Forum Moderators: phranque
I would like for my website clients to be able to type text into text fields and A) be able to submit that data to me in a usable database format, even Excel, and B) allow clients to view, save and send (email) these completed pages.
Using html text field form tags isn't robust enough for my needs.
I realize I need to adopt a grown-up web-technology, but haven't a clue where to begin or what to look for. My hunch is that I need a database solution of some sort. Could someone recommend a technology solution? Cost and ease of learning are important factors. Many thanks!
Instead of starting yet another thread about which technology is easiest, fastest, cheapest, better, I'd suggest you take some time and scroll through this forum and read a bit, or do a site search over the whole site.
Basically you'll see: every technology has its advantages and disadvantages, and people have their preferences.
It's a matter of what you're willing to learn, what technology is available to you and what technology your hosting provider supports.
Other than that, it's a learning process and a fun one at that.
Enjoy.
You don't need a database. All you need is a script that will format the information from the form into a comma/tab delimited format and save it as a text file, attached to the email.
That is unless you intend to import it into a database to work with the data - then it makes sense to have the form submit the data to the database directly.
Looking around at other threads, it looks like one solution may be to upgrade to Macromedia UltraDev then use ASP and MySql...whatever that means...
Thanks!
Thanks everyone.
go to www.php.net and start reading and trying.
PHP is a scripting language. Used to create scripts that work on the webserver and do something - like formatting and sending an email with information from a form and/or plugging those same results into a database.
MySQL is the database.
ASP, Javascript, ColdFusion et al are all scripting languages. The differences between all of them varies. The one significant difference you should be aware of is that all of them, with the exception of javascript, are processed on the webserver. Javascript works with the visitor's web browser.
If your host already has PHP and MySQL support in place - it sounds like they do - then that may be a good place to start. You'll find plenty of info here on additional resource for learning how to work with both PHP and MySQL.
HTH
Many, many thanks!
what will this download actually provide for me
phpmyadmin is a web based product that will help you work with mysql. You can create and manage your databases with it.
Personnally I have spent a few years testing everything From javascript to ASP.
From my experiance you should try and use JSP pages for server side, Javascript + HTML + CSS for presentation, and either Oracle if you have the money, or MySQL which is pretty much free for your database.
-----
David Smith
[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 5:40 am (utc) on Dec. 31, 2003]
[edit reason] Trimmed sig TOS 13 [/edit]
you should try and use JSP pages for server side
having used JSP pages in several projects, I have to say that I would NOT recommend someone just starting out to use them.
JSP requires a good working knowledge of Java to make it really dance and sing.
Of all the server side languages I find JSP to be the least portable as it requires some type of java application server such as Tomcat or Jrun to function. Php and ASp only require a thin framework installed and website maintenance is much easier without another layer to deal with.
JSP is a great technology, but unless you're creating something that will need the processing power of a lands' end website, I wouldn't even think about it.
