Database for Marketing Question

THFC1882 · Apr 22nd, 2008, 20:11

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping you can all help me out here, i have pretty advanced knowledge of how to put a web site together but the database side of things i don't know therefore i need help.

A friend of mine has contacted me about designing a website for him. This website is for marketing purposes therefore it would collect data input by the site visitors.

The questions on this site might be for example

[+] First Name
[+] Surname
[+] D.O.B
[+] Address
[+] Email
[+] Telephone number

What i want is for when the user submits the form that the answers go into a database, to where he is able to download the information in MS Excel. Im pretty sure this is possible but my question is how??

Thanks in advance for any help received.

dab42pat · Apr 22nd, 2008, 21:04

This could be achieved using php and mysql.

I am not sure about downloading into excel, though i'm sure its possible.

Pat

aso186 · Apr 23rd, 2008, 08:29

You could use PHP to dump the MySQL database as a csv file. Excel works well with these

spinal007 · Apr 23rd, 2008, 08:44

1. MySQL might be a little too advanced - like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut. If you have MS Office, MS Access is a better (easier) option.

2. Separate the 2 functions - storing and exporting the data. First worry about keeping it in a database, once it's there, you can take the data out and write it to a CSV (ie.: to Excel), this is the easy part and you don't need to think about this until everything else is done.

With those 2 points in mind, work your way through some of these:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=php+database+tutorial&