 2 1 Creating a form The nsert Form is used to create a form You can select a web page to go to on submission of the form There 15 also a Quick Form option which 15 used to create commonly used forms such as Contact Us or Mame formi Feedback forms action ee The page you want this form to submit to When creating a form it is a good idea to create the ard page headers and other text first Methad Post Keep as POST if you don t know what this means Constellations Yersion 3 8 Web Page Diz m x Insert Form Quick Form show quick form options OK Cancel Once the form is created you can then add any number of form controls as described later sections of this document In general a table should be the first item to be inserted into the form to allow the form controls to be placed and formatted properly Tel Net Pty Ltd Commercial in Confidence Draft A 25 7 04 Page 4 The Name field is mandatory The Action field is used to select the web page to be displayed on submission of the form It 1s created in exactly the same way that a hyperlink is created See Section 3 6 for details If frames are used this field specifies the frame
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