PHP form building apps

I should have said that access to the mySQL database - add, edit, delete - is restricted by name and password. A hacker could no doubt break through easily but the people likely to be looking at the site are unlikely to be a problem. As for the suggestion that I look at David Powers tutorials, a quick look at the PHP code would show his strong influence - and direct answers to a few queries on this forum!

The web site I have is up and running and works. It is fairly unsophisticated but it does the job. I'm really looking to improve it and more importantly make it easy for totally non-IT people to maintain it. As someone recently struggled to tactfully point out, I am way past my three score and ten and have to be realistic.

A student for a few hundred pounds? Possibly but money is tight. I am assuming that none of you are UK based so bear with me for going off topic. The Priory is a Grade I Listed Building - i.e. it is legally protected. That, amongst many other things, means that any maintenance job cost twice as much as we have to comply with so many regulations. It is also 900 years old so there are a lot of things to be done - never ending. So a few hundred is a significant sum for us. Hence the amateur route. Not ideal but needs must.

I thought I had replied to your helpful comments but must have had a senior moment and failed to click on post!

Nancy - I'll have a look at your suggestion and let you know what I think.

Rob & Osgood - I agree with your comments and I should invest the time in learning to do it myself. The problem is a combination of the difficulty in learning new things when one is an advanced silver surfer, and the perception that time is limited and there are so many things one wants to do!

To answer Rob's request for information, Our church required software to store data and map grave locations. An off the shelf package cost over £5K - unaffordable. So I offered to do one free. (My background is hobbyist programmer, medical by training and my IT experience is limited to working with IT people developing medical software). What I did for the church does what is needed but is fairly basic (St Bees Priory - Documents & Graveyard data if you're interested). I have an input form which non-IT people can use to enter or edit data on my church's graveyard database, but for some fields it needs drop down lists to aid data entry and to ensure it is in the format I need for other aspects of the program. I don't need a delete function as that would be a rare event. The odd occasion that might be needed can be dealt with by other means. As Osgood says - perfect validation, at least for some fields.

So to achieve this and not spend time learning something I may never need again, I was looking for an easy way!

Sorry!

You need 'perfect' validation when inserting information into a database. If you don't guide the input user through the process step by step with a series of prompts if they fail to insert something which is required and is critical to the project your whole concept will fall to bits.

Its well worth investing the time in learning how to do that yourself rather than relying on some kind of automated process. Before long you will have the app dancing to your tune, not someone elses, who think they know what you require.

I just came across this.  I haven't tired it yet.  But it looks like it might help you.

Bootstrap CRUD Generator

Let me know what you think of it.

Nancy

There's 5 parts to this.  MySQL database, HTML, PHP, CSS and JavaScript.

For backend CMS, I really like to use Bootstrap's open source framework.  Everything you need to create a nice looking application is in there.  Forms, modal windows, buttons, button groups, range sliders, popup hints, etc....   In fact, that's what got me hooked on using Bootstrap in the first place.  It lends itself really well to building apps.  Bootstrap doesn't contain any PHP code however.  You have to add that yourself.

HTML5 form validation works well for most things.  But you still need a little custom JavaScript to keep people from doing wildly foolish things to your CRUD pages.  For example, deleting a record should invoke  a JS alert box that requires confirmation before the record is deleted from dbase.   That's something you have to  program yourself.  

The more you interact with your app, you'll no doubt find other fields that need better controls on them.  This varies by application.

I can't recommend a form building widget for this kind of project because I honestly don't know of any.  App development is not cookie cutter like creating a contact form.   Every App is different.

Nancy

There are form building apps. I have written one that my clients use. But your issue isn't clear. Explain to us exactly the logical steps you are trying to accomplish and how you are interacting with the database.