Validate Form

The Validate Form action checks the contents of specified text fields to ensure that the user has entered the correct type of data. Attach this action to individual text fields with the onBlur event to validate the fields as the user is filling out the form, or attach it to the form with the onSubmit event to evaluate several text fields at once when the user clicks the Submit button. Attaching this action to a form prevents the form from being submitted to the server if any of the specified text fields contains invalid data.

To use the Validate Form action:

1. Select Insert > Form or click the Form button in the Insert bar to insert a form.
2. Select Insert > Form Objects > Text Field or click the Text Field button in the Insert bar to insert a text field.

   Repeat this step to insert additional text fields.

3. Do one of the following:
   • To validate individual fields as the user fills out the form, select a text field and select Window > Behaviors.
   • To validate multiple fields when the user submits the form, click the <form> tag in the tag selector in the bottom left corner of the Document window and select Window > Behaviors.
4. Select Validate Form from the Actions pop-up menu.
5. Do one of the following:
   • If you are validating individual fields, select the same field that you have selected in the Document window from the Named Fields list.
   • If you are validating multiple fields, select a text field from the Named Fields list.
6. Select the Required option if the field must contain some data.
7. Select from one of the following Accept options:

   Use Anything if the field is required but need not contain any particular kind of data.  (If the Required option is not selected, the Anything option is meaningless--that is, it is the same as if the Validate Form action were not attached to the field.)

   Use E-mail address to check that the field contains an @ symbol.

   Use Number to check that the field contains only numerals.

   Use Number From to check that the field contains a number in a specific range.

8. If you are validating multiple fields, repeat steps 6 and 7 for any additional fields that you want to validate.
9. Click OK.

   If you are validating multiple fields when the user submits the form, the onSubmit event automatically appears in the Events pop-up menu.

10. If you are validating individual fields, check that the default event is onBlur or onChange.

    If it isn’t, select onBlur or onChange from the pop-up menu. Both of these events trigger the Validate Form action when the user moves away from the field. The difference between them is that onBlur occurs whether or not the user has typed in the field, and onChange occurs only if the user changed the contents of the field. The onBlur event is preferred when you have specified that the field is required.