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timothyi34297763
Inspiring
April 2, 2018
Answered

Manage Submitted PHP Form Information

  • April 2, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 811 views

What I want to do is set up a form on my website and collect information.

I can create the form with css and html and link it up with a .php file, but I'm not sure what to do next.

How do I organize the information submitted in the forms I create?

Can you recommend a system for me to use? Or something to research?

I'm sure I can get the information submitted to be sent to my email, but of course, this is inefficient to have this data spread out in hundreds  or thousands of emails. So, what should I know to approach this problem? It would be nice if there is a program or plugin or script of some kind to handle this sort of thing. Recommendations appreciated. Right now, just getting my head wrapped around this would be helpful. Cheers.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer timothyi34297763

    the problem Ben, as I tried to explain earlier... is not the data base itself.. but first how do we architecture the database...  and second how to we format the information before placing it in the database...

    as I also said before... some parts can be handle client side, but certainly it has to be controlled server side before storing...


    I have accomplished what I set out to do .

    Use Google forms to design the forms and generate the hmtl embed code and place on my site. Once filled out by a visitor, the data is saved via .csv (continually updates a spreadsheet) which can be imported into mailchimp. Method is viable -- tested and works.

    This is really good news. I am happy. I saved time by not designing the form myself and making it functional (no html5/css/php/mysql). Ideally, gaining more experience and finally getting my head around mysql by doing this manually, would be best for the long run. For now, this will suffice, allowing me to focus on core issues first and not get sidetracked too much doing everything myself manually.

    Cheers.

    1 reply

    B i r n o u
    B i r n o u
    Legend
    April 2, 2018

    How do I organize the information submitted in the forms I create?

    it all depends on which way your question expect an answer...  and as it seams that you al ready know how it works... we need to define better your question...

    1. is this a technical one... I mean... how to handle datas with PHP|JavaScript in a side and SQL|Mongo in an other...
    2. ... or is it based on the management of the data themselves in an storing sense

    concerning the question 1... well most I move on web app development , most I orient myself on Node.. and so .... as you talk about PHP... I know that Nancy, Jon, Ben have a lot of good tutos on that way... and Al propose good extensions too...

    about the number 2, and as you're talking about thousands of entrance... and the most important point to take into account begore storing datas... are two major points,

    • the architecture... you have to ask yourself, if you will have to store the data of this form all in just one place... or will you have to split them into different container, .... so if that is the case, a relation in between those containers will have to be set and define
    • the key indexing in which the datas will be stored...in others words will you store your datas as it ? or will you have to index them in a sort of look at table

    but that is not all... because then ... when the datas will arrive, there are three majors points to take into account which are

    • the cleaning,... most of the time datas can be corrupted, not conformed on what is expected.. or badly structured (if they are complex datas (csv, html snippet, and so on)... or URL encoded...) you will have to clean them before storing
    • the formating... what ever the datas are... they come from an http pipe and depending on the encoding used  they will be sting formatted... so you will have to cast them as expected before storing them... some data can also be time stamped instead of using logical stringified...
    • the extra indexing... all datas necessarly then will have to speak... I mean storing datas for storing datas is not the main goal... you will then have to draw graphics, establish analysis and so on... so indexing all those coming datas is a real need

    sure most of this tasks can be accomplished client side (that will avoid a lot of back and forth)... but some of them necessaraly need to be controled again on a server side with appropriate filters and tools...

    T
    timothyi34297763Author
    Inspiring
    April 3, 2018

    Thank you for your very thoughtful and thorough response. I've read it a few times and I think I'm getting my head around your reply.

    I was struggling to even answer your first two questions, which one is it more about,  and decided it is closer to 2 in a sense, but could even be less specific -- a thousand mile overview of my options. I know what I want to do, but not sure the easiest, or any method to get there.

    It would be nice if I could organize the data entries (each time a user submits the form) in arbitrary ways. I know at the least, I will need to collect data from two different types of users (buyers and sellers). Each would need there own form. Yes, I would want to index this information so I could sort it in various ways.

    I am wondering if perhaps I could achieve want I want to do with something like mailchimp. It sounds like it would be ideal. Each form can be assigned a list. Each time a user submits there form, the email would also be collected, and hopefully there is a way to collect as much information as I want and have it easily accessible in mailchimp. Could this work?

    This would also have the added benefit of allowing me to send out bulk emails to either my buyers or sellers list.

    Someone, please let me know if this is possible and if you would recommend it.

    P.S. Also - perhaps something like google forms could work for this purpose? ... This might be possible too. I could design and embed the form (no css/html/php) on my site and the responses can be saved in a similar fashion to a spreadsheet (so it is indexed already?), furthermore, I could import this spreadsheet list at some point into mailchimp, if I so choose. This is nice. Thoughts, ideas?

    Preferably, if I can keep things in one program, like mailchimp, it would be nice, but I'm not sure if they support anything more advanced than simple subscribe forms. I can easily see this google forms embedded into html then updating a spreadsheet that updates a mailchimp list as a viable workable method. I will see  how it goes. Joyl

    Thanks

    BenPleysier
    Community Expert
    BenPleysierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 3, 2018

    The information can be put into a database. A simple program can retrieve the info into a format of your choice.

    Without knowing a few more specifics it is hard to give any further advice.

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