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Q192552: HOWTO: Create an HTML Form With DHTML Page Designer

Article: Q192552
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 25-JUN-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, version 6.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

This article describes how to use the DHTML Page Designer to create a simple
HTML form application. Currently, the DHTML Page Designer will not insert all
the tags required to do this so you need to manually insert the missing tags.

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:

  a. Bring up the DHTML Page Designer Properties.

  b. Select "Save the HTML as an External file" check box.

  c. Click the "New" button.

  d. 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.

Additional query words: kbdsi kbDSupport kbVBp kbVBp600 kbDHTML kbInternet kbPageDesigner

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB600Search kbVB600
Version           : WINDOWS:6.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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