Building Contact form in Freeway 5

Freeway
1

I have read the whole section of the large reference guide on how to build a form. I understand it, but I do not see the “Forms” button they seem to show in the picture.

They say to select the type of form control I want and then draw the item. I do not see a form box on the menu bar as it seems to be in the picture (left of “graphic box”).

What am I missing? Also, is there a video tutorial on this?

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2

Sorry…got it. Needed to hold down the HTML arrow. I do wish they would just say that, but I know I also have to get used to these general protocols,

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3

Sometime around 11/7/09 (at 10:35 -0400) SkipII said:

I do not see a form box on the menu bar as it seems to be in the picture

Press and hold on the HTML icon in the toolbar and you’ll see all the
alternative items in a popup menu.

Or go to the Insert menu and pick your form item there - although
you’ll have to move it from wherever this drops it into your page.

k

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4

A couple of fine-tuning questions:

Is there a way to change the default color of the text field box? Right now is says “no color” but it is white in Preview mode. Most of my “whites” on the page are more like 10% gray, so the text field box is shouting a bit.

What determines the type size of whatever text a person types in the box? Right now, the text field box is a bit bigger than the label text. I would prefer to get them the same size.

Thanks,

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5

This action will allow you to set the text font and size on form
elements… along with a few other things:
http://www.actionsforge.com/actions/view/60-form-element-styler

HTH

On Jul 11, 2009, at 5:16 PM, SkipII wrote:

A couple of fine-tuning questions:

Is there a way to change the default color of the text field box?
Right now is says “no color” but it is white in Preview mode. Most
of my “whites” on the page are more like 10% gray, so the text field
box is shouting a bit.

What determines the type size of whatever text a person types in the
box? Right now, the text field box is a bit bigger than the label
text. I would prefer to get them the same size.

Thanks,

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6

I clicked on “version” several times but nothing happened. I do not see it in the Freeway menu items.

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7

Sometime around 11/7/09 (at 12:15 -0400) SkipII said:

I clicked on “version” several times but nothing happened. I do not
see it in the Freeway menu items.

Is this in reference to the Form Element Styler action?

Did you click the link text to download the item?

Did you find the “Form Element Styler.fwaction” file within the
downloaded folder?

Did you drop that into Freeway (or double-click it) to install it?

Once it is installed, just select a form element in the page and
choose Item > Actions > Form Element Styler. Then look in the Actions
palette and play around.

k

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8

You can also download it from this page, scroll down to the action and select download:
http://www.easibase.com/freeway/freewayactions.php

HTH

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9

I just looked at this and it downloads OK from the link under versions
for me!

As Keith says, you need to install it before it will show in the
Freeway menu.

On Jul 11, 2009, at 6:15 PM, SkipII wrote:

I clicked on “version” several times but nothing happened. I do not
see it in the Freeway menu items.

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10

Mike,

I downloaded it and applied each action but had several problems.

I had already drawn boxes. When I matched the size in the action window to the drawn boxes, they did not come close to match up – they were not aligned verticlaly and were different dimension horizontally.

The tutorial sys it is simple. What did I do wrong?

On 11 Jul 2009, 3:51 pm, Mike B wrote:

This action will allow you to set the text font and size on form
elements… along with a few other things:
Form Element Styler - ActionsForge

HTH

On Jul 11, 2009, at 5:16 PM, SkipII wrote:

A couple of fine-tuning questions:

Is there a way to change the default color of the text field box?
Right now is says “no color” but it is white in Preview mode. Most
of my “whites” on the page are more like 10% gray, so the text field
box is shouting a bit.

What determines the type size of whatever text a person types in the
box? Right now, the text field box is a bit bigger than the label
text. I would prefer to get them the same size.

Thanks,

freewaytalk mailing list
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Update your subscriptions at:
http://freewaytalk.net/person/options

11

I downloaded it and applied each action but had several problems.

I had already drawn boxes. When I matched the size in the action
window to the drawn boxes, they did not come close to match up –
they were not aligned vertically and were different dimension
horizontally.

What are boxes, I take it you mean text areas and text fields?

The action does not align form items, you do that in Freeway depending
on how your form is structured, if it is in a table as I think is the
better way to structure a form then select the cell the item is in and
the icon to align vertically, the Freeway inspector can be used to
align to the left, centre or right horizontally.

The sizes in the actions are pixels, 100 in the width (px): field
would then be 100 pixels

The ‘size’ in an HTML text field for example means the number of
visible characters that can be seen and is not pixels.

The tutorial sys it is simple. What did I do wrong?

It is simple to use, if you want a certain width for example, set the
width (px) field at 100 and then preview the page, adjust it to the
size that suits by set the width, say 80 for shorter and 120 for
longer. When you get the right length then making the same property in
the other fields will then make them the same as the one you have just
set.

The size of the element in Freeway will not change in Freeway ‘Page’
view but it will in the ‘Preview’ view. The ‘size’ property in the
Freeway inspector for the selected field ‘for example’ will be over
ridden by the ‘width (px)’ property value set in the action.

height is just that, the element height.

border-width, border-color etc. are just as they are named, the colour
can be entered as ‘red’ or ‘ff0000’ for example.

Font styling covers what you asked about, the font and font size of
the text area and text field the action is applied to, if the font for
the font family used is not in the first font menu then enter it’s
name in field below, the 2nd, 3rd menus are for the fonts for the rest
of the family.

The advanced options are for changing the background colour of the
text area or text field the action is applied to when the element has
focus and loses focus.

HTH

On 11 Jul 2009, 3:51 pm, Mike B wrote:

This action will allow you to set the text font and size on form
elements… along with a few other things:
Form Element Styler - ActionsForge

HTH

On Jul 11, 2009, at 5:16 PM, SkipII wrote:

A couple of fine-tuning questions:

Is there a way to change the default color of the text field box?
Right now is says “no color” but it is white in Preview mode. Most
of my “whites” on the page are more like 10% gray, so the text field
box is shouting a bit.

What determines the type size of whatever text a person types in the
box? Right now, the text field box is a bit bigger than the label
text. I would prefer to get them the same size.

Thanks,

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12

Mike,

I cannot get it to work, but there may be some underlying issues. First, the fields I draw in Freeway (not using the actions yet) do not look in Preview how they look in hte Page view. All of my fields, for example, are consistently drawn to 190 pixels in length, yet they are different lenghts when in Preview mode. Several questions now on your suggestions…

On 12 Jul 2009, 1:44 am, Mike B wrote:

I downloaded it and applied each action but had several problems.

I had already drawn boxes. When I matched the size in the action
window to the drawn boxes, they did not come close to match up –
they were not aligned vertically and were different dimension
horizontally.

What are boxes, I take it you mean text areas and text fields?

Yes, “fields.” Sorry

The action does not align form items, you do that in Freeway depending
on how your form is structured, if it is in a table as I think is the
better way to structure a form then select the cell the item is in and
the icon to align vertically, the Freeway inspector can be used to
align to the left, centre or right horizontally.
Note above - i was not expecting the actin to align the cells, but th cells are already misaligned somehow through Freeway – unless Freeway on its own chooses a length of a field depending upon what kind of field it is?
The sizes in the actions are pixels, 100 in the width (px): field
would then be 100 pixels

The ‘size’ in an HTML text field for example means the number of
visible characters that can be seen and is not pixels.
???

The tutorial sys it is simple. What did I do wrong?

It is simple to use,

Perhaps, but so far not for me. For example. they never explain what “override” is. I have tried to apply the actions both ways – using override and the actual name of the field to which I am applying the action, and I get colored fields that are very different lenghts from what I have drawn in Freeway. if you want a certain width for example, set the

width (px) field at 100 and then preview the page, adjust it to the
size that suits by set the width, say 80 for shorter and 120 for
longer. When you get the right length then making the same property in
the other fields will then make them the same as the one you have just
set.
I understand, but that tells me that th height and width in the action has little relationship to the same height and width in Frewway. A 20px height in Freeway does nto translate to 20px in the action.

The size of the element in Freeway will not change in Freeway ‘Page’
view but it will in the ‘Preview’ view. The ‘size’ property in the
Freeway inspector for the selected field ‘for example’ will be over
ridden by the ‘width (px)’ property value set in the action. ??? So, am I supposed to use the “override” option in the action or the name of the field?

height is just that, the element height. Okay, but again, I have put the same height number in action as is in Freeway, and I get different heights when Previewed.

border-width, border-color etc. are just as they are named, the colour
can be entered as ‘red’ or ‘ff0000’ for example.

Font styling covers what you asked about, the font and font size of
the text area and text field the action is applied to, if the font for
the font family used is not in the first font menu then enter it’s
name in field below, the 2nd, 3rd menus are for the fonts for the rest
of the family.

The advanced options are for changing the background colour of the
text area or text field ??? Is this different than the colors we ahve been doing above? All I am trying to do is change the color of the text area in the field. the action is applied to when the element has
focus and loses focus. ??? What does that mean – has focus or loses focus?

HTH
Thanks for any further help.

On 11 Jul 2009, 3:51 pm, Mike B wrote:

This action will allow you to set the text font and size on form
elements… along with a few other things:
Form Element Styler - ActionsForge

HTH

On Jul 11, 2009, at 5:16 PM, SkipII wrote:

A couple of fine-tuning questions:

Is there a way to change the default color of the text field box?
Right now is says “no color” but it is white in Preview mode. Most
of my “whites” on the page are more like 10% gray, so the text field
box is shouting a bit.

What determines the type size of whatever text a person types in the
box? Right now, the text field box is a bit bigger than the label
text. I would prefer to get them the same size.

Thanks,

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13

Erm… may I suggest a small tip when using Freewaytalk? Please make
sure that you put your replies on a clearly different line than
whatever you’re quoting. I’m afraid that it is too hard to figure out
which parts are the quoted text and which are your replies in much of
your last post. Sorry! :frowning:

(It may be somewhat clearer in the web page display, I don’t know.
The only reason I can interact so regularly on here is because I read
it all as email. There may be a difference in how quote text and
reply text is marked in the web view. :slight_smile:

k

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14

Sorry,

Frankly, i did not know how to embed responses within someone else’s text. I do now – hit return to go to a new line.

Thank you.

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15

Over ride is an option of the ‘Suggested for:’ menu, this consists of different form element types and the ‘Override’ option and it means just that, Over ride the menu. This menu enables the suggested options for each form element that is generally safe to use the styling on over most browsers, maybe you don’t care about that so as you will see selecting ‘Override’ will enable all of the actions properties.

Some text taken from the Read me file that comes with the action relative to this selection:

  • The ‘Suggested for’ menu offers a guide only for suggested style options that are
  • fairly common to most browsers for the selected menu item. You are not limited to
  • the options suggested by this menu, setting the menu to it’s default selection of
  • ‘override’ will enable all the action options, just be aware that not all the
  • style properties are available to all browsers.

There is a short tutorial here:
http://www.easibase.com/freeway/fesaction.php

If you send me a copy of the Freeway file I will take a quick look at it to see what you are doing wrong.

HTH

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