cfform

Description

Builds a form with CFML custom control tags; these provide more functionality than standard HTML form input elements. You can include the resulting form on the client page as HTML or Flash content, and generate the form using XML and XSLT.

Category

Forms tags

Syntax

<cfform 
   name = "name"
   action = "form_action"
   method = "POST" or "GET"
   format = "HTML" or "Flash" or "XML"
   skin = "Flash or XSL skin"
   style = "style specification"
   preserveData = "yes" or "no"
   onSubmit = "javascript" 
   scriptSrc = "path"
   codeBase = "URL"
   archive = "URL"
The following attributes are supported in Flash and XML only
width = "pixels or percent"
height = "pixels or percent"
The following attributes are supported in Flash only
onError = "ActionScript code"
wMode = "window" or "transparent" or "opaque"
accessible = "yes" or "no"
preloader = "yes" or "no"
timeout = "seconds"
The following attributes are supported in HTML and XML only
class = "form class"
enctype = "Internet media type"
id = "HTML id"
onload = "load event script"
onreset = "reset event script"
target = "target window or frame">
...
</cfform>

See also

cfapplet, cfcalendar, cfformgroup, cfformitem, cfgrid, cfinput, cfselect, cfslider, cftextarea, cftree; Requesting and Presenting Information in ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide

History

ColdFusion MX 7:

• Added ability to set the default value of the scriptSrc attribute in the ColdFusion MX Administrator.
• Deprecated the passthrough attribute. The tag now supports all HTML form tag attributes directly.
• Added the method attribute and support for the GET method.
• Added support for Flash and XML output, including the format, height, width, preloader, timeout, wMode, accessible, and skin attributes.
• Added cfformgroup, cfformitem, and cftextarea child tags.

ColdFusion MX:

• Deprecated the enableCAB attribute. It might not work, and might cause an error, in later releases.
• Changed the name and action attributes to optional.
• Changed integer validation to require an integer value. In previous releases it would convert a floating point value to an integer.

Attributes

The following table lists attributes that ColdFusion uses directly. For HTML format forms, this tag also supports the standard HTML form tag attributes that are not on this list, and passes them directly to the browser. ColdFusion also includes all supported HTML attributes in the XML.

Note: Attributes that are not marked as supported in XML are not handled by the skins provided with ColdFusion MX. They are, however, included in the generated XML as html namespace attributes to the form tag.

Usage

This tag requires an end tag.

You can use the following ColdFusion form control tags within the cfform tag:

• cfapplet Used in HTML and XML format only; embeds a registered Java applet.
• cfformgroup Used in Flash and XML format only; groups and arranges child controls.
• cfformitem Used in Flash and XML format only; adds horizontal rules, vertical rules, and text to the form.
• cfgrid Creates a grid control to display tabular data.
• cfinput Creates and an input element.
• cfselect Creates a drop-down list box.
• cfslider Used in HTML and XML format only; creates a slider control.
• cftextarea Creates a multi-line text input box.
• cftree Creates a tree control.

In HTML format, all tags, and in Flash format the cftree and cfgrid tags, require JavaScript support on the browser. The cfapplet tag and applet format cfgrid, cfslider, and cftree tags require the client to download a Java applet.

If you specify Flash format in the cfform tag, ColdFusion ignores any HTML in the form body. You must use ColdFusion tags, such as cfinput, for all form controls. You can include individual Flash format cfgrid and cftree controls in an HTML format cfform tag.

In Flash format, if your forms do not request sensitive data (such as credit card numbers), consider setting the timeout attribute. This can prevent users from getting "The form data has expired, Please reload this page in your browser" errors if they use the browser back button to return to the form. For more information, see Caching data in Flash forms in Caching data in Flash formsin ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide.

Note: In Flash format, if you do not specify height and width attributes, Flash reserves browser space equal to the area of the browser window. If any other output follows the form, users must scroll to see it. Therefore, if you follow a Flash form with additional output, specify the height and width values.

If attribute value text must include quotation marks, escape them by doubling them.

Using the onError attribute in Flash forms

If you use onSubmit or onBlur validation, the onError attribute lets you specify ActionScript code to execute if the user tries to submit a Flash form with validation errors, as follows:

• If you specify one or more valid Flash expressions, Flash executes the expressions.
• If you omit the attribute, Flash displays a dialog box with all applicable error messages.
• If you specify onError="" (an empty string) Flash does not display any message, but does not submit the form.

Your ActionScript can use the errors variable to determine the fields and errors. The errors object has the following fields:

The following example shows cfform tags with an onError attribute that selects the tab in an accordion or tabnavigator that contains a lastName field with an invalid entry:

<cfform name="form1" format="flash" width="800" height="500" 
      onError="if (errors['lastName'] != undefined
         ){tabA.selectedIndex=0; _root.lastName.setFocus();}">

<Incorporating HTML form tags and attributes

In HTML format, the cfform tag lets you incorporate the following standard HTML elements. They are not available in Flash format:

• Standard HTML form tag attributes and values. The attributes and values are included in the form tag that cfform outputs in the page. For example, you can use form tag attributes like target or onMouseOver with cfform.
• HTML tags that can ordinarily be put within the HTML form tag. For example, you can use the HTML input tag to create a submit button in a cfform, without the other features of cfinput:

  <cfform>
  	<input type = "Submit" value = " update... ">
  </cfform>
  

Examples

<h3>cfform Example</h3>
<!--- If Form.oncethrough exists, the form has been submitted. --->
<cfif IsDefined("Form.oncethrough")>
   <cfif IsDefined("Form.testVal1")>
      <h3>Results of Radio Button Test</h3>
      <cfif Form.testVal1>Your radio button answer was yes
      <cfelse>Your radio button answer was no
      </cfif>
   </cfif>
   <h3>Results of Checkbox Test</h3>
   <cfif IsDefined("Form.chkTest2")>
      Your checkbox answer was yes
   <cfelse>
      Your checkbox answer was no
   </cfif>
   <cfif IsDefined("Form.textSample") AND Form.textSample is not "">
      <h3>Results of Credit Card Input</h3>
      Your credit card number, <cfoutput>#Form.textSample#</cfoutput>, 
      was valid under the MOD 10 algorithm.
   </cfif>
   <cfif IsDefined("Form.sampleSlider")>
      <cfoutput>
         <h3>You gave this page a rating of #Form.sampleSlider#</h3>
      </cfoutput>
   </cfif>
   <hr noshade="True">
</cfif>

<!--- Begin by calling the cfform tag. --->
<cfform name="cfformexample">
   <h4>This example displays radio button input type for cfinput.</h4>
   Yes <cfinput type = "Radio" name = "TestVal1" value = "Yes" checked>
   No <cfinput type = "Radio" name = "TestVal1" value = "No">
   <h4>This example displays checkbox input type for cfinput.</h4>
   <cfinput type = "Checkbox" name = "ChkTest2" value = "Yes">
   <h4>This shows client-side validation for cfinput text boxes.</h4>
   (<i>This item is optional</i>)<br>
   Please enter a credit card number:
   <cfinput type = "Text" name = "TextSample" 
      message = "Please enter a Credit Card Number" 
      validate = "creditcard" required = "No">
   <h4>This example shows the use of the cfslider tag.</h4>
   Rate your approval of this example from 1 to 10 by sliding control.<br>
   1 <cfslider name = "sampleSlider" width="100"
         label = "Page Value: " range = "1,10"
         message = "Please enter a value from 1 to 10"> 10
   <p><cfinput type = "submit" name = "submit" value = "show me the result">
   <cfinput type = "hidden" name = "oncethrough" value = "Yes"></p>
</cfform>

A Simple XML form

The following example shows a simple XML-format form. It uses the default.xsl transform that is supplied with ColdFusion to generate the HTML output for display:

<cfform name="testXForm" format="XML" skin="basic">
  <!--- Use cfformgroup to put the first and last names on a single line. --->
  <cfformgroup type="horizontal">
     <cfinput type="text" name="firstname" label="First Name:" value="Robert">
     <cfinput type="text" name="lastname" label="Last Name:" value="Smith">
  </cfformgroup>
  <cfinput type="password" name="password" label="Password:" value="">
  <cfinput type="hidden" name="hidden" label="hidden:" value="">
  <cfselect name="state" style="width:200" label="State">
    <option>California</option>
    <option selected>Utah</option>
    <option>Iowa</option>
    <option selected>New York</option>
   </cfselect>
   <cftextarea name="description" label="Description:" rows="5" cols="40">this is sample text.</cftextarea>
</cfform>

View comments in LiveDocs