How do I make a form field required for submission?

[wienerdog]

I don't have a lot of experience working with forms, and I'm desiging a basic contact information form for my company's Website. How do I make a form field required before allowing it to be sent and processed? Does this require coding in the PHP file or can I do this in the HTML?

[JPnyc]

Javascript is generally used for form validation.

[ecsyle]

Yeah, javascript. I would also make sure, in my form processing script, that the values are what I expect. Never trust user input. Ever.

[lkw]

validation done in php or asp is much better than javascript in my opinion since js can be turned off

[ecsyle]

validation done in php or asp is much better than javascript in my opinion since js can be turned off

Use both :)

I like javascript because it gives me instant results, without reloading the page. Besides, why waste resources processing the script when you don't have to?

[lkw]

Use both :)

I like javascript because it gives me instant results, without reloading the page. Besides, why waste resources processing the script when you don't have to?

true, but well coded sites won't take too long to load.

[JPnyc]

How long it takes isn't the issue. It's ineffecient to send a request to the server when it's not needed. You'll suck up your bandwidth a whole lot faster if you have an even decent number of users.

[ecsyle]

^^^ what he said.

true, but well coded sites won't take too long to load.
Right, but if you are getting millions of hits to your site, saving resources is number one. Why incur uneeded processing time for a form, when javascript is right there for you to use?

edit: beaten.

[JPnyc]

I never touched ya.

[ecsyle]

I never touched ya.
But you wanted to right :o :p

[JPnyc]

Not consciously, but........................

[lkw]

i guess i should put it this way. if the form field is important when submitting then i wouldn't use js.

[wienerdog]

Alright, time to send it off to the JS coders.