Forms - Recieving Data

[Carl Briggs]

Hi Guys,

I'm curently adding some features to a website and i'd like to add forms onto the site so that we can ask for feedback, etc.

I can produce the forms in Dreamweaver or a similar WYSIWYG editor, but i'm not sure how to produce the actual page that collects the data. I've borrowed several books from libraries that show you how to create forms, but none of them actually show you or tell you how to collect data. How is the data collected and where is it stored? I'm assuming you have to do something to the server to tell it to collect information, etc?

Cheers guys, I hope you can help :D

[buntine]

Your conceptual ideas are spot on. You have to use a server-side language to collect and store the data.

Theres several methods which can be employed when storing data, the most common being database connectivity. Other mediums include, textfiles, cookies, and XML files. Another common method would be to send the data via email, which in this case, is what you will need to do.

The best thing to do from this point; choose a language and read up on some common form-date-handling techniques. Some good sources are listed below.

www.w3schools.com
www.asp101.com
www.webdeveloper.com

Some common server-side languages include, PHP, ASP, CGI, JSP, and ColdFusion.

Regards,
Andrew Buntine.