Trying to build online ordering system

gwh

Hi,

I'm totally new to PHP and dynamic web pages as you'll probably guess - I'm just in the process of learning this programming language together with MySQL. I'm trying to build an online ordering system for someone, using these languages and also using Dreamweaver MX. I haven't got all the details yet, but I believe I'm supposed to set up a page whereby customers can order stationery online. I assume that I will have to set up a form in Dreamweaver with all the different text fields and drop down menus and then use PHP to dynamically populate the fields etc. from the MySQL database. I guess my first question is once the user presses the submit button, I assume one of my scripts will send the data to an email address (I only know this becasue I've done this with a simple feedback form and the information just appeared in an email) but I'm wondering is this what will happen with this online stationery ordering system - I mean is that the only way the information can be delivered to the recipient of the form, i.e. in the body of an email with say the form element name and then the value next to it? Is there any particular code in PHP that will process the information in such a way that it can be delivered to someone in a more ordered fashion than what you'd get from a basic form processing script? I'm really just feeling my way here and I don't even know if I've explained myself well enough. I guess the thing is that I really don't know the full capabilities of PHP yet and therefore don't know what can and can't be done. I'd really appreciate any tips anyone could give me here.

Thanks.

gkelly

With this class you can send email that is both in HTML format and text format. Don't let the word 'class' scare you it is extremely easy to use.

Go to the following site and download this class.
http://phpmailer.sourceforge.net

Then put the following line in your PHP code.

require_once($DOCUMENT_ROOT . "/full_path_to_the_file/class.phpmailer.php");

They have some good examples of how to use this the learning curve of implementing this class is literally a 1 on a 1-10 scale.

~Eugene Kelly

thorpe

many ways tyou could do this. for instance... you could have your scripts store the days orders in a database, then, each day an admin could log into the site and view the days orders.

just depends how you (or the person your doing it for) want this done.

gwh

Thank you both for replying,

I've just had a quick look at the phpmailer site - it doesn't really say what the form will look like once it gets emailed which is what I'm really trying to figure out. It says something about string attachments and how you can query your database and pass the returned string to the AddStringAttachment - I'm just wondering how will it be different from sending forms ordinarily - will it be formatted differently or in a better way?

Storing scripts in the database also seems like a good possible solution - can you tell me how I'd go about doing this?

gkelly

Give it a try.

You decide how you want the email to look. Organize the form variables into a variable that contains presentable html code.

description='<table><tr><td><b>Name:</b></td><td>$_POST'.[name].'</td></tr></table>';

This is what you would want to send.

Just give it a try you wont be dissapointed.

~Eugene Kelly

harvillo

The phpmailer class is the way to go as descibed above. However, keep in mind there are several carts out there that are php based that have tackled these hurtles. Unless you're building the cart for the sheer enjoyment and learning experience (which I completely understand) I would first look into built options. Furthermore, using Dreamweaver you may want to look into using MX Coder...plugin to assist with your coding. Good Luck!