So far in this 'Quick Start' guide we have introduced you to the basic ways of creating a website using neatComponents. nC is a great way to make websites, particularly for commercial users, but its greatest strengths lie in data management. The next two steps will introduce you to Forms - to get data into your website, and how to the information back out again. The first shows you how to use email to pass information out of nC. The second step introduces Queries and data management.

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Forms with Email

Add a Form to your website. We will create a simple 'enquiry response' form that emails the site owner a brochure request from a visitor.

Reminder: Open the Layout Manager from the Floating Toolbox. Select a Form component from the Component Store, add at least one to the Component Bank. Select the Form in the Component Bank, and then use the [Add to Web Site] button to place the Form in the Web Site tree structure.

Mouse over the Toolbox - notice the options offered in the Toolbox have changed since we last used it. Select [Edit Form], then at the 'Form Fields-tab', add the following Custom Fields.

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Enter First Name in the Field Prompt-box, then set the Field Type. You will see that the Field Type can be selected from a drop-down list. You may leave the setting at the default 'Text' for the name fields, but change it to 'Email' for the Email Address.
Set the Form Navigation Field to Last Name.  Click [Apply] That completes the basic form construction.

Most 'advanced' components are hidden from visitors by default, so we need to change the View and Submit permissions on this form so that you can try it out as a pretend visitor to the site.

Mouse over the Toolbox - select Behavior Editor. Select Permissions - then select Visitor. Set the 'View Page' and  'Submit Records' checkboxes to 'Allow' and [Save Changes]. Close the Behavior Editor.

Mouse over the Toolbox - select [View Form] Your new form will be displayed, but you are logged in (as the designer) so you will simply see 'Click here to submit new record' - as each record is submitted a link will be created and shown in this view. To see the form as a website visitor will see it, you will need to log-out at the Admin section of the website - and then select the Form-tab. Your form should look similar to this:

You can try it out - submit two or three forms - then log back in and return to the Form.

You will now see those records listed - neat, huh? You will remember that when we set-up the Form we said: "Set the Form Navigation Field to Last Name" - so the results are shown in Last Name order.

You can click on the record to Edit it, and the form behavior and results display is all fully configurable as mentioned below - but that is beyond this Quick Start introduction.

 Now, lets's see how to get the information collected by the Form emailed out. 

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More information

1) When you are logged in you can still see the Form that you have created. Click the link 'Click here to submit new record'.

2) The Toolbox is context sensitive, and the options it offers depend on the Component being used.

In a Form component, the Edit Form option gives access to the Form Fields and Events. The Edit Text option allows you to edit the page on which the Form is displayed, and the response pages automatically displayed on form submission.

For example. if you want to configure the Form text area that visitors see that is done in the 'Record Edit View'.

3) The Behavior Editor | Settings | Options section allows you to configure the other form behavior.

4) You can configure the page that is displayed to ordinary visitors after the form submission from the Edit Text | Post submission entry.