Help Needed

[trueparadox]

I have an interesting dilemna. I'm attempting to put up a sight where a customer can select several options and go to a new page, select an option there, and go on, etc.. At the end of this string of pages I am hoping to have a text field with the selected options listed in the field.

I'm no javascript programmer by any means, I'm mostly a graphic designer that is currently being pushed into the web design field by the company I work for. They have this project they want done and I have not the first idea how to carry variables from one page to another and display them in any shape or form.

Can someone give me a hand on this or at least some place where I can possibly find something like this?

[trueparadox]

I guess this problem is a little too complicated for the users here... so back to the drawing board.

[gil davis]

If you need a secure way to pass data, then you need server-side code.

If you aren't too terribly worried about that, then using the URL is a good way to pass data. See http://developer.netscape.com/viewsource/goodman_url_pass/goodman_url_pass.html for an excellent example.

Another way would be to have a main page that is open throughout the process. This main page would store the data and open child windows in succession.

Yet another way (but similar to the previous one) is to use a frame. The frame would hold the data and open the new pages in the framesset rather than opening child windows.

[trueparadox]

Those sound like great options, but not exactly what I'm looking for. Let me explain what the project is a little better. The project is to build a note system that will allow me to take menu's with checkboxes, and radials. Say I might go through and remove a checkbox, and switch a radial. This *code* would say "Checkbox X was removed" and "Radial button was switched from Blah to Gush". Then the next page is changed and a text field changed to "xxx.xxx.xx.xxx" and then it goes to the finish page and you click a submit box to finish the call and it puts a text ticket with the variables of your checkboxes, radial, and text fields into a new textbox for you to either cut and paste or straight submit into the tickecting database. Does this sound like something possible?

[gil davis]

Does this sound like something possible?Many things are possible, but not all things are advantageous.

<rant>
Our company has implemented some fancy personnel forms on our server. Forms that appear designed by someone with nothing better to do with his life than to irritate the employees. Not only are the forms slow, they stutter and flash as bits and pieces are changed and manipulated. If they had given me a plain text or Word document that I had to manually fill in and send by snail mail, I would be done by now and back to my real job.
</rant>

If you are looking for a paid consultant, I'm not it. I help people here when I know a direct simple answer or if the problem peaks my interest or curiosity. It's my hobby. What you are apparently asking for is more than I care to contribute.

Perhaps there is someone else here that will help.

[trueparadox]

That's fair, though I'm really not looking for someone to write this big engine for me, just really need a script that will take certain variables and store them... maybe it can just be done with cookies? The whole site will be on our intranet... <ponders>

[gil davis]

Yes, cookies are an option I had forgotten to mention. Probably because they are used for persistent data, and your query didn't sound like it needed to be persistent.

[trueparadox]

Well, the cookies could be removed upon completion of the ticket. What I need is a way to, without having to use a database, store variables activated by checkboxes, radials, and text fields. At the end of this process, it will retrieve the infor from the cookie and input it as the value of a textbox. I guess more than anything, I'm needed another brain to help me storm this out into something more defined so I know exactly what I need to ask... I'm a graphic artist really, and unfortunately... as much as I would love to hire a paid consultant, my company won't allow it in the budget. So I guess I'm in one heck of a pickle huh? :)