Re: FORM element requires ACTION attribute: problems with compatibility

At 03:54 PM 8/16/97 -0700, E. Stephen Mack wrote:
>In HTML 3.2, the FORM element did not require the use of the ACTION
>attribute. [1]
>
>The draft for HTML 4.0 does require the use of the ACTION attribute
>with FORM. [2]
>
>The motivation for the change is that every form should have a form
>handler.  In HTML 3.2, the ACTION attribute was not required, because
>the form handler could have been script-based (i.e., JavaScript or
>VBScript).  For example:

In HTML 2.0, the ACTION defaulted to the base URI of the document, hence
the ACTION was not required.  The fact that it wasn't required had
absolutely nothing to do with javascript or any other scripting language.

This made it extremely easy to write multi-pass cgi scripts, as they didn't
need to know the URL that was used to call them.  They could just print out
<FORM> or <FORM METHOD=POST> and the submission would go right back to the
same script.

I seem to remember going through this on this list when the public review
of 3.2 was announced, as 3.2 required a METHOD at that point as well.


--
Greg Marr
gregm@alum.wpi.edu
"We thought you were dead." 
"I was, but I'm better now." - Sheridan, "The Summoning"

Received on Monday, 18 August 1997 12:46:51 UTC