The FormReader Applet
This topic describes the FormReader applet. This applet is an "Infobus-aware" data access applet that reads the contents of a form within an HTML document. The document is divided into the following sections:

Introduction

The FormReader applet is an "Infobus-aware" data access applet that reads the contents of a form within an HTML document. The contents are then posted to the InfoBus.

By default, the FormReader applet does the following when accessing HTML form data:

All of these tasks are done without need for a user interface. All data access parameters are supplied to the applet via HTML.

If need be, the applet can be also used with a user interface. This can be helpful for application debugging. With the user interface, you can enter values in fields to change the initial values supplies by the URL and Item_Number HTML PARAM tags.

The FormReader applet is derived from the HTMLReaderApplet class, which uses the ParseHTML class to process the HTML.

The FormReader Parsing Process

The FormReader begins by accessing the desired HTML document via a supplied URL as soon as it is initialized. The reading of the URL is done in a separate thread to support cancelling/time-out. The document is then parsed on a token-by-token basis.

The data read by the FormReader applet is placed on the InfoBus in a KeyedDataSet, with the value keys being the names of the form fields.

The applet can dynamically respond to requests for forms via the infobus. If the ReaderRequest PARAM tag is supplied, you can send requests to the applet from other applets via the InfoBus.

Embedding the FormReader Applet in an HTML Document

The following code example demonstrates how an instance of the FormReader applet is embedded in an HTML page. The APPLET tag is immediately followed by PARAM (parameter) tags that provide the configuration information for the applet.

<APPLET NAME="formParse" 
  CODEBASE=".." 
  CODE="lotus.htmlparse.FormReader"
  WIDTH=200 
  HEIGHT=250
  ARCHIVE="jars/devpack_htmlparse_app.jar">
  <PARAM NAME="cabinets" VALUE="cabs/devpack_htmlparse_app.cab">
  <PARAM NAME="URL" VALUE="SalesForm.html">
  <PARAM NAME="item_Number" VALUE="2">	
  <PARAM NAME="search_for" VALUE="Totals">
  <PARAM NAME="ReaderRequest" VALUE="FORMREQUEST">
  <PARAM NAME="show_ui" VALUE="true">
  </APPLET>

FormReader Applet Parameter Tags

The following parameter (PARAM) tags are available for configuring the FormReader applet via HTML:

HTMLInputName PARAM tag
Item_Number PARAM tag
Name PARAM tag
ReaderRequest PARAM tag
Search_For PARAM tag
show_ui PARAM tag
URL PARAM tag

FormReader Applet Properties

The following properties are available for accessing the FormReader applet programatically:

ItemNumber property
Name property
SearchString property
URL property

FormReader Applet Methods

The following methods are available for accessing the FormReader applet programatically:

Abort method
Update method