HTML form is a section of a document which contains controls such as text fields, password fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, submit button, menus etc. An HTML form facilitates the user to enter data that is to be sent to the server for processing such as name, email address, password, phone number, etc. .
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h2>HTML Forms</h2>
<form action="/action_page.php">
<label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname" value="John"><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname" value="Doe"><br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
<p>If you click the "Submit" button, the form-data will be sent to a page called "/action_page.php".</p>
</body>
</html>| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| <input type=”text”> | Displays a single-line text input field |
| <input type=”radio”> | Displays a radio button (for selecting one of many choices) |
| <input type=”checkbox”> | Displays a checkbox (for selecting zero or more of many choices) |
| <input type=”submit”> | Displays a submit button (for submitting the form) |
| <input type=”button”> | Displays a clickable button |
The Action Attribute
The action attribute defines the action to be performed when the form is submitted.
Usually, the form data is sent to a file on the server when the user clicks on the submit button.
In the example below, the form data is sent to a file called “action_page.php”. This file contains a server-side script that handles the form data:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h2>HTML Forms</h2>
<form action="/action_page.php">
<label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname" value="John"><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname" value="Doe"><br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
<p>If you click the "Submit" button, the form-data will be sent to a page called "/action_page.php".</p>
</body>
</html>The Target Attribute
The target attribute specifies where to display the response that is received after submitting the form.
The target attribute can have one of the following values:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| _blank | The response is displayed in a new window or tab |
| _self | The response is displayed in the current window |
| _parent | The response is displayed in the parent frame |
| _top | The response is displayed in the full body of the window |
| framename | The response is displayed in a named iframe |
The HTML <form> Elements
The HTML <form> element can contain one or more of the following form elements:
<input><label><select><textarea><button><fieldset><legend><datalist><output><option><optgroup>
HTML Input Types
Here are the different input types you can use in HTML:
<input type="button"><input type="checkbox"><input type="color"><input type="date"><input type="datetime-local"><input type="email"><input type="file"><input type="hidden"><input type="image"><input type="month"><input type="number"><input type="password"><input type="radio"><input type="range"><input type="reset"><input type="search"><input type="submit"><input type="tel"><input type="text"><input type="time"><input type="url"><input type="week">
The readonly Attribute
The input readonly attribute specifies that an input field is read-only.
A read-only input field cannot be modified (however, a user can tab to it, highlight it, and copy the text from it).
The value of a read-only input field will be sent when submitting the form!
<form>
<label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname" value="Harry" readonly><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname" value="Doe">
</form>The disabled Attribute
The input disabled attribute specifies that an input field should be disabled.
A disabled input field is unusable and un-clickable.
The value of a disabled input field will not be sent when submitting the form!
<form>
<label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname" value="Harry" disabled><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname" value="Doe">
</form>