Setting the Record Insertion Form dialog box options

The purpose of this dialog box is to build a page that enables users to insert new records in a database.

To set the dialog box options:

1. In the Connection pop-up menu, select a connection to the database.

   Click the Define button if you need to define a connection.

2. In the Insert Into Table pop-up menu, select the database table into which the record should be inserted.
3. If you use ColdFusion, enter a user name and password.
4. In the After Inserting, Go To text box, enter the page to open after the record is inserted into the table or click the Browse button to browse to the file.
5. If you use ASP.NET, you can specify a page to go to on success, and a page to go to on failure. Or you can choose to display debugging information upon failure.

   If you select Display Debugging Information on Failure, Dreamweaver ignores the On Failure, Go To option.

   TIP

   Use the Display Debugging Information on Failure option during development and use the On Failure, Go To option when your page is live.

6. In the Form Fields area, specify the form objects you want to include on the insert page’s HTML form, and which columns in your database table each form object should update.

   By default, Dreamweaver creates a form object for each column in the database table. If your database automatically generates unique key IDs for each new record created, remove the form object corresponding to the key column by selecting it in the list and clicking the Minus (-) button. This eliminates the risk that the user of the form will enter an ID value that already exists.

   You can also change the order of the form objects on the HTML form by selecting a form object in the list and clicking the up or down arrow on the right side of the dialog box.

7. Specify how each data-entry field should be displayed on the HTML form by clicking a row in the Form Fields table and entering the following information in the boxes below the table:
   • In the Label text box, enter a descriptive label to display beside the data-entry field. By default, Dreamweaver displays the table column’s name in the label.
   • In the Display As pop-up menu, select a form object to serve as the data-entry field. You can select Text Field, Text Area, Menu, Checkbox, Radio Group, and Text. For read-only entries, select Text. You can also select Password Field, File Field, and Hidden Field.

     NOTE

     Hidden fields are inserted at the end of the form.

   • In the Submit As pop-up menu, select the data format accepted by your database table. For example, if the table column only accepts numeric data, select Numeric.
   • Set the form object’s properties. You have different options depending on the form object you select as your data-entry field. For text fields, text areas, and text, you can enter an initial value. For menus and radio groups, you open another dialog box to set the properties. For checkboxes, select the Checked or Unchecked option.
   • If you use ASP.NET, you can choose to use web form control.
8. Click OK.

Dreamweaver adds both an HTML form and an Insert Record server behavior to your page.

Related topics

• Building the insert page in one operation
• Inserting dynamic HTML form objects