Help with storing data please

[Blobby11]

Hi guys,

My first post so here goes (sorry if it's in the wrong place!)

I want to set up a single page site that allows the viewer to enter a small amount of data (email and name)and maybe a couple of multi choice questions.

The data is to be stored and retrieved by me only, in a database type way. the page will be static and have no dynamic content as such.

Can anyone advise on the best way to go about acieving this and maybe a tutorial or something please (is there a simpler way than a database driven site?)

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[Charles]

It's easily done but done differently depending upon the scripting language that you use. What do you have available on the server? PHP? Perl?

[Blobby11]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm not sure which language I can use as yet.

Can you still help?

[felgall]

Your HTML page will need to have a form to collect the information. The <form> tag will have an action= attribute that needs to call a script that will process the form and save the content in your database. To be able to assist you in writing the script that the form will call (or letting you know where you can find one already written) we need to know what server side languages that your hosting supports so that the advise can be relevant to the language that you need the script to be written in. You can't save the information on the server without some sort of server side script to process your form content so the first thing you need to do is to work out what server side language you have available to use for it.

[Blobby11]

Ah, sorry I may have given you the wrong impression.

I'm not asking for help in writing the code, but rather the basic concepts of whaqt i will need, for instance :-

do i need a fully functional database driven site?
or will a simple form on a web page do?
how does the form store the data?
is it simply a case of placing a file in the same location as the site so the form can write to it?

and any other things i should know.

I should mention tho, that there may be as many as a million entries in the database or whatever(will this impact on the type of database i use?) and that I will be using Dreamweaver to build it.

Thanks

[Charles]

do i need a fully functional database driven site?
or will a simple form on a web page do?
how does the form store the data?
is it simply a case of placing a file in the same location as the site so the form can write to it?

and any other things i should know.See the post immediately above.there may be as many as a million entries in the database or whatever(will this impact on the type of database i use?)It will limit the possibilities a bit.I will be using Dreamweaver to build it.Never mind; give up and hire somebody who knows what they are doing.

[ray326]

do i need a fully functional database driven site?No
or will a simple form on a web page do?No
how does the form store the data?The form gives the data structure as it's passed from the browser to the "action" via the web server. It doesn't store it in any significant sense.
is it simply a case of placing a file in the same location as the site so the form can write to it?No but it could be as simple as placing a file in the same location as the "action" so the "action" can append to it.
and any other things i should know.Mighty open ended question, that.
that there may be as many as a million entries in the databaseThen you'd best do with a real database (MySQL, DB2, Oracle, Derby, ...) and a server side environment that can handle it easily like PHP, ASP, JSP/Java.
I will be using Dreamweaver to build it.Any HTML editor will do. It's not likely you'll do the server-side on DW, though, and that's where all the work is.

[grumpyoldtechs]

from the sounds of what you want to do a simple flat file system would work.

i wrote a shout box a while ago for someone which basically uses a txt file.

put the file in a directory and .HTACCESS deny all.

unless your dealing with a large amount of data i cant see you needing a database

[Charles]

unless your dealing with a large amount of data i cant see you needing a databaseYes, but this person is dealing with a large amount of data, about a million entries we are told.

*** note: post #10,000 for me ***

[grumpyoldtechs]

sql it is then :D

[grumpyoldtechs]

See the post immediately above.It will limit the possibilities a bit.Never mind; give up and hire somebody who knows what they are doing.


PMSL ROFL

i like your style.

if your dealing with sensitive data as he said employ someone from the sounds of it don't don't yet know html or CSS so learning a serverside language and dealing with other peoples information isn't a wise thing without the experience to know where the security holes are and whats doing what.

i've been building websites for about 7 years and i wouldn't touch card details for a good few years more(not implying that i think your dealing with card transactions).

wheres theres information about other people theres laws even if its just a name and an email address.

you might want to look at some of the content management systems around they may be more suited to you (but even them you will have a job changing them in design view of dreamweaver)

[Blobby11]

hey cheers guys,

So you all agree that I pretty much need to use a database driven site using sql.

oh and,

'.......and any other things I should know?'

Fair one!! LOL

Thanks guys, much appreciated.