Website Design Forum - beginner's question

Author

beginner's question

Richard Crist

2006-08-04, 7:01 pm

Re my website (in the planning stages only), which will feature a web form:
I want to have data from the form integrated into a private document on my
PC. (Then, after editing the document, I'll post it as a web page.) I
understand that a PHP, CGI (or other) script can be used to process the
data, but what I don't quite understand is how a script that exists, and
functions, on the server can insert form data into a document that exists on
my own PC. Must I first upload the document to the server so that the form
data can be integrated into it on the server, and then download the modified
document (as a private web page via my browser?) back to my PC so that I can
edit it?

Thanks.

Richard Crist

Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd

2006-08-04, 7:01 pm

On Fri, 04 Aug 2006 18:42:01 +0200, Richard Crist <ptero@bestweb.net>
wrote:

> I understand that a PHP, CGI (or other) script can be used to process the
> data, but what I don't quite understand is how a script that exists, and
> functions, on the server can insert form data into a document that
> exists on my own PC.

Unless your PC *is* the server, this is not possible. And you should be
glad about it: if you put that form online, anyone can enter data and
submit it! Imagine how vulnerable your system would be if it was
accessible to all the world via your form.

> Must I first upload the document to the server so that the form
> data can be integrated into it on the server, and then download the
> modified
> document (as a private web page via my browser?) back to my PC so that I
> can edit it?

Yes.

--
Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd

SteveSomebody

2006-08-05, 7:00 am

Richard Crist wrote:
> Re my website (in the planning stages only), which will feature a web form:
> I want to have data from the form integrated into a private document on my
> PC. (Then, after editing the document, I'll post it as a web page.) I ... -snip-

SteveSomebody responded...
You'll probably need to be more specific and this probably isn't the
correct group but;
You have two decisions to make;
1 What server side technology you'll use
2 What methodology you'll use

1 PHP and CGI will work. So will ASP, ASP.Net, JSP, Coldfusion and no
doubt many others.
2 I can think of two methodologies. First, use your pc as a web server.
Second do as you suggest and have the webform create or amend a file on
the eweb server and then ftp down the file, amend it locally and ftp
back to the web server.

More detailed response will require more detail about exactly what
you're trying to achieve.

Also, it's a big job for a beginner.... Good luck!

Steve
www.webmasterex.com
www.fontmadness.com

Richard Crist

2006-08-07, 3:44 am

Thanks for your help. I had dared to imagine that integrating form data into
local documents would be one of the things most frequently done with form
data, and that by now there would be pretty straightforward, relatively easy
options available. But I guess it goes to prove the old saying: nothing is
easy.

Richard

SteveSomebody <s.mersereau@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:1154775059.872354.106900@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Richard Crist wrote:
form:[color=darkred]
my[color=darkred]
.... -snip-[color=darkred]
>
> SteveSomebody responded...
> You'll probably need to be more specific and this probably isn't the
> correct group but;
> You have two decisions to make;
> 1 What server side technology you'll use
> 2 What methodology you'll use
>
> 1 PHP and CGI will work. So will ASP, ASP.Net, JSP, Coldfusion and no
> doubt many others.
> 2 I can think of two methodologies. First, use your pc as a web server.
> Second do as you suggest and have the webform create or amend a file on
> the eweb server and then ftp down the file, amend it locally and ftp
> back to the web server.
>
> More detailed response will require more detail about exactly what
> you're trying to achieve.
>
> Also, it's a big job for a beginner.... Good luck!
>
> Steve
> www.webmasterex.com
> www.fontmadness.com
>

Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd

2006-08-07, 3:44 am

On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:40:28 +0200, Richard Crist <ptero@bestweb.net>
wrote:

> Thanks for your help. I had dared to imagine that integrating form data
> into
> local documents would be one of the things most frequently done with form
> data, and that by now there would be pretty straightforward, relatively
> easy
> options available. But I guess it goes to prove the old saying: nothing
> is
> easy.

If it was a good idea to do such a thing, then yes, straightforward
solutions would probably be available. But why would simple methods be
developed to do something incredibly stupid?

--
Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd

SteveSomebody

2006-08-07, 7:22 am

Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:40:28 +0200, Richard Crist <ptero@bestweb.net>
> wrote:
.... But why would simple methods be
> developed to do something incredibly stupid?

SteveSomebody replied:
It really isn't a stupid idea, it's an idea. I can think of lots of
reasons a programmer might want to do this. Hey, I could use this. In
computing there are no stupid ideas, just stupid implementations! In
real life of course it's different....

Steve
www.fontmadness.com
"How much can one body take? The concrete shoes, the hungry lake"

Richard Crist

2006-08-08, 4:07 am

Sorry. I wasn't very clear. What I meant to say was: having understood and
accepted the point that it'd be really bad to have script directly amending
a document on your PC, I was reacting to Steve's comment that having the
form amend a file on the server, etc., would be a big job for a beginner. I
meant to say that I wouldv'e thought that a methodology such as Steve
describes would've evolved by now to a point where it'd be easy to
implement. I'd hoped that there might be well-established systems
available--for instance, perhaps, some already written PERL script that'd do
exactly what I want to do, or a commercial product that'd do it...

Richard

Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:op.tdwhiowunmqb9p@nautilus...
> On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:40:28 +0200, Richard Crist <ptero@bestweb.net>
> wrote:
>
form[color=darkred]
>
> If it was a good idea to do such a thing, then yes, straightforward
> solutions would probably be available. But why would simple methods be
> developed to do something incredibly stupid?
>
> --
> Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd

George Chapman

2006-08-25, 6:59 pm

In article <12d6ue6ji7ol00e@corp.supernews.com>, ptero@bestweb.net
says...
> Re my website (in the planning stages only), which will feature a web form:
> I want to have data from the form integrated into a private document on my
> PC. (Then, after editing the document, I'll post it as a web page.) I
> understand that a PHP, CGI (or other) script can be used to process the
> data, but what I don't quite understand is how a script that exists, and
> functions, on the server can insert form data into a document that exists on
> my own PC. Must I first upload the document to the server so that the form
> data can be integrated into it on the server, and then download the modified
> document (as a private web page via my browser?) back to my PC so that I can
> edit it?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Richard Crist
>
>
>

What you want to do here has already been done, but perhaps not with the
method you describe. If viewed from a different angle, it's actually a
very common business procedure. I'm going to try to be generic here, as
this is a general web design forum, though I'd be glad to offer
specifics if need be. At the moment my languages and platforms of choice
are LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) for web applications, and
Windows/Delphi for the desktop. But I'm getting off track...

The pattern here would be something like this...

1) Form data gets entered on a web page, and stored in a database,
possibly being checked for errors and correct format before being
stored.

2) The person who needs the document once again goes to the website, to
a DIFFERENT web page (script), which generates a REPORT from the
database. That report (or in your case, the document you seek) can then
be automatically be created and converted into a multitude of formats,
including Adobe Acrobat Reader (.PDF), Microsoft Word (.DOC), Plain Text
(.TXT), or even a spreadsheet or Quicken or Quickbooks for finacial
data. The only real limit is having the details of the required file
structure available.

3) Multiple report configurations might be created. Perhaps one document
that just contains data from the last 30 days of activity, or from the
previous fiscal month or year.

Hope this helps.