Large form

p1tst0p

Hi there,

i wonder if someone could give me some pointers..

i have a form, which has 7 sections in it.. with 7 questions per section.... now this form looks massive when its all in one, and i doubt that my clients will like filling in this form..

also, some sections may not be aplicable to some clients..

What i would like to do.. is have a page.. which has tick box's for each section.. and depending on which boxes they select, it builds the form..

i thought about splitting the form into 7 php files... then using some kind of if statement, to include the php files that are selected.. would this work ? is this the best way ? and most importantly, how would one do this ?

im fairly new to PHP, and would appreciate any help..

Thanks in advance.

adamgeorge

Hey,

I've been making this huge questionaire thing for a client, and it has like 80 fields lol.

It's huge. but I came up with a good layout, that used the screen space efficently, and was able to put it all on one page. If you can, I'd recommend that. Cause it's a real pain in the arse to be passing along variables from the previous form page to the next.

Do it on one file, will be much neater that way. That doesn't mean you can't split it up so some shows on one page view, and the rest on the next, but you should be able to do it all in one file.

Just pass some variables in the query string so you know where you're up to:

<a href="/Form.php?page=2">Go to next page</a>

....

displayPage($page);

What i would like to do.. is have a page.. which has tick box's >for each section.. and depending on which boxes they select, it >builds the form..

Well... just depends on what you're doing with the form. If they have to go through the entire form, well if it's too big split it up into pages, and just show one page at a time. I don't know that's usefull to get them to select with a check box... but then it may be... It will depend on what the form is for.

I mean if they have to fill in certain sections then check boxes may not be the best solution.

i thought about splitting the form into 7 php files... then using >some kind of if statement, to include the php files that are >selected.. would this work ? is this the best way ? and most >importantly, how would one do this ?

if the forms are really big, and you need the application to be really fast, or the servers under quite a bit of a load, then that would be an ok idea. But otherwise, it's prolly not nessesary. Would be easer to just put it all in the one file, and just display whatever sections of the from are nessessary.

well, good luck man.
-Adam 🙂

p1tst0p

Hi there mate.
thanks for your reply..

Like i say, some sections are not applicable to the users..

for example... i have the following sections.

Consultancy
Technical Implementation
Training
Ongoing Technical Support ( Helpdesk )
Ongoing Technical Support ( Account Management )
Commercial Account Management
Overall

Therefore, if we have only sold, consultancy to a client, only the Consultancy, and Overall sections are applicable to this client.

Therefore, i need some way to chop them out.. so they are not displayed at all.

Any ideas ?

adamgeorge

Ok, so what is this used for though? it is a help section? or information on services you provide? It's really the bigger picture which will effect how you would implement this.

hmmm... well, from a basic point of view, you have 2 main ways you could go:

You could let the user browse through this information and let them select for themselves what is relevant to them, and the project they've undertaken with you. You check box idea would suit this (although I wouldn't use check boxes, just hyperlinks and let them browse around would be ok)
If information on a client is stored in a database, and I mean in the way of you keep information on the types of projects a client has undertaken with you, then you could look for this in the database, and display the relevant forms when the user visits the page.

In this case, you would have to build some sort of login for them, and it may be a bit of a pain in the arse.

Just depends on what this information is being used for. If it's very important that a client only reads information relevant to them and the work they're doing with you, then option 2 may be the way to go.

Else, if it doesn't really matter, then the first option would be the quickest to get going.

... there's prolly other things you could do too, but I just thought of that off the top of my head.

Which way you want to go will depend on how complex a system you plan on building... probably you have some sort of software for managing project, or whatever it is you do with your clients, yeah? if so, maybe try and tie it in with that...

cya,
-Adam 🙂

p1tst0p

Hi again Adam,

im not to fussed about them only seeing the section that they need, i just want to chunk it down so its not to big, where they have to scroll all the way down to find the section they require..

the data is stored in a DB, just for reporting use, therefor it would be easyer just to use links i imagine.. the reson i wanted to use checkboxes.. was cus some clients may need 3 sections, some may need 4 and some may need only 2.. therefore, it would have been nice, for them to select the 3 sections they require and then those 3 sections apear as one page..

get me ?

adamgeorge

Ok. Well, I don't see that being very practical... it would be anoying maybe? hmm.. and users suck at making descisions. They'd prolly check the wrong boxes, and then you'd wonder why they weren't filling in the correct forms.

prolly let them browse through. Come up with a good navigation system, that lets them easily find the correct form they need to fill out.

That would prolly be the best thing to do.

Although, it prolly wouldn't take long to whip up the thing you are talking about with the check boxes. Mabye give it a bit of a trial with some test users. If it's easy to use and understand, it might not be a bad idea...

cya
-Adam 🙂

p1tst0p

OK,
either way..
what would be the best way to do it, split each section into its own php file ?

or do you have a better / easyer way

or possibly an example

how did you say you had sorted your massive form out ?

adamgeorge

I just put it all on one page. Yeah, it was a very long page, but it just made things easier. As a web user I hate clicking around anyway. I'd rather scroll.

But if scrolling is not the prefered option, then you could do something like this:

Use one file. Have some function in it like so:


function displayForm1(){
   ?> <input type=text ... etc. <?
}

function displayForm2(){
   ?> <input type=text ... etc. <?
}

function displayForm3(){
   ?> <input type=text ... etc. <?
}

switch($_GET["formnum"]){
   case 1:
      displayForm1();
      break;
   case 2:
      displayForm2();
      break;
   case 2:
      displayForm3();
      break;
}

so you just navigate between forms by passing

?formnum=1 or whatever number

in the query string.

Depending on your table structure, after a user submits a form you may either want to insert that data straight into the database, or you may want to pass it on to the next form, and keep doing that untill they have completed all their relevant forms and then insert it all in one go into the database.

so yeah, it could get anoying passing all that data around, but it shouldn't be too tricky.

But that's why I prefered to have everything in one form. It just made things easier, esp if you have lots of data validation going on.

hope that helps.
-Adam 🙂

p1tst0p

Hi adam,
sorry to be a pain,

being a newbie.. where would one put the sections in your example then..

im assuming, somewhere in these parts ?

function displayForm1(){
?> <input type=text ... etc. <?
}

adamgeorge

Yeah, I just couldn't be bothered writing out a sample form lol.

pretty much just write a function that prints out each form with all it's elements and stuff:


function startForm($sAction){
  ?><form action="<?=$sAction?>" method="POST"><?
}

function displayForm1(){
   globals $sServiceDesc, $sServiceCost;
?> 
Service Description:<br>
<input type=text name=sServiceDesc value="<?=htmlentities($sServiceDesc)?"><br>

Cost:<br>
<input type=text name=sServiceCost value="<?=htmlentities($sServiceCost)?"><br>

etc.

<? 
}

function displayForm2(){
.. same sorta stuff here...

}

function endForm(){
   echo "</form>";
}

Then just call the appropriate functions when the user access the page:

startForm("");   // Leave parameter empty to post to same page

switch($_GET["formNum"]){
   case 1:
       displayForm1();
       break;
   case 1:
       displayForm2();
       break;
}

endForm();

The tricky bit will be how you will handle the data after the form has been posted. Displaying the form will be the easy part...

p1tst0p

Hi Adam,
iv sent you a Private Message,
its getting quite long on here.. when its only us talking.