Creating radio buttons and check boxes in Java

Generator Denso QR Bar Code in Java Creating radio buttons and check boxes

Radio buttons and check boxes make filling in a form easy for viewers of your site Rather than make users type a word, such as yes or no, you can provide radio buttons and check boxes so that users can simply click boxes or buttons What s the difference between radio buttons and check boxes Radio buttons enable users to select only one option from a group Thus, radio buttons are good for either/or options or situations in which you want users to make only one selection Check boxes, on the other hand, enable users to make multiple choices, so they re good for choose-all-that-apply situations or for situations that require approval, such as Check this box if

To create radio buttons on a form, follow these steps: 1 Click to place your cursor inside the boundary of the <form> tag where you want to add a radio button

If you haven t yet inserted the <form> tag, follow the steps in the section Creating HTML Forms, earlier in this chapter 2 Click the Radio Button icon on the Forms Insert bar You can also choose Insert Form Radio Button Either way, a radio button appears inside the form s red boundary line If you have accessibility options turned on in Preferences, the Input Tag Accessibility Attributes dialog box opens (See the sidebar Making forms accessible, to find out more about these options) 3 Repeat Step 2 until you have the number of radio buttons you want 4 Select one of the radio buttons on the form to reveal the radio button s properties in the Property inspector, as shown in Figure 12-2

5 In the Radio Button text box on the far left of the Property inspector, type a name All radio buttons in a group should have the same name so that the browser associates them with one another and prevents users from selecting more than one If you want users to be able to choose more than one item from a list, use check boxes, as described in the following section 6 In the Checked Value text box, type a name Each radio button in a group should have a different Checked Value name so that it can be distinguished from the others Naming radio buttons for the thing they represent is often a good practice; for example, yes when the choice is yes and no when it s no If you re asking users about their favorite ice cream flavors, you might use as values the flavor each button represents This name is usually included in the data you get back when the form is processed and returned to you (it can be returned in an e-mail message or sent directly to a database) How the data is returned depends on the CGI script or other programming used to process the form If you re looking at the data later, interpreting it is easier if the name is something that makes sense to you 7 For the Initial State option, select Checked or Unchecked

These two options determine whether the radio button on your form appears already selected when the Web page loads Select Checked if you want to preselect a choice You should set only one radio button option to be preselected and remember that the user can always override this setting by selecting another radio button 8 Select the other radio buttons one by one in the main design area and repeat Steps 5 7 to specify the properties in the Property inspector for each one If you want to create a series of radio buttons, you ll find some advantages to using the Radio Group button in the Insert Form panel Dreamweaver automatically creates IDs for each radio button If you want to change these IDs, you may find it easier to change them in Code view You can split the screen between code and design views by clicking on the Split view button at the top of the workspace If you want to format your form with CSS styles, you can create tag styles for the form, radio button, and other tags, or you can create class styles and apply them to any or all of your tags using the Class drop-down list in the Property inspector, You find more information about creating and applying styles in s 5 and 6 If your form is complete, jump ahead to the Finishing your form with Submit and Reset buttons section, later in this chapter