Digression: HTML Forms
To allow HTML forms to be evaluated meaningfully, they must contain a Submit button. When a user clicks this button, the form data is sent to a target URL that you specify in the ACTION attribute:
<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="GET_VALUES.HTM"> ... </FORM>
A URL must not necessarily be another HTML page. It can also be a CGI script or a Java servlet.
SAP Smart Forms uses the POST method to pass the form data. Thus the name/value pairs for the input fields created by HTTP are not appended to the target URL but passed in the HTTP body. Besides, according to the HTML conventions, not all entries on the HTML form are passed as name/value pairs:
Examples for Passing Values of Simple Input Elements
|
HTML Form |
Name/Value Pair According to HTML Convention |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Input Type |
Field Name |
Value |
Name |
Value |
|
Text |
TEXTFIELD |
SAP |
TEXTFIELD |
SAP |
|
Checkbox |
MYFLAG |
(checked) |
MYFLAG |
|
|
Reset |
S_RESET |
(clicked) |
(no value)(no value) |
|
|
Hidden |
S_HIDDEN |
SAP |
S_HIDDEN |
SAP |
|
Submit |
S_BUTTON |
Ok |
S_BUTTON |
Ok |
Examples for Passing Values of Complex Input Elements
|
HTML Form |
Name/Value Pair According to HTML Convention |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Input Type |
Group Name |
Name of Selected Field |
Name |
Value |
|
Radio button |
RADIO |
OPTION2 |
RADIO |
OPTION2 |
|
listbox |
LIST |
ENTRY1 |
LIST |
ENTRY1 |
The following rules apply:
-
The Reset pushbutton is used only to initialize input in the form; it is not passed.
-
The fields are passed in the sequence in which they appear in the form.
-
Several web pushbuttons of input type Submit are possible on one HTML form. Only the name and the value (corresponds to the pushbutton text) of the button that the user actually clicked is passed. For all others neither a name nor a value is passed. Therefore, to find out which pushbutton was passed, it is sufficient to query the technical field name.
-
If a checkbox is marked on a form, only the name of the field is passed, without any value. If a checkbox is not marked, neither name nor value are passed.
-
For all fields of input types Text and Hidden in the HTML form the name as well as the value are passed.
-
For complex input elements the passed name corresponds to the group name and the value to the technical name of the selected field.
RecommendationFor an introduction to HTML visit http://www.w3schools.com
.