Re: Multiple Submit Buttons in Form

Stephen Turner (S.R.E.Turner@statslab.cam.ac.uk)
Fri, 10 Nov 1995 18:57:53 +0000 (GMT)

Pat La Claire wrote:
->
-> I have recently come across multiple submit buttons within a
-> single <FORM> in an HTML page. I had read somewhere that this
-> was *not* allowed (not supported, not recommended) with HTML 3.0.
->
-> I have run tests with Netscape 1.1, Netscape 2.0 Beta 1, Mosaic 2.0.1
-> and MacWeb 1.1.1E (all on a Mac), and Netscape Navigator 1.2N on a
-> PC, and Netscape Navigator 1.1N on a Sparcstation. All succeeded
-> parsing multiple submits.
->
-> Am I wrong about this being unsupported by the HTML standard?
->
-> Anything I didn't ask, which you believe I should consider?
->

To answer your last question first, yes, you should have asked "where is the
HTML spec so I can go and look it up myself?"

http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_8.html#SEC8.1.2.7
describes the relevant part of HTML2.0 and says:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Submit Button: INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT

An INPUT element with `TYPE=SUBMIT' represents an input option, typically a
button, that instructs the user agent to submit the form. Optional attributes
are:

NAME
indicates that this element contributes a form field whose value is
given by the VALUE attribute. If the NAME attribute is not present,
this element does not contribute a form field.
VALUE
indicates a label for the input (button).

[Example]
You may submit this request internally:
<input type=submit name=recipient value=internal><br>
or to the external world:
<input type=submit name=recipient value=world>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So it even gives an example of using two submit buttons.

You asked about HTML 3.0. You should be aware that the HTML 3.0 spec was
only ever a draft spec and has now expired. But I don't think multiple
submit buttons were forbidden or discouraged in that either.

-- 
Stephen R. E. Turner
  Stochastic Networks Group, Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge
  e-mail: sret1@cam.ac.uk  WWW: http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~sret1/home.html
  "I always keep one big file in case I run out of space." A colleague of mine