adding confirmation number when form submitted

[vaidya]

I'm trying to get a confirmation number when a user submits a form. When they submit the form, a confirmation number should appear on the confirmation page. This should be a unique number assigned to each form that is submitted. I have no experience with php at all. Is there any easy way to do this. and also can I use any other program to do this like can I do this with javascript?

[travelbuff]

Hi Vaidya:

Do you need the unique number to show up on the copy of the form that is emailed to you as well? Does the number need to be stored in a db or anything? Does it need to be sequintal?

If you just want a random number, you can use the rand() function: http://us2.php.net/rand

If it just needs to be unique, you can use a timestamp using time() (http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.time.php) which will output the number of seconds since the epoch, so unless 2 users submit the form in the same second, the number will be unique.

[Tracer]

If the form submission is being saved to a database (MySQL) you would be even better off to use the index ID

mysq-_insert_id()

[vaidya]

thanks for your help. I want unique number to show up on the copy of the form that is emailed to me as well and it needs to be sequential. for example it can have current year and some number- 2004-xxxx

[Tracer]

Current year and phone number would not always be unique.. onyl way top gaurantee a unique number would to be to use some sort of database backend (MySQL, MsSQL, Posgre, Oracle, etc etc)

[travelbuff]

You wouldn't necessarily have to use a mysql backend - you could write the number to a text file and increment it each time the form was submitted. However, it would be simpler with mysql.

Vaidya, does your application/site use a db at the moment? Are you using an out-of-the-box form handler or are you writing one?

[travelbuff]

Vaidya, you might have a look at phorm - http://www.phorm.com. There is a plugin modules that does exactly what I think you are after.

I use (a slightly hacked up) phorm for it's security, it is a great script.

[vaidya]

I researched on this topic and it looks like I have to use php and may be set up a database. I don't have any experience in php and database. I am looking into php script but do you know any other way to do this? May be frontpage or javascript. Have you done this before? Let me know

[Tracer]

vaidya,

No offense... But if you haven't noticed this is a PHP forum.... People generally ask for advice and guidance in the PHP programming/scripting language