Available elements

Now it is time to add in some form elements - there are quite a few to choose from. Here are a list of the most important ones for PHP usage:

Element	Description
input type="checkbox"	A check box that lets users select multiple options
input type="file"	A text box plus a button that opens a file selection dialog
input type="hidden"	A hidden form element where you set the value
input type="password"	A text box where the text is replaced by a password character (usually asterisk *)
input type="radio"	A radio button. Radio buttons are liked grouped check boxes - you can only select one at a time
input type="reset"	A button to clear the form. It's one of the weird oddities of the web that this still exists - do you know anyone who uses it?
input type="submit"	A button to submit the form
input type="text"	A text box
option	An option in a "select" element
select	A list box; can also be a drop down list box
textarea	multi-line text box

There are four special elements in there that are of particular note: "file" elements actually upload files to the server, and can take quite a time to transfer if the connection speed is slow - handling file uploads is covered later. Hidden elements don't appear on your users screen - they are useful when keeping information across forms and pages, or simply just to force input for certain fields.

Password elements hide the password on the client side by using *s or something similar, but it is important to note that the password is still sent in plain text - no encryption is done. Finally, text area elements need a closing tag, with the text in between forming their content, i.e.: <textarea>Some text</textarea>.

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