Forms in HTML documents

Forms in HTML documents
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17
Forms
Contents
Introduction to forms
Controls
Control types
The
FORM
element
The
INPUT
element
Control types created with
INPUT
Examples of forms containing INPUT
controls
The
BUTTON
element
The
SELECT
OPTGROUP
, and
OPTION
elements
Pre-selected options
The
TEXTAREA
element
The
ISINDEX
element
Labels
The
LABEL
element
Adding structure to forms: the
FIELDSET
and
LEGEND
elements
Giving focus to an element
Tabbing navigation
Access
keys
Disabled and read-only controls
Disabled controls
Read-only controls
Form submission
Form submission method
Successful controls
Processing form data
Step one: Identify the successful
controls
Step two: Build a form data
set
Step three: Encode the form data
set
Step four: Submit the encoded form
data set
Form content types
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
multipart/form-data
17.1
Introduction to forms
An HTML form is a section of a document containing normal content, markup,
special elements called
controls
(checkboxes, radio buttons, menus, etc.), and labels on those controls. Users
generally "complete" a form by modifying its controls (entering text, selecting
menu items, etc.), before submitting the form to an agent for processing (e.g.,
to a Web server, to a mail server, etc.)
Here's a simple form that includes labels, radio buttons, and push buttons
(reset the form or submit it):

First name:


Last name:


email:


Male

Female

Note.
This specification includes more detailed
information about forms in the subsections on
form display issues
17.2
Controls
Users interact with forms through named
controls
A control's
"control name"
is given by its
name
attribute. The scope of the
name
attribute for a
control within a
FORM
element is the
FORM
element.
Each control has both an initial value and a current value, both of which
are character strings. Please consult the definition of each control for
information about initial values and possible constraints on values imposed by
the control. In general, a control's
"initial
value"
may be specified with the control element's
value
attribute. However, the initial value of a
TEXTAREA
element is given by its contents, and the initial value of
an
OBJECT
element in a form is determined by the object
implementation (i.e., it lies outside the scope of this specification).
The control's
"current value"
is first set to the
initial value. Thereafter, the control's current value may be modified through
user interaction and
scripts.
A control's initial value does not change.
Thus, when
a form is reset, each control's current value is reset to its initial value. If
a control does not have an initial value, the effect of a form reset on that
control is undefined.
When a form is submitted for processing, some controls have their name
paired with their current value and these pairs are
submitted
with the form. Those controls for which name/value pairs are
submitted are called
successful
controls
17.2.1
Control
types
HTML defines the following control types:
buttons
Authors may create three types of buttons:
submit buttons
: When activated, a submit button
submits a form.
A form may contain more than one submit
button.
reset
buttons
: When activated, a reset button resets all controls to their
initial values.
push
buttons
: Push buttons have no default behavior. Each push button may
have
client-side scripts
associated with the
element's
event
attributes. When an event
occurs (e.g., the user presses the button, releases it, etc.), the associated
script is triggered.
Authors should specify the scripting language of a push button script
through a
default script declaration
(with the
META
element).
Authors create buttons with the
BUTTON
element or the
INPUT
element. Please consult the definitions of these elements for details about
specifying different button types.
Note.
Authors should note that the
BUTTON
element offers richer rendering capabilities than the
INPUT
element.
checkboxes
Checkboxes (and radio buttons) are on/off switches that may be toggled by
the user. A switch is "on" when the control element's
checked
attribute is set. When a form is submitted, only "on" checkbox controls can
become
successful
Several checkboxes in a form may share the same
control name.
Thus, for example, checkboxes allow users to select several
values for the same property. The
INPUT
element is used to create a
checkbox control.
radio
buttons
Radio buttons are like checkboxes except that when several share the same
control name
, they are mutually exclusive: when one
is switched "on", all others with the same name are switched "off". The
INPUT
element is used to create a radio button control.
If no radio button in a set sharing the same control name is initially
"on", user agent behavior for choosing which control is initially "on" is
undefined.
Note.
Since existing implementations handle this
case differently, the current specification differs from RFC 1866 (
[RFC1866]
section 8.1.2.4), which states:
At all times, exactly one of the radio buttons in a set is checked.
If none of the elements of a set of radio buttons specifies
`CHECKED', then the user agent must check the first radio button of the set
initially.
Since user agent behavior differs, authors should ensure that in each set of
radio buttons that one is initially "on".
menus
Menus offer users options from which to choose. The
SELECT
element creates a menu, in combination with the
OPTGROUP
and
OPTION
elements.
text input
Authors may create two types of controls that allow users to input text.
The
INPUT
element creates a single-line input control and the
TEXTAREA
element creates a multi-line input control. In both cases,
the input text becomes the control's
current
value
file select
This control type allows the user to select files so that their contents
may be submitted with a form. The
INPUT
element is used to create a file
select control.
hidden controls
Authors may create controls that are not rendered but whose values are
submitted with a form. Authors generally use this control type to store
information between client/server exchanges that would otherwise be lost due to
the stateless nature of HTTP (see
[RFC2616]
). The
INPUT
element is used to create a hidden control.
object controls
Authors may insert generic objects in forms such that associated values are
submitted along with other controls. Authors create object controls with the
OBJECT
element.
The elements used to create controls generally appear inside a
FORM
element, but may also appear outside of a
FORM
element declaration when they are
used to build user interfaces. This is discussed in the section on
intrinsic events.
Note that controls outside a form
cannot be
successful controls
17.3
The
FORM
element
FORM
- - (
%block;
|SCRIPT)+ -(FORM) -- interactive form -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
action
%URI;
#REQUIRED -- server-side form handler --
method
(GET|POST) GET -- HTTP method used to submit the form--
enctype
%ContentType;
"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
accept
%ContentTypes;
#IMPLIED -- list of MIME types for file upload --
name
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- name of form for scripting --
onsubmit
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the form was submitted --
onreset
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the form was reset --
accept-charset
%Charsets;
#IMPLIED -- list of supported charsets --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
Attribute definitions
action
uri
[CT]
This attribute specifies a form processing agent. User agent behavior for a
value other than an HTTP URI is undefined.
method
get|post
[CI]
This attribute specifies which HTTP method will be used to submit the
form data set
. Possible (case-insensitive) values are
"get" (the default) and "post". See the section on
form submission
for usage information.
enctype
content-type
[CI]
This attribute specifies the
content type
used to submit the form to the server (when the value of
method
is "post"). The default value for this attribute is
"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
. The value
"multipart/form-data"
should be used in combination with the
INPUT
element,
type
="file".
accept-charset
charset list
[CI]
This attribute specifies the list of
character encodings
for input
data that is accepted by the server processing this form. The value is a space-
and/or comma-delimited list of
charset
values. The client must interpret this list as an exclusive-or list, i.e., the
server is able to accept any single character encoding per entity received.
The default value for this attribute is the reserved string "UNKNOWN". User
agents may interpret this value as the character encoding that was used to
transmit the document containing this
FORM
element.
accept
content-type-list
[CI]
This attribute specifies a comma-separated list of content types that a
server processing this form will handle correctly. User agents may use this
information to filter out non-conforming files when prompting a user to select
files to be sent to the server (cf. the
INPUT
element when
type
="file").
name
cdata
[CI]
This attribute names the element so that it may be referred to from style
sheets or scripts.
Note.
This attribute has been included for
backwards compatibility. Applications should use the
id
attribute to identify elements.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
style
inline
style information
title
element
title
target
target
frame information
onsubmit
onreset
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
The
FORM
element acts as a container for
controls
. It specifies:
The layout of the form (given by the contents of the element).
The program that will handle the completed and submitted form (the
action
attribute). The receiving program must be able to parse name/value pairs in
order to make use of them.
The method by which user data will be sent to the server (the
method
attribute).
A character encoding that must be accepted by the server in order to handle
this form (the
accept-charset
attribute). User agents may advise the
user of the value of the
accept-charset
attribute and/or
restrict the user's ability to enter unrecognized characters.
A form can contain text and markup (paragraphs, lists, etc.) in addition to
form controls.
The following example shows a form that is to be processed by the "adduser"
program when submitted. The form will be sent to the program using the HTTP
"post" method.

...form contents...

Please consult the section on
form submission
for information about how user agents must prepare form data for servers and
how user agents should handle expected responses.
Note.
Further discussion on the behavior of servers
that receive form data is beyond the scope of this specification.
17.4
The
INPUT
element
"(TEXT | PASSWORD | CHECKBOX |
RADIO | SUBMIT | RESET |
FILE | HIDDEN | IMAGE | BUTTON)"

INPUT
- O EMPTY -- form control -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
type
%InputType;
TEXT -- what kind of widget is needed --
name
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- submit as part of form --
value
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- Specify for radio buttons and checkboxes --
checked
(checked) #IMPLIED -- for radio buttons and check boxes --
disabled
(disabled) #IMPLIED -- unavailable in this context --
readonly
(readonly) #IMPLIED -- for text and passwd --
size
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- specific to each type of field --
maxlength
NUMBER
#IMPLIED -- max chars for text fields --
src
%URI;
#IMPLIED -- for fields with images --
alt
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- short description --
usemap
%URI;
#IMPLIED -- use client-side image map --
ismap
(ismap) #IMPLIED -- use server-side image map --
tabindex
NUMBER
#IMPLIED -- position in tabbing order --
accesskey
%Character;
#IMPLIED -- accessibility key character --
onfocus
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element got the focus --
onblur
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element lost the focus --
onselect
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- some text was selected --
onchange
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element value was changed --
accept
%ContentTypes;
#IMPLIED -- list of MIME types for file upload --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
forbidden
Attribute definitions
type
text|password|checkbox|radio|submit|reset|file|hidden|image|button
[CI]
This attribute specifies the
type of
control
to create. The default value for this attribute is "text".
name
cdata
[CI]
This attribute assigns the
control name
value
cdata
[CA]
This attribute specifies the
initial value
of
the control. It is optional except when the
type
attribute has the value "radio" or "checkbox".
size
cdata
[CN]
This attribute tells the user agent the initial width of the control. The
width is given in
pixels
except when
type
attribute has the value "text" or "password". In that case, its
value refers to the (integer) number of characters.
maxlength
number
[CN]
When the
type
attribute has the value "text" or "password",
this attribute specifies the maximum number of characters the user may enter.
This number may exceed the specified
size
, in which case the
user agent should offer a scrolling mechanism. The default value for this
attribute is an unlimited number.
checked
[CI]
When the
type
attribute has the value "radio" or "checkbox",
this boolean attribute specifies that the button is on. User agents must ignore
this attribute for other control types.
src
uri
[CT]
When the
type
attribute has the value "image", this attribute
specifies the location of the image to be used to decorate the graphical submit
button.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
alt
alternate text
align
alignment
accept
legal content types for a
server
readonly
read-only input controls
disabled
disabled input controls
tabindex
tabbing navigation
accesskey
access
keys
usemap
client-side image maps
ismap
server-side image maps
onfocus
onblur
onselect
onchange
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
17.4.1
Control types
created with INPUT
The
control type
defined by the
INPUT
element depends on the value of the
type
attribute:
text
Creates a
single-line
text
input
control.
password
Like "text",
but the input text is
rendered in such a way as to hide the characters (e.g., a series of asterisks).
This control type is often used for sensitive input such as passwords. Note
that the
current value
is the text
entered
by the user, not the text rendered by the user agent.
Note.
Application designers should
note that this mechanism affords only light security protection. Although the
password is masked by user agents from casual observers, it is transmitted to
the server in clear text, and may be read by anyone with low-level access to
the network.
checkbox
Creates a
checkbox.
radio
Creates a
radio button.
submit
Creates a
submit button.
image
Creates a graphical
submit button.
The value
of the
src
attribute specifies the URI of the image that will decorate the
button. For accessibility reasons, authors should provide
alternate text
for the image via
the
alt
attribute.
When a pointing device is used to click on the
image,
the form is submitted and the click coordinates passed to the
server. The x value is measured in
pixels
from the left of the image, and the y value in
pixels
from the top of the image. The submitted
data includes
name
.x=
x-value
and
name
.y=
y-value
where
"name"
is the value of the
name
attribute, and
x-value
and
y-value
are the x and y coordinate values, respectively.
If the server takes different actions depending on the location clicked,
users of non-graphical browsers will be disadvantaged. For this reason, authors
should consider alternate approaches:
Use multiple submit buttons (each with its own image) in place of a single
graphical submit button. Authors may use style sheets to control the
positioning of these buttons.
Use a
client-side image
map
together with scripting.
reset
Creates a
reset button.
button
Creates a
push button.
User agents should use
the value of the
value
attribute as the button's
label.
hidden
Creates a
hidden control.
file
Creates a
file select
control. User agents may
use the value of the
value
attribute as the initial file name.
17.4.2
Examples of forms containing INPUT
controls
The following sample HTML fragment defines a simple form that allows the
user to enter a first name, last name, email address, and gender. When the
submit button is activated, the form will be sent to the program specified by
the
action
attribute.

First name:

Last name:

email:

Male

Female

This form might be rendered as follows:
In the section on the
LABEL
element, we discuss marking up labels such as
"First name".
In this next example, the JavaScript function name
verify
is
triggered when the "onclick" event occurs:

Please consult the section on
intrinsic
events
for more information about scripting and events.
The following example shows how the contents of a user-specified file may be
submitted with a form. The user is prompted for his or her name and a list of
file names whose contents should be submitted with the form. By specifying the
enctype
value of "multipart/form-data", each file's contents will be
packaged for submission in a separate section of a multipart document.

enctype="multipart/form-data"
method="post">

What is your name?
What files are you sending?

17.5
The
BUTTON
element
BUTTON
- -
%flow;
)* -(A|
%formctrl;
|FORM|FIELDSET)
-- push button -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
name
CDATA
#IMPLIED
value
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- sent to server when submitted --
type
(button|submit|reset) submit -- for use as form button --
disabled
(disabled) #IMPLIED -- unavailable in this context --
tabindex
NUMBER
#IMPLIED -- position in tabbing order --
accesskey
%Character;
#IMPLIED -- accessibility key character --
onfocus
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element got the focus --
onblur
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element lost the focus --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
Attribute definitions
name
cdata
[CI]
This attribute assigns the
control name.
value
cdata
[CS]
This attribute assigns the
initial value
to
the button.
type
submit|button|reset
[CI]
This attribute declares the type of the button. Possible values:
submit:
Creates a
submit button.
This is the default value.
reset:
Creates a
reset
button.
button:
Creates a
push button.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
disabled
disabled input controls
accesskey
access
keys
tabindex
tabbing navigation
onfocus
onblur
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
Buttons created with the
BUTTON
element function just like buttons
created with the
INPUT
element, but they offer richer rendering
possibilities: the
BUTTON
element may have content. For example, a
BUTTON
element that contains an image functions like and may resemble an
INPUT
element whose
type
is set to "image", but the
BUTTON
element type allows content.
Visual user agents may render
BUTTON
buttons with relief and an
up/down motion when clicked, while they may render
INPUT
buttons as "flat" images.
The following example expands a previous example, but creates
submit
and
reset
buttons with
BUTTON
instead of
INPUT
. The buttons contain images by way of the
IMG
element.

First name:

Last name:

email:

Male

Female


Send

Reset

Recall that authors must provide
alternate text
for an
IMG
element.
It is illegal
to
associate an image map with an
IMG
that appears as the contents of a
BUTTON
element.
ILLEGAL EXAMPLE:
The following is not legal HTML.



17.6
The
SELECT
OPTGROUP
, and
OPTION
elements
SELECT
- - (OPTGROUP|OPTION)+ -- option selector -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
name
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- field name --
size
NUMBER
#IMPLIED -- rows visible --
multiple
(multiple) #IMPLIED -- default is single selection --
disabled
(disabled) #IMPLIED -- unavailable in this context --
tabindex
NUMBER
#IMPLIED -- position in tabbing order --
onfocus
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element got the focus --
onblur
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element lost the focus --
onchange
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element value was changed --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
SELECT Attribute definitions
name
cdata
[CI]
This attribute assigns the
control name.
size
number
[CN]
If a
SELECT
element is presented as a scrolled list box, this attribute
specifies the number of rows in the list that should be visible at the same
time. Visual user agents are not required to present a
SELECT
element as a list box; they may use any other mechanism, such as a drop-down
menu.
multiple
[CI]
If set, this boolean attribute allows multiple selections. If not set, the
SELECT
element only permits single selections.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
disabled
disabled input controls
tabindex
tabbing navigation
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
The
SELECT
element creates a
. Each choice
offered by the menu is represented by an
OPTION
element. A
SELECT
element must contain at least one
OPTION
element.
The
OPTGROUP
element
allows authors to group choices
logically. This is particularly helpful when the user must choose from a long
list of options; groups of related choices are easier to grasp and remember
than a single long list of options. In HTML 4, all
OPTGROUP
elements must be specified directly within a
SELECT
element (i.e., groups may not be nested).
17.6.1
Pre-selected
options
Zero or more choices may be pre-selected for the user. User agents should
determine which choices are pre-selected as follows:
If no
OPTION
element has the
selected
attribute set, user agent
behavior for choosing which option is initially selected is undefined.
Note.
Since existing implementations handle this case differently, the
current specification differs from RFC 1866 (
[RFC1866]
section 8.1.3),
which states:
The initial state has the first option selected, unless a SELECTED
attribute is present on any of the elements.
Since user agent behavior differs, authors should ensure that each menu
includes a default pre-selected
OPTION
If one
OPTION
element has the
selected
attribute set, it should be
pre-selected.
If the
SELECT
element has the
multiple
attribute set and more than
one
OPTION
element has the
selected
attribute set, they should all
be pre-selected.
It is considered an error if more than one
OPTION
element has the
selected
attribute set and the
SELECT
element does not have the
multiple
attribute set. User agents may vary in how they handle this
error, but should not pre-select more than one choice.
OPTGROUP
- - (OPTION)+ -- option group -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
disabled
(disabled) #IMPLIED -- unavailable in this context --
label
%Text;
#REQUIRED -- for use in hierarchical menus --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
OPTGROUP Attribute definitions
label
text
[CS]
This attribute specifies the label for the option group.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
disabled
disabled input controls
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
Note.
Implementors are advised that future versions of
HTML may extend the grouping mechanism to allow for nested groups (i.e.,
OPTGROUP
elements may nest). This will allow authors to represent a
richer hierarchy of choices.
OPTION
- O (#PCDATA) -- selectable choice -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
selected
(selected) #IMPLIED
disabled
(disabled) #IMPLIED -- unavailable in this context --
label
%Text;
#IMPLIED -- for use in hierarchical menus --
value
CDATA
#IMPLIED -- defaults to element content --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
optional
OPTION Attribute definitions
selected
[CI]
When set, this boolean attribute specifies that this option is
pre-selected.
value
cdata
[CS]
This attribute specifies the
initial value
of
the control. If this attribute is not set, the
initial
value
is set to the contents of the
OPTION
element.
label
text
[CS]
This attribute allows authors to specify a shorter label for an option than
the content of the
OPTION
element. When specified, user agents should use the
value of this attribute rather than the content of the
OPTION
element as the option label.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
disabled
disabled input controls
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
When rendering a menu choice
, user agents should use
the value of the
label
attribute of the
OPTION
element as the choice. If this attribute is not specified, user agents should
use the contents of the
OPTION
element.
The
label
attribute of the
OPTGROUP
element specifies the label for a group of choices.
In this example, we create a menu that allows the user to select which of
seven software components to install. The first and second components are
pre-selected but may be deselected by the user. The remaining components are
not pre-selected. The
size
attribute states that the menu
should only have 4 rows even though the user may select from among 7 options.
The other options should be made available through a scrolling mechanism.
The
SELECT
is followed by submit and reset buttons.

Component_1
Component_2
Component_3
Component_4
Component_5
Component_6
Component_7

Only selected options will be
successful
(using the
control name
"component-select"). When
no options are selected, the control is not successful and neither the name nor
any values are submitted to the server when the form is submitted. Note that
where the
value
attribute is set, it determines the control's
initial value
, otherwise it's the element's
contents.
In this example we use the
OPTGROUP
element to group choices. The
following markup:

None

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PortMaster 2 with ComOS 3.5


IRX with ComOS 3.7R
IRX with ComOS 3.5R

represents the following grouping:
None
PortMaster 3
3.7.1
3.7
3.5
PortMaster 2
3.7
3.5
IRX
3.7R
3.5R
Visual user agents
may allow users to select
from option groups through a hierarchical menu or some other mechanism that
reflects the structure of choices.
A graphical user agent might render this as:
This image shows a
SELECT
element rendered as cascading menus. The top
label of the menu displays the currently selected value (PortMaster 3, 3.7.1).
The user has unfurled two cascading menus, but has not yet selected the new
value (PortMaster 2, 3.7). Note that each cascading menu displays the label of
an
OPTGROUP
or
OPTION
element.
17.7
The
TEXTAREA
element
TEXTAREA
- - (#PCDATA) -- multi-line text field -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
name
CDATA
#IMPLIED
rows
NUMBER
#REQUIRED
cols
NUMBER
#REQUIRED
disabled
(disabled) #IMPLIED -- unavailable in this context --
readonly
(readonly) #IMPLIED
tabindex
NUMBER
#IMPLIED -- position in tabbing order --
accesskey
%Character;
#IMPLIED -- accessibility key character --
onfocus
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element got the focus --
onblur
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element lost the focus --
onselect
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- some text was selected --
onchange
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element value was changed --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
Attribute definitions
name
cdata
[CI]
This attribute assigns the
control name.
rows
number
[CN]
This attribute specifies the number of visible text lines. Users should be
able to enter more lines than this, so user agents should provide some means to
scroll through the contents of the control when the contents extend beyond the
visible area.
cols
number
[CN]
This attribute specifies the visible width in average character widths.
Users should be able to enter longer lines than this, so user agents should
provide some means to scroll through the contents of the control when the
contents extend beyond the visible area. User agents may wrap visible text
lines to keep long lines visible without the need for scrolling.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
readonly
read-only input controls
disabled
disabled input controls
tabindex
tabbing navigation
onfocus
onblur
onselect
onchange
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
The
TEXTAREA
element creates a
multi-line
text input
control. User agents
should use the contents of this element as the
initial
value
of the control and should render this text initially.
This example creates a
TEXTAREA
control that is 20 rows by 80 columns
and contains two lines of text initially. The
TEXTAREA
is followed by submit and reset buttons.

<br>First line of initial text.<br>Second line of initial text.<br>

Setting the
readonly
attribute allows authors to display unmodifiable
text in a
TEXTAREA
. This differs from using standard marked-up text in
a document because the value of
TEXTAREA
is submitted with the
form.
17.8
The
ISINDEX
element
ISINDEX is
deprecated
This element creates a single-line
text input
control. Authors should use the
INPUT
element to create
text input
controls.
See the
Transitional DTD
for the
formal definition.
Attribute definitions
prompt
text
[CS]
Deprecated.
This
attribute specifies a prompt string for the input field.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
The
ISINDEX
element creates a single-line
text
input
control that allows any number of characters. User agents may use the
value of the
prompt
attribute as a title for the prompt.
DEPRECATED EXAMPLE:
The following
ISINDEX
declaration:

could be rewritten with
INPUT
as follows:

Enter your search phrase:

Semantics of
ISINDEX.
Currently, the semantics for
ISINDEX
are only well-defined when the base URI
for the enclosing document is an HTTP URI. In practice, the input string is
restricted to Latin-1 as there is no mechanism for the URI to specify a
different character set.
17.9
Labels
Some form controls automatically have labels associated with them (press
buttons) while most do not (text fields, checkboxes and radio buttons, and
menus).
For those controls that have implicit labels, user agents should use the
value of the
value
attribute as the label
string.
The
LABEL
element is used to specify labels for controls that do not
have implicit labels,
17.9.1
The
LABEL
element
LABEL
- - (
%inline;
)* -(LABEL) -- form field label text -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
for
IDREF
#IMPLIED -- matches field ID value --
accesskey
%Character;
#IMPLIED -- accessibility key character --
onfocus
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element got the focus --
onblur
%Script;
#IMPLIED -- the element lost the focus --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
Attribute definitions
for
idref
[CS]
This attribute explicitly associates the label being defined with another
control. When present, the value of this attribute must be the same as the
value of the
id
attribute of some other control in the same
document. When absent, the label being defined is associated with the element's
contents.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
accesskey
access
keys
onfocus
onblur
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
The
LABEL
element may be used to attach information to controls. Each
LABEL
element is associated with exactly one form control.
The
for
attribute associates
a label with another control
explicitly: the value of the
for
attribute must be the same as the value of the
id
attribute of the associated control element. More than one
LABEL
may be associated with the same control by creating multiple
references via the
for
attribute.
This example creates a table that is used to align two
text input
controls and their associated labels. Each label
is associated explicitly with one
text input

First Name
Last Name

This example extends a previous example form to include
LABEL
elements.

First name:


Last name:


email:


Male

Female

To associate a label
with another control
implicitly, the control element must be within the contents of the
LABEL
element. In this case, the
LABEL
may only contain one control element. The label
itself may be positioned before or after the associated control.
In this example, we implicitly associate two labels with two
text input
controls:

First Name




Last Name

Note that this technique cannot be used when a table is being used for
layout, with the label in one cell and its associated control in another
cell.
When a
LABEL
element
receives
focus
, it passes the focus on to its associated control. See the
section below on
access keys
for examples.
Labels may be rendered by user agents in a number of ways (e.g., visually,
read by speech synthesizers, etc.)
17.10
Adding structure to
forms:
the
FIELDSET
and
LEGEND
elements

FIELDSET
- - (#PCDATA,LEGEND,(
%flow;
)*) -- form control group -->
%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--

LEGEND
- - (
%inline;
)* -- fieldset legend -->

%attrs;
--
%coreattrs
%i18n
%events
--
accesskey
%Character;
#IMPLIED -- accessibility key character --
Start tag:
required
, End tag:
required
LEGEND Attribute definitions
align
top|bottom|left|right
[CI]
Deprecated.
This
attribute specifies the position of the legend with respect to the fieldset.
Possible values:
top:
The legend is at the top of the fieldset. This is the
default value.
bottom:
The legend is at the bottom of the fieldset.
left:
The legend is at the left side of the fieldset.
right:
The legend is at the right side of the fieldset.
Attributes defined elsewhere
id
class
document-wide identifiers
lang
language information
),
dir
text
direction
title
element
title
style
inline
style information
accesskey
access
keys
onclick
ondblclick
onmousedown
onmouseup
onmouseover
onmousemove
onmouseout
onkeypress
onkeydown
onkeyup
intrinsic events
The
FIELDSET
element
allows authors to group thematically
related controls and labels. Grouping controls makes it easier for users to
understand their purpose while simultaneously facilitating tabbing navigation
for visual user agents and speech navigation for speech-oriented user agents.
The proper use of this element makes documents more accessible.
The
LEGEND
element allows authors to assign a caption to a
FIELDSET
. The legend improves accessibility when the
FIELDSET
is rendered non-visually.
In this example, we create a form that one might fill out at the doctor's
office. It is divided into three sections: personal information, medical
history, and current medication. Each section contains controls for inputting
the appropriate information.

Personal Information

Last Name:
First Name:
Address:
...more personal information...

Medical History

type="checkbox"
value="Smallpox" tabindex="20"> Smallpox
type="checkbox"
value="Mumps" tabindex="21"> Mumps
type="checkbox"
value="Dizziness" tabindex="22"> Dizziness
type="checkbox"
value="Sneezing" tabindex="23"> Sneezing
...more medical history...

Current Medication

Are you currently taking any medication?
type="radio"
value="Yes" tabindex="35">Yes
type="radio"
value="No" tabindex="35">No

If you are currently taking medication, please indicate
it in the space below:
rows="20" cols="50"<br>tabindex="40"><br>

Note that in this example, we might improve the visual presentation of the
form by aligning elements within each
FIELDSET
(with style sheets), adding
color and font information (with style sheets), adding scripting (say, to only
open the "current medication" text area if the user indicates he or she is
currently on medication), etc.
17.11
Giving focus to an
element
In an HTML document, an element must receive
focus
from the user
in order to become active and perform its tasks. For example, users must
activate a link specified by the
element in order to follow the
specified link. Similarly, users must give a
TEXTAREA
focus in order to enter
text into it.
There are several ways to give focus to an element:
Designate the element with a pointing device.
Navigate from one element to the next with the keyboard. The document's
author may define a
tabbing order
that specifies the order in which
elements will receive focus if the user navigates the document with the
keyboard (see
tabbing navigation
). Once
selected, an element may be activated by some other key sequence.
Select an element through an
access key
(sometimes called "keyboard shortcut" or "keyboard accelerator").
17.11.1
Tabbing navigation
Attribute definitions
tabindex
number
[CN]
This attribute specifies the position of the current element in the tabbing
order for the current document. This value must be a number between 0 and
32767. User agents should ignore leading zeros.
The
tabbing order
defines the order in which elements will receive focus when navigated by the
user via the keyboard. The tabbing order may include elements nested within
other elements.
Elements that may receive focus should be navigated by user agents according
to the following rules:
Those elements that support the
tabindex
attribute and assign a
positive value to it are navigated first. Navigation proceeds from the element
with the lowest
tabindex
value to the element with the highest value. Values
need not be sequential nor must they begin with any particular value. Elements
that have identical
tabindex
values should be navigated in the order they
appear in the character stream.
Those elements that do not support the
tabindex
attribute or support it
and assign it a value of "0" are navigated next. These elements are navigated
in the order they appear in the character stream.
Elements that are
disabled
do not participate in
the tabbing order.
The following elements support the
tabindex
attribute:
AREA
BUTTON
INPUT
OBJECT
SELECT
and
TEXTAREA
In this example, the tabbing order will be the
BUTTON
the
INPUT
elements in order (note that "field1" and the button share the
same tabindex, but "field1" appears later in the character stream), and finally
the link created by the
element.
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">





...some text...

Go to the
W3C Web site.
...some more...
tabindex="1" onclick="get-database">
Get the current database.

...some more...

Tabbing keys.
The actual key sequence that causes
tabbing navigation or element activation depends on the configuration of the
user agent (e.g., the "tab" key is used for navigation and the "enter" key is
used to activate a selected element).
User agents may also define key sequences to navigate the tabbing order
in reverse. When the end (or beginning) of the tabbing order is reached, user
agents may circle back to the beginning (or end).
17.11.2
Access keys
Attribute definitions
accesskey
character
[CN]
This attribute assigns an access key to an element.
An access
key
is a single character from the document character set.
Note.
Authors should consider the input method of the expected reader
when specifying an accesskey.
Pressing an access key assigned to an element gives focus to the
element.
The action that occurs when an element receives focus
depends on the element. For example, when a user activates a link defined by
the
element, the user agent generally follows the link. When a user
activates a radio button, the user agent changes the value of the radio button.
When the user activates a text field, it allows input, etc.
The following elements support the
accesskey
attribute:
AREA
BUTTON
INPUT
LABEL
, and
LEGEND
, and
TEXTAREA
This example assigns the access key "U" to a label associated with an
INPUT
control. Typing the access key gives focus to the label which
in turn gives it to the associated control. The user may then enter text into
the
INPUT
area.

User Name

In this example, we assign an access key to a link defined by the
element. Typing this access key takes the user to another document, in this
case, a table of contents.

rel="contents"
href="http://someplace.com/specification/contents.html">
Table of Contents
The invocation of access keys depends on the underlying system. For
instance, on machines running MS Windows, one generally has to press the "alt"
key in addition to the access key. On Apple systems, one generally has to press
the "cmd" key in addition to the access key.
The rendering of access keys depends on the user agent. We recommend that
authors include the access key in label text or wherever the access key is to
apply. User agents should render the value of an access key in such a way as to
emphasize its role and to distinguish it from other characters (e.g., by
underlining it).
17.12
Disabled and
read-only controls
In contexts where user input is either undesirable or irrelevant, it is
important to be able to disable a control or render it read-only. For example,
one may want to disable a form's submit button until the user has entered some
required data. Similarly, an author may want to include a piece of read-only
text that must be submitted as a value along with the form. The following
sections describe disabled and read-only controls.
17.12.1
Disabled
controls
Attribute definitions
disabled
[CI]
When set for a form control, this boolean attribute disables the control
for user input.
When set, the
disabled
attribute has the following effects on an
element:
Disabled controls do not receive
focus
Disabled controls are skipped in
tabbing
Disabled controls cannot be
successful
The following elements support the
disabled
attribute:
BUTTON
INPUT
OPTGROUP
OPTION
SELECT
and
TEXTAREA
This attribute is inherited but local declarations override the inherited
value.
How disabled elements are rendered depends on the user agent. For example,
some user agents "gray out" disabled menu items, button labels, etc.
In this example, the
INPUT
element is disabled. Therefore, it cannot
receive user input nor will its value be submitted with the form.

Note.
The only way to modify dynamically the value of
the
disabled
attribute is through a
script.
17.12.2
Read-only
controls
Attribute definitions
readonly
[CI]
When set for a form control, this boolean attribute prohibits changes to
the control.
The
readonly
attribute specifies whether the control may be modified by
the user.
When set, the
readonly
attribute has the following effects on an
element:
Read-only elements receive
focus
but cannot be
modified by the user.
Read-only elements are included in
tabbing
Read-only elements may be
successful
The following elements support the
readonly
attribute:
INPUT
and
TEXTAREA
How read-only elements are rendered depends on the user agent.
Note.
The only way to modify dynamically the value of
the
readonly
attribute is through a
script.
17.13
Form submission
The following sections explain how user agents submit form data to form
processing agents.
17.13.1
Form submission
method
The
method
attribute of the
FORM
element specifies the HTTP method
used to send the form to the processing agent. This attribute may take two
values:
get:
With the HTTP "get" method, the
form data set
is appended to the URI specified by the
action
attribute (with a question-mark ("?") as separator) and this new URI is sent to
the processing agent.
post:
With the HTTP "post" method, the
form data set
is included in the body of the form and sent
to the processing agent.
The "get" method should be used when the form is idempotent (i.e., causes no
side-effects). Many database searches have no visible side-effects and make
ideal applications for the "get" method.
If the service associated with the processing of a form causes side effects
(for example, if the form modifies a database or subscription to a service),
the "post" method should be used.
Note.
The "get" method restricts
form data set
values to ASCII characters. Only the
"post" method (with
enctype
="multipart/form-data") is specified to cover
the entire
[ISO10646]
character set.
17.13.2
Successful controls
successful control
is "valid" for submission. Every successful
control has its
control name
paired with its
current value
as part of the submitted
form data set
. A successful control must be defined within
FORM
element and must have a
control
name.
However:
Controls
that are
disabled
cannot be successful.
If a form contains more than one
submit button
, only
the activated submit button is successful.
All "on"
checkboxes
may be successful.
For
radio buttons
that share the same value of the
name
attribute, only the "on" radio button may be successful.
For
menus
, the
control name
is provided by a
SELECT
element and values are provided by
OPTION
elements. Only selected options may be successful. When no options are
selected, the control is not successful and neither the name nor any values are
submitted to the server when the form is submitted.
The
current value
of a
file select
is a list of one or more file
names. Upon submission of the form, the
contents
of each file are
submitted with the rest of the form data. The file contents are packaged
according to the form's
content type
The current value of an object control is determined by the object's
implementation.
If a control doesn't have a
current value
when
the form is submitted, user agents are not required to treat it as a successful
control.
Furthermore, user agents should not consider the following controls
successful:
Reset buttons.
OBJECT
elements
whose
declare
attribute has been set.
Hidden controls
and
controls that are not rendered because of
style sheet
settings may still be successful. For example:

name="invisible-password"
value="mypassword">

will still cause a value to be paired with the name "invisible-password" and
submitted with the form.
17.13.3
Processing form
data
When the user submits a form (e.g., by activating a
submit button
), the user agent processes it as
follows.
Step one: Identify the
successful
controls
Step two: Build a
form data set
form data set
is a sequence of
control-name
current-value
pairs constructed
from
successful controls
Step three: Encode the form data
set
The form data set is then encoded according to the
content type
specified by the
enctype
attribute of the
FORM
element.
Step four: Submit the encoded form data set
Finally, the encoded data is sent to the processing agent designated by the
action
attribute using the protocol specified by the
method
attribute.
This specification does not specify all valid submission methods or
content types
that may be used with forms. However,
HTML 4 user agents must support the established conventions in the following
cases:
If the
method
is "get" and the
action
is an HTTP URI, the user agent
takes the value of
action
, appends a
`?'
to it, then appends the
form data set
, encoded using the
"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
content
type
. The user agent then traverses the link to this URI. In this scenario,
form data are restricted to ASCII codes.
If the
method
is "post" and the
action
is an HTTP URI, the user agent
conducts an HTTP "post" transaction using the value of the
action
attribute and a message created according to the
content type
specified by the
enctype
attribute.
For any other value of
action
or
method
, behavior is unspecified.
User agents should render the response from the HTTP "get" and "post"
transactions.
17.13.4
Form content types
The
enctype
attribute of the
FORM
element specifies the
content type
used to encode the
form data set
for submission to the server. User agents
must support the content types listed below. Behavior for other content types
is unspecified.
Please also consult the section on
escaping ampersands in URI
attribute values
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
This is the default content type. Forms submitted with this content type
must be encoded as follows:
Control names and values are escaped. Space characters are replaced by
`+'
, and then reserved characters are escaped as described in
[RFC1738]
, section 2.2: Non-alphanumeric characters are replaced by
`%HH'
, a percent sign and two hexadecimal digits representing the ASCII
code of the character. Line breaks are represented as "CR LF" pairs (i.e.,
`%0D%0A'
).
The control names/values are listed in the order they appear in the
document. The name is separated from the value by
`='
and
name/value pairs are separated from each other by
`&'
multipart/form-data
Note.
Please consult
[RFC2388]
for additional
information about file uploads, including backwards compatibility issues, the
relationship between "multipart/form-data" and other content types, performance
issues, etc.
Please consult the appendix for information about
security issues for forms
The content type "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" is inefficient for
sending large quantities of binary data or text containing non-ASCII
characters. The content type "multipart/form-data" should be used for
submitting forms that contain files, non-ASCII data, and binary data.
The content "multipart/form-data" follows the rules of all multipart MIME
data streams as outlined in
[RFC2045]
. The definition
of "multipart/form-data" is available at the
[IANA]
registry.
A "multipart/form-data" message contains a series of parts, each
representing a
successful control
. The parts
are sent to the processing agent in the same order the corresponding controls
appear in the document stream. Part boundaries should not occur in any of the
data; how this is done lies outside the scope of this specification.
As with all multipart MIME types, each part has an optional "Content-Type"
header that defaults to "text/plain". User agents should supply the
"Content-Type" header, accompanied by a "charset" parameter.
Each part is expected to contain:
a "Content-Disposition" header whose value is "form-data".
a name attribute specifying the
control name
of
the corresponding control. Control names originally encoded in non-ASCII
character sets
may be encoded using the method
outlined in
[RFC2045]
Thus, for example, for a control named "mycontrol", the corresponding part
would be specified:
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="mycontrol"
As with all MIME transmissions, "CR LF" (i.e.,
`%0D%0A'
) is
used to separate lines of data.
Each part may be encoded and the "Content-Transfer-Encoding" header supplied
if the value of that part does not conform to the default (7BIT) encoding (see
[RFC2045]
, section 6)
If the contents of a file are submitted with a form, the file input should
be identified by the appropriate
content type
(e.g., "application/octet-stream"). If multiple files are to
be returned as the result of a single form entry, they should be returned as
"multipart/mixed" embedded within the "multipart/form-data".
The user agent should attempt to supply a file name for each submitted file.
The file name may be specified with the "filename" parameter of the
'Content-Disposition: form-data' header, or, in the case of multiple files, in
a 'Content-Disposition: file' header of the subpart. If the file name of the
client's operating system is not in US-ASCII, the file name might be
approximated or encoded using the method of
[RFC2045]
. This is
convenient for those cases where, for example, the uploaded files might contain
references to each other (e.g., a TeX file and its ".sty" auxiliary style
description).
The following example illustrates "multipart/form-data" encoding. Suppose we
have the following form:

enctype="multipart/form-data"
method="post">

What is your name?

What files are you sending?

If the user enters "Larry" in the text input, and selects the text file
"file1.txt", the user agent might send back the following data:
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=AaB03x

--AaB03x
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="submit-name"

Larry
--AaB03x
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="files"; filename="file1.txt"
Content-Type: text/plain

... contents of file1.txt ...
--AaB03x--
If the user selected a second (image) file "file2.gif", the user agent might
construct the parts as follows:
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=AaB03x

--AaB03x
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="submit-name"

Larry
--AaB03x
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="files"
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=BbC04y

--BbC04y
Content-Disposition: file; filename="file1.txt"
Content-Type: text/plain

... contents of file1.txt ...
--BbC04y
Content-Disposition: file; filename="file2.gif"
Content-Type: image/gif
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary

...contents of file2.gif...
--BbC04y--
--AaB03x--
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