Multiple instances of form

meburke

Hi, all-

I have a form that needs to stay open until it's complete, and I will need to have a number of these forms open at the same time. I would like the form to open in such a way that the operator can go back and forth between open instances of the form. (New windows are OK, as long as they don't lock the MySQL database.) This has proved to be more challenging than I thought it would be for PHP coding. Can anyone direct me to some examples?

Thanks,

Mike

chrislive

I think you should outline your objective more clearly. Why you need to have multiple forms open. Then we can try come up with an alternative way for you to do this

Chris

meburke

The form is somewhat like a dispatcher's screen, the operator opens the screen, fills in the various descriptions of the tasks and checks them off as the outside employees finishes them, then saves the data to MySQL as the form is closed.

Since the same form is used for all assignments, I only need one form, but I need multiple instances of the form open for periods that vary between 15 minutes and about 3 hours. I prefer to open up multiple cascading instances of the form in one browser instance, but opening up separate windows or pages within the browser is also an option.

The goal is to be able to go back and forth between form instances to fill in data as necessary. I chose PHP as an Open source alternative to ASP.net, but although I see lots of examples of mail and contact forms, I see very few examples of business forms in PHP.

Thanks for your help

lozza1978

Hi There,

These forms you want open, does each form contain a unique key as in a serial number or job number,(or could you create one?)

what I was thinking was,

have 1 form, and inserting the data you have into the form using a job number/SN for that particular record, then submit the form to a mysql database,
later you can call the job number/SN from mysql, finish the form, Once the form is complete and passess validation, to send the contents to a complete table in mysql,

thats how I would do it anyway, I dont like the ida of having loads of forms open all the time.

should throw some ideas your way I hope.

lozza

meburke

It's not a bad idea, but I have to make it do what the operators want done.

leatherback

You can create the form as one file, without submit / form header. With variable fieldnames:

Now the dispatcher starts his day, with a startup form, basically, a form which asks him how many dispatches for that day (If not fixed).

Then you submit the form, and create a list of forms:

for ($i = ; $i<$POST[total_dispatches]; $i++)
{
include("my_form.php");
}

This will create a list of all the sub-forms. You can then create a head & footer for the form, with a safe button, which submits the form, processes the info, and reloads the form, with the data from the database. C'est tout.

I use a similar approach for editing picture-album databases:
upload picture form:

  <p>
  You can upload up to $max_num_upload pictures at a time. 
  </p>";
  for($i = 0; $i<$max_num_upload; $i++)
    {
    $body.="
Foto $i: <input  class=\"formel_1\" type=file name=file$i size=30><br>";
    }

$body.="    

  <button class=\"button_small\" name=\"submit\" type=\"submit\">Upload</button></td></tr>
  </form>";

edit form:


if($photo_exist)
  {
  $picturelist = "";
  foreach($photos as $photo_id => $details)
    {
    $picturelist .= "
    <tr><td class=\"formel_2\"><img src=\"$baseurl".$photoalbumfolder."th_$details[name]\" alt=\"$details[name]\"><br>
    </td><td class=\"formel_2\">
    <input class=\"formel_1\"  type=\"text\" name=\"picture[$photo_id][title]\" size=\"45\" value=\"$details[title]\"> Picture title <br>
    <input class=\"formel_1\" type=\"text\" name=\"picture[$photo_id][date]\" size=\"45\" value=\"$details[date]\"> Picture date (yyyy-mm-dd)<br>
    <input class=\"formel_1\" type=\"text\" name=\"picture[$photo_id][location]\" size=\"45\" value=\"$details[location]\"> Picture Location <br>
    <a href=\"index.php?action=9&image=$photo_id&remove=1&album=$album\">Delete picture</a>
    </td></tr>" ;
    }
    $picturelist .="</table>";

  }

$head_title .= "Aanpassen van album $albums[$album]";

$body .="
<table>
<tr><td colspan=\"2\">
<form action=\"index.php\" method=\"POST\">
<input type =\"hidden\" name=\"action\" value=\"9\">
<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"upload\" value=\"update\">
<input type =\"hidden\" name=\"album\" value=\"$album\">
</span>
</td>
</tr>
".$picturelist."

<INPUT class=\"button_small\" TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE=\"Safe edits\"></form>

";

meburke

I will try this and let you know if I have any problems. Thank you for the reply. Uh, 'nother question: How did you learn this? I've been a programmer for 40 years, have all the references on PHP I can afford, and I'm still struggling to get get my head around it. Do you have a reference that you rely on a lot? I simply couldn't figure out how to manage subforms in PHP.

Thank you again.

Mike

leatherback

Hm..
Got stuck some afternoon, drew a diagram, figured out the logic behind each step, and made it to work.. Suppose that is not helping you much, is it?

My only source is php.net (eka: The manual) and this website. BEsides that.. I do a lot of logical thinking, and learned programming the 'paper way: Programming is structuring your thoughts, not writing the code.'

If you cannot get it to go, PM me, and I am sure we can find a way to get it going.

leatherback

ps: Look at your PM. I sent you some more info which I do not feel like sharing to the world..