Chapter 3. Load, Validate, and Submit Forms

You will learn the following recipes in this chapter:

• Specifying the required fields in a form

• Setting the minimum and maximum length allowed for a field's value

• Changing the location where validation errors are displayed

• Deferring field validation until form submission

• Creating validation functions for URLs, email addresses, and other types of data

• Confirming passwords and validating dates using relational field validation

• Rounding up your validation strategy with server-side validation of form fields

• Loading form data from the server

• Serving the XML data to a form

• Using forms for file uploads

• Building friendlier forms using text hints

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the topic of processing forms. The journey will include client-side and server-side field validation, form loading, submission, field customization, and layout techniques that will make it a breeze to build great-looking and friendly forms.