I understand the save the page form data into the session. But I don't know what you mean by just pass it from page to page. Would that mean having all the fields in regular form fields to accept the entered data and also hidden corresponding fields to hide page 1 data in as page 2 is entered and for page 3, page 1 & 2 would be in hidden fields? This results in all that data being passed back and forth between the web server and the user. This would really be slow for a dial up user. Or am I not understanding what you were talking about.
Using the 3 page method with data being written by page, I would have flag on the record which would not be a user input field, but a program control to identify the record as not usable until all 3 pages have been executed. Since all the fields are not mandatory there will always be empty fields and that is ok by business design. -----Original Message----- From: Brett Harvey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 4:35 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; mysql@lists.mysql.com Subject: Re: Very large from Both methods are "commonly" used. Another method used is to have multiple pages like you've mentioned but save all the data into a session (of just pass it from page to page) until all 3 pages are complete and then write all the data at once The question to ask yourself is, do you want just partial data, an incomplete form, to be in your database/table. If you don't, then method 1 or the method I just mentioned is the way to go. Otherwise you'll have incomplete data in your dataset. Surveys do both of any/all 3 of these methods. Of course, with ajax now, I'm seeing more written to the database while a user is inputing their data and then the web application has to remove, at some point, incomplete data. Good Luck! >Have to develop form with over 100 input fields plus 40 different >drop downs. Seeking advice on technique to use. Thinking about >single form where user has to use the power bar to move deeper into >the form. This has benefit that every thing is written to the >database at one time, but the draw back is the user frustration in >entering so much data at one time. Alternate thoughts are breaking >it down into 2 or 3 separate pages with each page being written to >the data base. First page does a insert to create the row, then >following pages do updates to complete populating the row with data. > >Has anyone done anything like this or have seen this done before. >What advice can you offer. >Where to look for examples. > >Thanks > > > > >-- >MySQL General Mailing List >For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql >To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ /Brett C. Harvey; /Creative-Pages.Net, President; /Facility Management Systems, CTO (www.fmsystems.biz); /Lasso Partner Association Member ID #LPA135259 (www.omnipilot.com/www.lassopartner.com); -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
