Large Forms: Timeout problems

[facca]

I have a form that has 10 rows of information, each row has 8 fields. Combined with the form header there are a total of approximately 100 fields.

When I test the form, using a DSL connection 70% of the time it cannot find the action script. The problem is that there is too much information being sent.

I'm using the post method. The form gets sent eventually when you press refresh a few times.

The drawbacks are obvious, it's annoying, inefficient and can lead to duplicate entries, plus users will not always have a DSL connection.

The post method sends all the fields even if some are blank. That is the user could fill out two rows and send (16 fields containing) data but the other eight rows (64 fields) would be sent as well even though they are blank.

Could someone suggest a better way to deal with this coding challenge, aside from reducing the size of the form.

Thanks

[Anon]

I don't think it's humanly possible to fill out 100 fields!

There are 2 solutions that I can think of:
1. If each row is the same, you could just output 5 rows. And if the user needs more rows, he or she will press a button and more rows will be created. This is efficient because the form will only have the number of rows that the user needs.

2. Create a multiple-page form. So, in the first page you have 10 fields. The user will press a button that goes to the next page, which will have the second 10 fields. Then, when he's done, he presses the Next button to go to next page which has another 10 fields. etc... With 100 fields and 10 fields in each page, you'll have 10 pages.

Diego

[Anon]

Are you sure "too much information is being sent" and that the problem isn't one of the action script timing out while processing so many fields? I mean, file uploads typically generate much bigger form POSTS than even a hundred text fields.

If it's a processing timeout, then judicious use of set_time_limit() could improve things.