The INPUT element is used for a wide variety of different kinds of entry fields within HTML fill-out forms. The TYPE attribute determines the type of field.
These are used for entering short text strings, like peoples names, numbers and dates. The visible width of the field in characters can be set with the SIZE attribute. When using a variable pitch font, the SIZE attribute sets the width in en units (half the point size). The user should be able to enter more than this, with the contents of the field scrolling horizontally as needed. The MAXLENGTH attribute can be used to specify the maximum number of characters permitted for the string.
If the TYPE attribute is missing, the INPUT element is assumed to be a single-line text field. The NAME attribute is used to identify the field when the form's contents are converted to the name/value list. The VALUE field can be used to initialize the text string. Character entities can be used include accented characters in this string.
Note: Use the TEXTAREA element for multi-line text entry fields.
This is the same as single-line text fields except that each character typed is echoed by a shadow character, e.g. an asterisk or the space character. The user can see how many characters that have been typed but not what was typed.
A checkbox field has two states: selected and unselected.Its name/value pair only appear in the submitted data when selected. Checkboxes are used for boolean attributes. They can also be used for attributes which can take multiple values at the same time. This is represented by a checkbox for each optional value, with the same name for each of the checkboxes. Unselected checkboxes don't appear in the submitted data. Both NAME and VALUE are required for checkboxes. To initialize the checkbox to its selected state, include the CHECKED attribute. Checkboxes provide an alternative to using the SELECT element for multiple-choice menus.
Suitable for attributes which can take a single value from a set of alternatives. All radio buttons in the same group should be given the same NAME. Only the selected radio button in the group generates a name/value pair in the submitted data. Both NAME and VALUE are required for radio buttons. To initialize the radio button to its selected state, include the CHECKED attribute. Radio buttons offer an alternative to using the SELECT element for single choice menus.
These allow the user to pick a numeric value in between a lower and an upper bound. The range is specified with the MIN and MAX attributes, as in:
<input name=rating type=range min=1 max=10>
If either the lower or upper bound is a real number, then the range is real valued, otherwise it is restricted to integer values only. The VALUE attribute can be used to initialize the range field. It an error for the value to lie outside the specified range. The default value is midway between the lower and upper limits.
These fields allow the user to scribble with a pointing device (such as a mouse or pen) on top of a predefined image. The image is specified as a URI with the SRC attribute. If the user agent can't display images, or can't provide a means for users to scribble on the image, then the field should be treated as a text field. The VALUE attribute can be used to initialize the text field for these users. It is ignored when the user agent provides scribble on image support.
This allows users to attach one or more files to be submitted with the form's contents. The ACCEPT attribute can be used to specify a comma separated list of MIME content types. These are used to restrict the kinds of files that can be attached to the form. For instance:
<input name=pictures type=file accept="image/*">
This example restricts files to match "image/*", i.e. to registered MIME image types. For windows based user agents, it is suggested that file fields display the name of the last file attached, with the ability to open a file dialog box to view the complete list of files attached so far. The accept attribute then acts to specify the filter on the list of candidate files.
No field is presented to the user, but the content of the field is sent with the submitted form. This value may be used to transmit state information about client/server interaction, for instance a transaction identifier. These fields are needed because HTTP servers don't preserve state information from one request to the next.
These are buttons that when pressed submit the form's data. You can use the VALUE attribute to provide a non-editable label to be displayed on the button. The default label is application-specific. A graphic can be specified for the submit button using the SRC attribute.
The submit button normally makes no contribution to the submitted data. The exception is when the field includes a NAME attribute, in which case, the name and value attributes are included with the submitted data. This can be used to distinguish which submit button the user pressed.
These act like submit buttons but include the location where the user clicked on the image. The image is specified with the SRC attribute.
Should we phase these out, in favor of using SUBMIT? For this, we would need to ensure that the submit button included the location clicked when a graphic was specified with SRC.
When a reset button is pressed, the form's fields are reset to their specified initial values. The label to be displayed on the button may be specified just as for the SUBMIT button. Likewise, the SRC attribute can be used to specify a graphic.