Forms

Visitors of your web page can fill out forms and you will be able to receive their feedback. An advantage is that your visitor will not need to have an e-mail address or an e-mail client to be able to fill out a web form. The editor allows you to create forms without the need for any programming skills. The bluetronix software adjusts fieldnames and form objects automatically. Previously sent forms get saved in a form archive Extras -> Form archive. Other features include form forwarding to an e-mail account and automatic sending of confirmation receipts to the customer. The data transfer is either in plain text or in HTML format.

The following example explains how to create the contact form as displayed above. A transparent table with border width 0 is used to arrange the form elements on the homepage.

The editor displays forms with a purple coloured dashed border. Attention needs to be paid to the borders, when there is more than one form within the page.

Inserting a drop down box

First write ’Title’ in the left cell in the first row of the table, then go to the cell to the right and click the Form symbol.

Click on Drop-down to make the field a drop down list and give a descriptive name, e.g. ‘Title’. The Values field will show a list of possible selection, all separated by an underscore (‘_’).

Insert a single line text field

Change into the second row and type ‘First Name’ as field name, then click into the right field and open the Form window.

Enter ’First Name’ as field name and check the Required Field box. This field becomes mandatory to be filled out before the form can be send. It is possible to define default values for fields. In our example we leave it blank. Confirm your changes by clicking on Insert.

In the editor you can adjust input field length and width. Just select the input field you would like to modify and drag it to the desired length.

If you enter ’email’ as a field name, the form sender will get a confirmation mail if they submitted their email address.

Submit button

Let us now insert a submit button. A click on this button triggers the form sending process. Open the Form window again and select Button. Leave name and value fields blank and make sure the ’submit’ function is switched on. Click on Insert.

Additional functions like ‘Reset’, ‘Back’, ‘Print’, ‘Refresh’ and normal buttons can also be found at Form -> Button -> Functions.

Form options

Finally set the form options. In the editor’s form window Form click Options.

Enter an email address to receive any feedback from visitors of your homepage. Assign a form name for example ’Contact form’, this will be shown as the subject line in an e-mail message as well as the form name in the form archive Extras -> Form archive.

In the field ‘Target page’ define a page that will be displayed to your visitor after submitting the form. A possible example would be ’Your details have been sent successfully’ this text is set as default.

The archive type defines the way data will be sent: Text (send as plain text) or HTML (email recipient will receive form in HTML format).

Testing a form

Save the page, close the editor and test your form. Fill out all input fields and click the Submit button. If a required field is left empty, a warning message will pop up.

Open the form in the form archive in editing mode Extras -> Form archive, e-mail forwarding address, you can check your e-mails now.

On ways how to install the form module, refer to the chapter form module.

Received form at HTML transfer mode in the form archive

Received form at HTML transfer mode in the e-mail programme

For further details see Form module.