Drag from table listing and Drop into form?

georgop

Hello All-

I am looking to optimize a simple-sounding task that is actually quite inefficient for me.

I have built a form with 32 fields; each field should be capable of accepting one of 5,000+ possible values.

Currently, I use an SQL query to load the 5,000 values into a variable, building a <select><option> list.

I then load these massive drop-downs into the form.

As you can imagine, while the data is properly transferred, it takes forever for this page to render... it is over 4MB big! I need something more efficient...

In my mind's eye, I picture downloading the 5,000 values once into a table on the right-side of the page; then clicking each desired value and dragging it to the form on the left, dropping it into any of the available 32 fields.

Is anyone out there aware of any scripts/software/methods that would allow me to accomplish this task? Anyone willing to turn this around quickly for hire? I am REALLY looking to get this functionality onto my site within 7-10 days... help!

Thanks.
Georgop
johng AT sportsgrumblings DOT com

Piranha

Is it possible for you to use checkboxes instead of drop down lists? Then you only have to load once.

Is it possible to order the values in categories? If so, then you could load the categories and then, when a category is selected, you can use AJAX to load the values for that category. Maybe you need 2 categories and then the selected stuff (animals - dogs - collie), but it could be done the same way.

Anyway, it seems that listing 5000+ values would be very user-unfriendly. I would not use that site until you change it.

georgop

Piranha wrote:
Is it possible for you to use checkboxes instead of drop down lists? Then you only have to load once.

Is it possible to order the values in categories? If so, then you could load the categories and then, when a category is selected, you can use AJAX to load the values for that category. Maybe you need 2 categories and then the selected stuff (animals - dogs - collie), but it could be done the same way.

Anyway, it seems that listing 5000+ values would be very user-unfriendly. I would not use that site until you change it.

LOL... I wouldn't either, which is why I haven't published the page!

It is a sports site, and the goal is to allow a user to enter a custom team of 32 players... out of a possible 2,600 (after posting, I whittled down the number of eligible players).

Any suggestions are welcomed, although I think that if I broke it up into categories, it might go faster...

I have no coding experience with AJAX. Are there ready-made scripts you think might be useful?

Piranha

Sorry, but I don't know AJAX, I just know about AJAX. But I'm sure that you can find a tutorial and lots of instructions by a simple google search.