====== Forms ======

A form in a VoiceXML document presents information and gathers input from the user.  A form is represented by the <form> tag and has an ID attribute associated with it.  The ID attribute is the name of the form.\\
Following is an example of a form element:

<code>
<form id="hello">
  <block>
  Hello world!
  </block>
</form>
</code>

In this example, the name of the form is "hello" and "Hello world!" is presented to the user.

** Form Items **

There are two types of form items, field items and control items.  A field item prompts the user on what to say or key in, and then collects that information and fills in the field item variable.  A field item also has grammars that define the allowed inputs, event handlers to process the resulting events, and a <filled> element that defines an action to be taken after the field item variable has been filled.

Following is a list of the types of field items:\\
|< field >|The < field > form is the value of the field item obtained from the user via speech or DTMF.|
|< record >|The < record > form is the value of the field item which is an audio clip recorded by the user, such as a voice mail message, which can be collected by the <record> element.|
|< transfer >|The < transfer > form is used for transferring the user to another telephone number.|
|< object >|The < object > form invokes platform-specific objects with one or more properties.|
|< subdialog >|Like a function call, the form invokes a call to another dialog on the current page or another VoiceXML document. The task of a control item is to help control the gathering of the form's fields.|

Following are two types of control items:

|< block >|The < block > control is a sequence of statements used for prompting and computation.|
|< initial >|The < initial > control is useful in mixed initiative dialogs that prompt the user for information.|

** Variables and Conditions **

A form item variable is associated with each form.  The form item 'variable by default' is initially set to 'undefined' and contains a result (collected from the user) once a form item has been interpreted.  You can define the name of a form item variable by using the name attribute.  A guard condition exists for each form item.  The guard condition tests whether the item's variable currently has a value.  If a value exists, then the form item is skipped.