[RESOLVED] Generate one form at a time

[tryin_to_learn]

I'm asking the user how many people they want to register for a conference. Then I want to give them the forms one at a time. Like, if they say 5, I give them one form, then they click on submit and I give them the second one and so on. I know this is simple but for some reason, it's eluding me. Can someone point me in the right direction -- either with code or pseudo code? I really should know this.

[Rodney_H_]

Well, what are you doing with the data after the first form is submitted? What specifically are you having difficulty with?

What is the "flow" of the processing of the form(s) that you wish to accomplish?

Please elaborate.

-thanks.

[tryin_to_learn]

Thanks for responding, Rodney.

What I had hoped to do was on each click on submit, to create a sql insert statement to hold the POST data. I was going to name each one based on an index, so if there are 5 forms, the first click of submit would create a variable named $sql1, the next one would create $sql2, etc. Then at the very end, the final click would send all 5 queries to the database so we'd have a record of each person who registers for the conference. So basically, each click just stores the POST data in a variable, then a final click submits the query. Does that help?

[Rodney_H_]

Well, if you are going to insert all the data into the db anyway, why not do it with each form that is submitted. For example:

Joseph: needs to register 4 people.

1st he has to register himself as event "coordinator" or some such thing. HIS info goes into a table called: "event_coordinators"

Then, he may register as many "children" under him as he wishes. The "children" under Joesph are inserted into another table, "event_registrants", who are indexed to a particular "coordinator".

This way, he can come back in a week, login as coordinator, and add another two or three people if he wants.

Upon being registered by Joseph, each "registrant" or "child" under him gets an email with pertinent information, and are asked to login to verify what Joseph has entered, to create a unique password, and so on...

What do you think?? It is just a thought, but seems like it cold work for you.

[tryin_to_learn]

I thought about doing it that way. My concern was that if we allow them to register their registrants one at a time, they might forget and at a future time, re-register someone who was already registered. That was why I was going to ask them to register everyone at once. (Most people aren't going to have more than 4 or 5 people to register.) I am going to provide them with IDs though, so that they can append to the registrations.

However, whether I do the queries in a batch or with each form submit, I still want to be able to ask them how many of each kind of form they need, then present the forms one at a time. That's the part that has me stumped. I can present them all at once, but that could end up being a ridiculously long page, so I was hoping to present them sequentially. So the submit click on one form would take them to the next form in addition to storing the sql data or whatever. How do I do that? (Incidently, when I say next form, I'm not talking about a new page -- these are multi-page forms.)

[bodzan]

...to store the data from one form and then redirect to a same form to enter a new set of data to store it to another session variable...

Basically when you create a $sql1 just create a $SESSION['sql1'] and later on $SESSION['sql2'] and so on... So at a last page you can enter all of these into the db... How about that?

[Rodney_H_]

tryin_to_learn wrote:

I thought about doing it that way. My concern was that if we allow them to register their registrants one at a time, they might forget and at a future time, re-register someone who was already registered.

That was why I suggest each coordinator must register themselves first. Then, if they come back, they have to login. When they are freshly registered, or come back to the site after any amount of time and login, you can do a qucik query and present the names/emails of the people they have already reg'd under them as "event_registrants". Also, before you do an insert, you can query the db to see if a user already exists by seeing if their email address already exists or not. Simple.

I think this will give you more flexibility. In the event people are interrupted in the middle of the process, if you only batch the inserts at the end, their work could be lost.

tryin_to_learn wrote:

However, whether I do the queries in a batch or with each form submit, I still want to be able to ask them how many of each kind of form they need, then present the forms one at a time. That's the part that has me stumped. I can present them all at once, but that could end up being a ridiculously long page, so I was hoping to present them sequentially. So the submit click on one form would take them to the next form in addition to storing the sql data or whatever. How do I do that?

Yes, that is the OTHER reason why I made my suggestions. They register themselves as coordinator, and then you say, "thank you for registering. What would you like to do now? ADD a new registrant, DELETE a registrant, or VIEW all the registrants under you?"

They can do things one at a time. After each time they add a new person under them, you present them with a very simple menu. WIth three or four options:

• View all
• Add new
• Delete current
• Edit current

The menu is presented to them if they are logged in (or newly registered) OR if they just completed an insert of a new user.

tryin_to_learn wrote:

(Incidently, when I say next form, I'm not talking about a new page -- these are multi-page forms.)

Another reason to do it the way I suggest. My way requires more work than storing the values in SESSION as Bodzan suggests, (side to Bodzan: I was thinking of that, too. Good suggestion. He might opt to go that way.)

However, (apologies to Bodzan for this) I think my way is better for two reasons:

1) It is more user friendly by providing options and a history if people already added

2) less chance of losing data entered if user is interrruped

*NOTE to you and Bodzan: These are just my opinions, of course, and there is a good chance that you or Bodzan will think of something even better no doubt. I am just compelled to argue my beliefs with conviction until proven wrong... :p

[bodzan]

..the way that Rodney H. describes is by far the best method to do such a thing. My method is a quick and dirty fix to your problem BUT if you want to make more robust and more flexible system then by all means go by Rodney's suggestions..

In the worst case scenario you will develop something you don't need right now, but could use in the future and a little extra hard work will allways pays off...

[Rodney_H_]

/ thanks, Bodzan ! /

[tryin_to_learn]

I think you're both awesome. Thanks, guys. : )