os_form

A fill-in form to collect user input.

An os_form is a collection of elements that include input elements, selection elements, and block-structuring elements used for collecting information from users. Following is a list of input and selection elements that can be included on the form.

• os_input_text -A text entry field for a single line of text.
• os_input_password -An entry field for a single line of text. Characters typed into a password field are not encrypted but are echoed on the monitor as asterisks (*) when they are typed.
• os_text_area -A text entry field for multiple lines of text.
• os_input_radio -A selection element that declares the possible responses for a selection field when you want to restrict selection to a single choice.
• os_radio_group -An object that defines a group of radio buttons.
• os_input_checkbox -A selection element that declares the possible responses for a selection field when you want to permit selection of multiple choices.
• os_checkbox_group -An object that defines a group of checkboxes.
• os_input_hidden -A text field where no field is seen on the form, but the field content is sent when the form is submitted. This field is useful for transmitting internal information, and is typically used for maintaining state between separate CGI program invocations.
• os_select -A pulldown list of choices. The response is restricted to a single choice by default.
• os_input_reset -Resets the form fields to their initial values.
• os_input_submit -Transmits the contents of the form.

Each input element within an os_form is identified by a name. Input element names are not required to be unique. When an os_form is submitted, the name of each input element is paired with the current value of the input element (its content) and transmitted. An input element with a null value (an empty os_input_text or an unselected os_input_checkbox ) may not be transmitted by the browser.

An os_form must specify where to send the element data in the form of an action URL. When the form is submitted, information entered on a form is transmitted according to the specified action.

• Via e-mail-Information on forms transmitted in this manner is sent to a specific Internet address in an e-mail message. The URL specifies a destination like mailto:webtest@recursionsw.com.
• Via HTTP protocol- Information on forms transmitted in this manner is sent to a server, where it is passed to a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program for processing. The URL specifies a destination like http://www.recursionsw.com/cgi-bin/process_form.

An os_form that specifies an HTTP URL can also specify the HTTP method to send the form data to the server. The submit method can either be post or get . By default, os_form data is sent using the post method. This is also the recommended method.

The action and submit methods are specified in the constructor and can be modified through the action() and method() member functions.

An os_form that specifies an HTTP action URL and the post submit method can specify the MIME type used to encode the form data through the encode() member function. Browsers default to the MIME type application/x-www-form-urlencoded , which at present is the only generally supported MIME type.

Elements are inserted into an os_form through either the add() member function or operator<< .

Note that os_form objects cannot be nested.

#include <ospace/web/form.h>
class os_form : public os_element_group

enum os_form::submit_method
  {
  post,  // Submits form data using the HTTP post method.
  get    // Submits form data using the HTTP get method.
  };
	

Copyright©1994-2026 Recursion Software LLC
All Rights Reserved