Re: [PHP] Re: Form 2 PDF 2 Form

[Cesar Cordovez]

I had the exact same problem with a form some time ago.  Definetely the 
best way to do it is "spanning" the form. I don't think the temp table 
will do.  I did it with a session variable wich saves the info from the 
form and what part of the form you are.  So the user can flip between 
pages in the form.  Here is some code that will help you do it.  (From 
the top of my mind, code not tested, use it with care!)

<?php

session_register("userform");

if (!isset($userform["step"])) $userform["step"]=1;
$step = $userform["step"];
if (isset($_POST["confirm"])) {
   switch ($step):
       case "1":
               $userform["whateverfieldname"] = 
$_POST["whateverfieldname"];
               // etc
               break;
       case "2":
               // more...
               break;
       case "3":
               // more...
               break;
       case "4":
               // more...
               if (This is the last step) {
                   .. save $userform to the database
               }
               break;
      }
}

print("<form>");
printf("<input type="hidden' name='step' value='%s'>", $userform["step"]);
print("<input type="hidden' name='confirm' value='1>");
print("<table>");
switch($step) {
   case "1":
      // place here the fields for step 1
       break;
   case "2":
      // place here the fields for step 2
       break;
   case "3":
      // place here the fields for step 3
       break;
   case "4":
      // place here the fields for step 4
       break;
}
print("</table>");
print("</form>");
?>

HTH

Sævar Öfjörð wrote:

You could use a temp table in the database which gets cleaned up both
when the last page is completed or if there is data in it when the user
starts from scratch. Of course you would have to use sessions to
identify each user to each line of temp data. I'm not sure if this will
work, there are some problems to overcome here.
-----Original Message-----
From: Petre Agenbag [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: 1. júlí 2003 12:01
To: Shivanischal A
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [PHP] Re: Form 2 PDF 2 Form

Hi Shiva
Appreciate your input. Wrt the spanning of the form, I think, in my
situation, it would actually make things worse... You see, my suspicion
is that most of the users who are experiencing problems, have very bad
connections, many complain that they lose connectivity while they are
busy with the form ( it takes them maybe 30 min or so to fill out the
entire form ( they basically transfer the data off paper forms they have
filled out earlier while "on-site", so it's not really alot of data, but
there are a lot of fields...)
So, my fear with this approach is that they will maybe get past the
first part of the form, submit that OK, then start getting trouble with
subsequent parts, leaving me with a whole lot of partial entries in the
DB., and how do I get them to "resume" at a a later stage?
You don't understand the mindset of these people, when something goes
wrong, they'll switch off their PC's and try to start from scratch, so
it's going to be difficult to try and get them to understand the concept
of multi-part forms... I shudder to even think what will happen, or
worse, how I will be able to allow them to make corrections on a certain
part of the form once they have submit it. And sometimes, to their
defense, it's not them that want to change the details on the form, but
the subject of the form who has decided to change their name etc...
I'm not ditching this idea, I will definitely give it some more thought,
it's just at this moment, my mind is running through my original idea of
PDF forms trying to evaluate it.
Each method will have it's pro's and cons, and I'll have to go and weigh
them. I must add, I don't see "effort" as a con for a particular
solution, as long as I know it will solve the problem without adding
other cons...
Thanks again, will take it up with you again ( need some more input on
this PDF thing to get some balanced views)
PS, if you have experience with using this method, I would appreciate it
if you could let me have your "field notes" and how successfull it's
working for you.
You see, the main thing here is that I need to KNOW when someone who
says they have submitted something actually have, and that they are not
trying their luck...
 
On Tue, 2003-07-01 at 13:43, Shivanischal A wrote:
 

hi,

seems u have complicated task on hand mate. cant u simply consider
   

span the
 

user input over multiple pages? i mean using 2 or more form on
   

different
 

pages instead of a single form on one single page. if this cant be
   

done,
 

we'll think of other measures. but this is by far the most simple
   

method
 

-shiva

"Petre Agenbag" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
   

Hi List

OK, firstly, sorry if this has been on the list before...

What I'd like to do is something like this:

I currently have an app that takes user input via a normal html
     

form,
 

and then pops the content into mysql.

The problem is that lots of user complain that the submit times out
     

due
 

to slow/bad connections, and hence the data gets lost.

What I was hoping to do now, was to somehow create a PDF form from
     

the
 

current html form ( should generate itself on the fly ) , the PDF
     

form
 

will obviously need to be downloaded to the user's PC, and will be
unique for each time they use the system, ie, I don't want to just
     

give
 

them a blank template PDF, some of the values need to be
"auto-completed" and inserted into the form as "read-only", as well
     

as a
 

couple of "hidden" fields with identifying values so I can know
     

where to
 

pop it into the db.

The idea is that the user will now come to the point where he would
usually have filled in the html form, but instead, the app must
autogenerate a PDF with some values auto-completed and/or hidden,
     

and
 

the user then downloads the pdf to his/her PC, where they continue
     

to
 

fill out the pdf form.

Then, on completetion, I'd like to investigate several delivery
mechanisms, arguably, the easiest way for the users ( who are mostly
techno-peasants), is to simply e-mail the pdf as an attachment to
     

me),
 

but then I will either have to create an auto-parser for the email
(prolly difficult and prone to problems with making sure the
     

attachment
 

is correct etc), or I will have to then manually process the
attachments.
Either way, I would need to "feed" the pdf to my app, where the
form/hidden variables would need to be harvested from the form, and
     

noly
 

then (after validation), be entered into the db.

So, simple concept, but I'm sure many pitfalls, the least being
     

probably
 

that I have never done this, and don't know where to start, or even
     

if
 

it's possible/advisable to follow this route.

Hence my post here...

     

   



 





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