In this section of the course we're going to be creating an input form using HMO a form is used to gather
input from your user.
Forms are the most common method of data collection from Web site visitors.
The data that is input it into the form can be stored into a database or submitted to an email address.
Keep in mind that in order for a form to work and transmit data we need to use a programming language
that communicates with our Web server later in this course we'll be exploring p p and working more with
data processing.
For now in the mail section of this course we'll only be creating the front end of the form.
This is what the user sees through their web browser.
Let's take a look at an example of a basic contact form on the Web.
On this form the user is able to submit an inquiry directly to the Web site's support staff by completing
the required fields for example Name Email Subject and message if we try to submit the form without
filling in any information
we can see a number of errors appear.
This is known as form validation.
Now let's explore how a form is processed.
Once the user clicks the send button first the user completes the form and fills out all the form fields
next.
The data is transmitted to a p script which validates the form validation includes checking to make
sure the data is accurate to a certain degree.
Data Validation is very important and can be done in client side programming languages such as javascript
and also in server side languages such as BHP it's recommended that both are implemented.
Keep in mind that users can disable client side validation by adjusting settings in their web browser
server side validation on the other hand cannot be avoided.
We'll be working with both types of validation techniques later in this course.
Examples of data validation types include checking email address formats checking the length of data
typed into a field for example a minimum amount of characters or maximum amount of characters must be
met in order for form submission or perhaps checking the format of a phone number.
This is not an exhaustive list and there are many different ways that it can be validated once the data
is validated the data is processed.
The data can be input it into a database.
It can be transmitted to an email address or some other form of data processing.
On the other hand if validation fails the user is typically sent back to the contact forum page so corrections
can be made as a reminder.
We'll be working with forum data processing later in this course.
For now we'll begin with developing just the front end of the form using HDMI out.