more automated forms
Alastair Aitken CLMS <ZPALASTAIR@CLUSTER.NORTH-LONDON.AC.UK>
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Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 18:12:49 +0200
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From: Alastair Aitken CLMS <ZPALASTAIR@CLUSTER.NORTH-LONDON.AC.UK>
To: Multiple recipients of list <www-talk@www0.cern.ch>
Subject: more automated forms
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Sorry to be a bore but this is important and a lot simpler than some people
seem to think.
Adding a lookup attribute to fields requires, in my earlier example, simply
a word "lookup" and a numeric value n. The "lookup" tells the browser that
there is a reference file against which to verify any input. The numeric
value tells the browser to search the file attached to the field when n
characters have been entered in the input field. If a hit is scored then
the resulting record is pulled out of the file and put into the input
field.
I think that's about ten or twelve lines of code depending upon the
structure of the form the browser recieves, e.g: how the reference file or
files are attached to the form. If they are refenced in the <input ...>
then they can be delivered to the browser as part of the package. All the
browser has to do is open the relevant file when focus hits the field and
do a dynamic read when 4 or 5 characters have been entered, if there isn't
a hit then the field could be blanked and the user told why - no hit.
Seems pretty simple for the browser, simple for the server but
gives people like me a powerful tool with which to buuild "clever" forms.
Do I need to write a bit of pseudocode or code for this for anyone?
Al. <-:< (zpalastair@grid.unl.ac.uk)