Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

Forms: Visible Optional Form Fields

The visible optional form fields are reserved names for information that the user completes. The two visible optional form fields are realname and email.

HINT: If form developers use both the email and realname fields, they will be able to reply to the email message, and the user's name and email address will appear at the beginning of the email message.

email
This field creates a text field allowing a user to enter his/her email address. When form developers use this field in a form, the email message they receive containing the form results will indicate who submitted the form information and will allow the form developer to reply to the message. In addition, the user's email address will also appear at the beginning of the actual email message (e.g., submitted by studentcr@uwec.edu).

realname
This field creates a text field allowing a user to enter his/her name. When form developers use this field, the user's name will appear at the beginning of the email message containing the form results (e.g., submitted by Chris Student); however, form developers will not be able to reply to the user unless they also use the email field.

To insert the optional visible form fields:

Place your cursor within the form boundary where you would like to insert the form field
NOTE: For information on inserting a form boundary, refer to Creating Forms.

From the Insert menu, select Form » Text Field
OR
From the Insert bar, in the Forms tab, click TEXT FIELD
A text field appears.

Select the text field by clicking it once
The TextField Properties pane appears.
In the TextField text box, type the name for your text field
In the Init Val text box, type an initial value for the text field
HINT: The initial value is the text that will appear by default in the text field. This should reflect the type of response you would like from the user.
EXAMPLE: A text box prompting users to enter their email address may display initial text such as username@uwec.edu

In the Char Width text box, type a width for the text field
NOTE: The character width does not limit how many characters a user can enter, but how many characters wide the text field will appear.
In the Max Chars text box, type the maximum number of characters a user is allowed to enter