How can I make a form in NetObjects Fusion? There are two ways to
create forms in NetObjects Fusion 4.0. You can either use CGI (or an easy, free forms-handling system) or JavaScript with form elements placed on the page, or you can choose to use the Forms-Handler component which is provided with NetObjects Fusion. Form
elements by themselves will not do anything until you have implemented a script which will perform an operation on the data entered. NetObjects Fusion provides one script in the form of a component, the Forms-Handler.
The Forms-Handler publishes a Perl5 CGI script to Windows, UNIX or Macintosh servers. This script is designed to write the information submitted through the form to a text file located in the specified directory on your
server. The component may also be configured to e-mail the data in the form elements. This latter option does not require the CGI script, but also does not work correctly for most versions of IE and AOL.
If you do not wish to use the Form-Handler component, you may also use any CGI script or JavaScript with form elements placed on the page. There are many scripts available for free download on the Web. One such location
is http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts For more information about configuring form elements and forms in NetObjects Fusion 4.0 see our User Guide, Chapter 23, Designing and
Implementing Forms. Also visit our Workbench site at:
http://www.netobjects.com/workbench/html/tips.html
Is there a form template I can use? NetObjects Fusion 4.0 includes four types of form templates that you can use as a starting point for your
site: Feedback Form, , Order Form, Product Support Form or Purchase Requisition Form.. These templates are pre-designed form pages containing generic or place holder content for typical forms. To insert one of these
forms in your site, from Site view, select the File menu and choose Import Template. This gives you the option of selecting from our Page Templates. Select one of these templates and the form is imported as a child page
of the currently selected page in Site view. NOTE: The form templates, while they contain submit buttons, are not configured with any CGI scripts. You must supply your own CGI script for the form, or replace the generic
submit button with the Forms-Handler component and follow the instructions for configuring the form settings as outlined in our User Guide, Chapter 23, Designing and Implementing Forms..
How can I make all my form elements line up?
There are two ways to ensure that your form elements line up: First, if your elements are placed independently on the page, you should make sure that all elements which are to be in the same row are aligned at the
top. Simply select all the objects in that row by dragging the mouse marquee around them or by shift-clicking on each element. The Align properties appear in the properties sheet. Select the Top icon,. or choose the
Align Elements option under the Object menu. This allows you to align selected form elements by the top, ensuring that they can be in the same table row in the HTML. Once the elements are aligned at the top, choose the
Rows option for your HTML tables. This ensures that all elements which are aligned to be in the same table row, are actually generated in the same table row. You can also create your form in a table or within a text
box. With your form elements in a table, you can ensure that all elements are in positions which will not change with other changing elements. With a text box, all your form elements are placed in-line just as in a text
editor. After placing your form elements in a table cell or text box, select multiple elements. The Align tab in the Forms Properties palette offers several options for alignment in relation to the text. For more
information about aligning objects and configuring table output see our User Guide, Chapter 6, Page View Basics, and Chapter 7, Controlling Published Output. How can I make my form elements tab in order in the browser? Form elements tab in the order in which
they appear in the HTML. This means that for elements to tab across horizontally in order, the elements must be properly aligned. See How can I make all my form elements line up? in this section. Why aren't my form elements appearing in the browser when I preview or
publish? If your form elements are not appearing in the browser, or are not appearing correctly, you are probably publishing with the CSS and
Layers option selected for this page, or the CSS and Layers option is selected in your Publish settings and your page is currently set to use whatever is set in Publish. Currently, most 4.0x browsers do not display
forms correctly when a page is published using CSS and Layers code. If you have a forms page, make sure that the HTML output method for your forms page is set to Regular or Nested Tables. For more information about
selecting HTML output methods, see our User Guide, Chapter 7, page 7-5. What should I check if my form isn't working? If you are using your own CGI or JavaScript, first check to make sure that you have configured the script in accordance with that script's documentation or the
author's instructions. Additionally refer to our User Guide, Chapter 23 to ensure that all the configuration has been done in the correct location in NetObjects Fusion. If the CGI script is to run on a server and it
still does not seem to be functioning, contact your server administrator or service provider.If you are using the Forms-Handler component and have configured all the parameters for the component correctly as outlined
in Chapter 23, here are the most common errors which might happen: Nearly all problems in getting the Forms-Handler to work fall into the following categories: CGI functionality on web server and Web server directory
permissions. CGI functionality on web server Regardless of whether you
publish the Perl5 script files (Publish to UNIX) or the binary executables (Publish to Windows), two server requirements must be met regarding CGI in order for the Forms-Handler component to function correctly.1. The
server must be able to execute CGI programs (binary executables or text scripts) from any user-defined CGI-bin directory. In particular, the server must be able to directly execute the CGI scripts (programs) placed in
the assets/CGI-bin directory. 2. The server must be able to execute CGI programs (scripts) that have an extension of 'CGI'. The default PERL extension is PL. Some servers expect an extension of PL5 for Perl5 scripts
and an extension of PL or PL4 for Perl4 scripts. If you aren't sure how your server is configured for CGI functionality, contact your server administrator or service provider. Web server directory permissions and virtual directory settings Web server settings required by the
Forms-Handler component are no different from other standard scripts with the following exceptions:1. CGI scripts must execute in user-defined CGI-bin directories without any kind of CGI-wrap or proprietary CGI
schemes. 2. Server recognizes 'CGI' as an extension of CGI programs (scripts). If you aren't sure how the permissions have been configured for your directories, contact your server administrator or service provider.
For more detailed information, visit the Workbench site at:
http://www.netobjects.com/workbench/html/faqs.html
Easy form handling systems If you aren't a programmer and wouldn't know CGI from a hole in the ground, you should try a forms-handling
service, such as Response-o-Matic.Response-o-Matic is a free system that does all the hard work for you. You create a Form in NetObjects Fusion and simply include some special hidden fields
(detailed on the Response-o-matic web site).Response-o-matic does all the hard work--they process the forms, then email you the results, either in an easy-to-read format, or in a format you can
important directly into your database program. We use Response-o-matic at eFuse for our forms. To see an example of one in action, click here.This is, without a doubt, the fastest, easiest way to create even the
most complex forms on your site. It may take you a few minutes to read the instructions, but you don't have to be a programmer or a computer expert. If we can do it, you can do it!
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