Re: Submit/Reset Button names on Forms

Dave_Raggett <dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
From: Dave_Raggett <dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
Message-id: <9312021042.AA17520@manuel.hpl.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Submit/Reset Button names on Forms
To: Axel.Belinfante@cs.utwente.nl
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 10:42:46 GMT
Cc: www-talk@nxoc01.cern.ch
Mailer: Elm [revision: 66.36.1.1]

>> Note that using an SGML attribute for the label text prevents us
>> from using character entities such as &Eacute; - we are therefore
>> restricted to Latin-1 characters for labels and initial values for
>> text input fields (this doesn't apply to TEXTAREA). I hope this isn't
>> a problem.

> It is a limitation, it would be nice if it could be avoided.

Here are two ways around this (involving changes to current implementations)

    a)  to define a new element, say <BUTTON> ... </BUTTON>
        for which the content defines the label, and attributes that
        define its action, e.g. <BUTTON ACTION=SUBMIT NAME="Update">...
        (we could then phase out use of <INPUT> for submit and cancel)

    b)  if other input fields can be made to submit you can place the
        caption in the body of the form, e.g.

            Update <INPUT TYPE=IMAGE NAME="Update" SRC="http://...">

         this approach allows us to use iconic buttons, but won't
         look so good on VT-100 terminals :(

I am also working on ways to make forms appear dynamic, in that making
one choice greys out others. The best bet so far looks like allowing
servers to send updates to form contents rather than replacing the whole
document. Should we send the full SGML markup (slow) for the form rather than
just the field contents (fast)? This would avoid the whole window flashing
when only localised changes are needed. To allow servers to set an error
message it looks like we would need a new element

    e.g. <MESSAGE> ...</MESSAGE>

so that the browser knows where to display the message.

Dave Raggett