Some beginner help

dreamweaver, Some beginner help I need to develop what I think is a basic form for collecting data. I have
done this in Frontpage, and had the data emailed in a CSV format to an email
address. However, I need a form I can deliver to clients that do not use
Frontpage for their web site. That is, I must deliver this "form" to them, and
they will provide a link to this form. Their customers will click on this
link, fill in the form, and submit it.

When the form is submitted, I need the data to be stored in an Access table
along with other submissions. The UNC path to this table will be accessible to
my access app. From there, my access programs will integrate this data into my
access app for them, where they then manage the customer info sent in this way.

I am a Visual Basic/Access programmer that has not done any web proramming, so
not sure where to start.

Actually, I started by installing Apache on my desktop so I can experiment. I
believe Dreamweaver sounds like it may be a good way to develop this kind of
app. but some very basic questions:

- Do I understand correctly that Dreamweaver, unlike Frontpage, acutally
creates a PHP app that I can then deliver to my client and they will be able to
use as outlined above?
- If yes, is this PHP code portable enough that it would run on most of my
clients web servers?
- Is it possible Dreamweaver can allow me to create this data collection form
and integrate it into either an existing Frontpage web site or into a non
Frontpage web site?

Thanks for any help you can give to get me started,
Mark

dreamweaver >> Some beginner help > - Do I understand correctly that Dreamweaver, unlike Frontpage, acutally
> creates a PHP app that I can then deliver to my client and they will be
> able to
> use as outlined above?

No. DW doesn't create an app to do this. You must do that yourself, and
you can *use* DW to do it. But - I am not quite sure I understand the
nuance of your question. Using DW, you can create the form, and you can
create the script that processes the form. When uploaded to the website,
the form will collect info from the visitor, and when it's submitted to the
script, the info will be written into a database (on the site), and sent to
the client by email. But your description sounds a bit different than
this - is it?

> - If yes, is this PHP code portable enough that it would run on most of my
> clients web servers?

PHP will run on any server that supports PHP.

> - Is it possible Dreamweaver can allow me to create this data collection
> form
> and integrate it into either an existing Frontpage web site or into a non
> Frontpage web site?

It's possible although dangerous. Non-FP sites are no problem, but trying
to work on an active FP site can be quite tricky, depending on whether FTP
is disabled, or whether the site is using any FP Server Extension
functionality.

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"MarkusReady" <email***@***.com> wrote in message
news:etnp7n$e6f$email***@***.com...
>I need to develop what I think is a basic form for collecting data. I have
> done this in Frontpage, and had the data emailed in a CSV format to an
> email
> address. However, I need a form I can deliver to clients that do not use
> Frontpage for their web site. That is, I must deliver this "form" to
> them, and
> they will provide a link to this form. Their customers will click on this
> link, fill in the form, and submit it.
>
> When the form is submitted, I need the data to be stored in an Access
> table
> along with other submissions. The UNC path to this table will be
> accessible to
> my access app. From there, my access programs will integrate this data
> into my
> access app for them, where they then manage the customer info sent in this
> way.
>
> I am a Visual Basic/Access programmer that has not done any web
> proramming, so
> not sure where to start.
>
> Actually, I started by installing Apache on my desktop so I can
> experiment. I
> believe Dreamweaver sounds like it may be a good way to develop this kind
> of
> app. but some very basic questions:
>
> - Do I understand correctly that Dreamweaver, unlike Frontpage, acutally
> creates a PHP app that I can then deliver to my client and they will be
> able to
> use as outlined above?
> - If yes, is this PHP code portable enough that it would run on most of my
> clients web servers?
> - Is it possible Dreamweaver can allow me to create this data collection
> form
> and integrate it into either an existing Frontpage web site or into a non
> Frontpage web site?
>
> Thanks for any help you can give to get me started,
> Mark
>

dreamweaver >> Some beginner help ACE,

> No. DW doesn't create an app to do this. You must do that yourself, and
you can *use* DW to do it.

Ah, I am starting to see. So DW lets me create the data entry form, and I
attach code to the submit button in the form to upload that info into a
database at the site. If the site server is on an intranet, then that server
could be made available to my app through UNC, and my app could then monitor
these incoming entries in the database, and upload the data to another table
inside my app. Is that correct?

> ... and when it's submitted to the
script, the info will be written into a database (on the site), and sent to
the client by email.

When you say written into a database, does this mean there is an existing
database of all responses from other users of the form on the site and this
user's responses are added to that database? Or (more likely I imagine) is
this user's responses used to create a new access table just for that one user.
Related to that, does this mean the info is then sent as a database with one
record holding the responses to the form for just one user? Is it emailed as
an attachement e.g., an ms access table attached to an email with the table
having one record for the responses for one user?

If this process is a collection of one record tables, then I imagine I would
need to send all emails to one address used exclusively for collecting this
data, and then use a VB program to monitor that email address and collect these
responses into one database that is then merged into my app for further
processing. But if the reponses can be submitted directly to a database of all
respondents, then my app would only monitor the database and not the email
location where the response tables are being sent.

Hope I expressed this ok. My goal is obviously to allow the data to be
collected thru the internet, but then get that data into my app so it can then
be managed further.

More questions I'm afraid:
Do I write the submit code in PHP to deliver the data to the database?
With FP, forms that collect data can only be run on an FP site. If I create a
DW form to collect the data, what site restrictions would I run into delivering
it to different clients (e.g., does the form actually get shipped to my client
as a .php and is therefore independent of DW and can run on any server
supporting PHP)?

Really appreciate your help. Trying hard to get my head around how this would
work.

Thanks again,
Mark

dreamweaver >> Some beginner help > inside my app. Is that correct?

Yes, more or less.

> So DW lets me create the data entry form, and I
> attach code to the submit button in the form to upload that info into a
> database at the site.

Actually you make the form submit its data to a processing script that you
also create (by way of the action attribute of the form tag, e.g., <form
action="myscript.php"...). It's this script that sends emails, and enters
data into the database.

> When you say written into a database, does this mean there is an existing
> database of all responses from other users of the form on the site and
> this
> user's responses are added to that database?

Yes, but of course you start at record #1 at some point.

> Or (more likely I imagine) is
> this user's responses used to create a new access table just for that one
> user.

Well, that would depend on what you wanted to do, but usually, you would
have created a table of records, each of which contains the info from one
form.

> Is it emailed as
> an attachement e.g., an ms access table attached to an email with the
> table
> having one record for the responses for one user?

No - the email is formulated and formatted completely separately from entry
into the database.

I'm afraid I'm exhausted chasing your incremental questions, though....

> Do I write the submit code in PHP to deliver the data to the database?

Or JSP, or ASP, or .Net, yes.

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"MarkusReady" <email***@***.com> wrote in message
news:etph46$pqn$email***@***.com...
> ACE,
>
> > No. DW doesn't create an app to do this. You must do that yourself,
> > and
> you can *use* DW to do it.
>
> Ah, I am starting to see. So DW lets me create the data entry form, and I
> attach code to the submit button in the form to upload that info into a
> database at the site. If the site server is on an intranet, then that
> server
> could be made available to my app through UNC, and my app could then
> monitor
> these incoming entries in the database, and upload the data to another
> table
> inside my app. Is that correct?
>
> > ... and when it's submitted to the
> script, the info will be written into a database (on the site), and sent
> to
> the client by email.
>
> When you say written into a database, does this mean there is an existing
> database of all responses from other users of the form on the site and
> this
> user's responses are added to that database?
> Or (more likely I imagine) is
> this user's responses used to create a new access table just for that one
> user.
> Related to that, does this mean the info is then sent as a database with
> one
> record holding the responses to the form for just one user? Is it emailed
> as
> an attachement e.g., an ms access table attached to an email with the
> table
> having one record for the responses for one user?
>
> If this process is a collection of one record tables, then I imagine I
> would
> need to send all emails to one address used exclusively for collecting
> this
> data, and then use a VB program to monitor that email address and collect
> these
> responses into one database that is then merged into my app for further
> processing. But if the reponses can be submitted directly to a database
> of all
> respondents, then my app would only monitor the database and not the email
> location where the response tables are being sent.
>
> Hope I expressed this ok. My goal is obviously to allow the data to be
> collected thru the internet, but then get that data into my app so it can
> then
> be managed further.
>
> More questions I'm afraid:
> Do I write the submit code in PHP to deliver the data to the database?
> With FP, forms that collect data can only be run on an FP site. If I
> create a
> DW form to collect the data, what site restrictions would I run into
> delivering
> it to different clients (e.g., does the form actually get shipped to my
> client
> as a .php and is therefore independent of DW and can run on any server
> supporting PHP)?
>
> Really appreciate your help. Trying hard to get my head around how this
> would
> work.
>
> Thanks again,
> Mark
>
>
>

dreamweaver >> Some beginner help ACE,

Thanks for hanging in there for me, and for all your patience.

So to recap:
- I create a form with DW, along with a script file (e.g., myscript.php) that
will be run when the user submits the form.
- the script file could deliver the data to a database, or email it, or both
- If my client is on an Intranet, and server access is available, my app can
monitor the database and collect the data to deliver it to my app using UNC
path to the database.
- If my client is contracting for a web server, I could create the script to
deliver the data to another location (thru FTP, email), where my app can get
access to the new info and upload it.
- If a client is using FP for their web site, safest (and easiest for me since
I know FP well) would be to deliver a FP form for collecting and submitting the
data.

So the advantage of using DW for this data collection project is I can create
a form that will run on most web sites that are not using FP, is that correct?

Lastly, do you know where I might find example PHP scripts for delivering the
form data to a database.

Thanks again, and I apologize for my penchant for the details,
Mark

dreamweaver >> Some beginner help > - the script file could deliver the data to a database, or email it, or
> both

Or more.

> So the advantage of using DW for this data collection project is I can
> create
> a form that will run on most web sites that are not using FP, is that
> correct?

Yes, but you can do that with FP, too. You don't have to use their server
extensions to achieve this functionality.

> Lastly, do you know where I might find example PHP scripts for delivering
> the
> form data to a database.

DW comes with a variety of server behaviors that will allow you to Insert,
Update, or Delete records from a database all triggered by form submission.
You could investigate them, or your could go look on the Adobe sites for
their tutorials on how to do this....

--
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage!
http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes
==================

"MarkusReady" <email***@***.com> wrote in message
news:etpvio$dim$email***@***.com...
> ACE,
>
> Thanks for hanging in there for me, and for all your patience.
>
> So to recap:
> - I create a form with DW, along with a script file (e.g., myscript.php)
> that
> will be run when the user submits the form.
> - the script file could deliver the data to a database, or email it, or
> both
> - If my client is on an Intranet, and server access is available, my app
> can
> monitor the database and collect the data to deliver it to my app using
> UNC
> path to the database.
> - If my client is contracting for a web server, I could create the script
> to
> deliver the data to another location (thru FTP, email), where my app can
> get
> access to the new info and upload it.
> - If a client is using FP for their web site, safest (and easiest for me
> since
> I know FP well) would be to deliver a FP form for collecting and
> submitting the
> data.
>
> So the advantage of using DW for this data collection project is I can
> create
> a form that will run on most web sites that are not using FP, is that
> correct?
>
> Lastly, do you know where I might find example PHP scripts for delivering
> the
> form data to a database.
>
> Thanks again, and I apologize for my penchant for the details,
> Mark
>

dreamweaver >> Some beginner help Ace,

Thanks again for all your help. I see a starting pont now thanks to you.

Mark