Need a way to save/retrieve info

browserman · Jun 4th, 2007, 16:12

I am designing a page right now and part of it requires me to have empty sections where the user can enter data. I then want the user to be able to click a "submit" button and have this data saved so that I can access it as a file or in some other form and preferably be able to do a direct import into Excel or FoxPro. Primarily though I just want the user to be able to enter data on their end, and be able to access that info on my end with out taking up excessive bandwidth or storage space. Any help as to how I can do this or what I should use to do this(mssql?) would be greatly appreciated.

simonb · Jun 5th, 2007, 06:32

sql php

spinal007 · Jun 5th, 2007, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonb

sql php

That's it essentially, but let me clarify.

You will need a scripting language on your server to process the submitted data (form) and save it somewhere. PHP is a good option (free and lots of help out there for when you get stuck).

With regards to 'saving it somewhere', a database is the most common choice for many geeky reasons which I can tell you if you really want me to. A good option would MySQL, it's free and widely used (again, easy to find help when you get stuck).

But, MySQL is a little 'hard-core' for a beginner, so you may want to consider alternative such as Access or even Excel. It isn't ideal, but you mentioned downloading the information into Excel, and this way you'd be one step closer...

browserman · Jun 6th, 2007, 16:17

Ok, do you know of anywhere that I could learn to do this? preferably the Excel version, since I am using FoxPro and the data can move directly between FoxPro and Excel.

spinal007 · Jun 7th, 2007, 12:12

- Lesson number 1: Google is your best friend, your lover, your God and the source of all knowledge in your universe.
- Lesson number 2: Never forget lesson number 1.

Google it:
- php excel
- spreadsheet as datasource in php
- and so on...