Any HTML gurus out there? I need help please...

[eljizzle]

How do I get information submitted in an HTML form to me?

I am just learning HTML because I'm designing an internal website for my company. I have a page where users will submit queries in a form. I found the code for the form and have managed to alter enough to make it look like I need it to, but I need to figure out how to make the results get to me. The web server will essentially be a mapped network drive. I need the results of the form either left on the drive in a text file or whatever, or emailed to me, I don't care which, whichever is easier.... Can someone explain to me the easiest way to do this...or point me in the right direction? Thanks so much...

[psionic storm]

hi, you would want to make a <form> in your html and then write cgi to handle the user's input.

you need to know a programming language like python/c

for more information on html goto w3.org
for more information on writing cgi in c,
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/cgic.html
for more information on python go to python.org

[pokergrader]

Just search the internet for "form processing php script" and you will find what you need.

C and Python are not the right tools for this simple job, stick to PHP.

[eljizzle]

[ QUOTE ]
hi, you would want to make a <form> in your html and then write cgi to handle the user's input.

you need to know a programming language like python/c

for more information on html goto w3.org
for more information on writing cgi in c,
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/cgic.html
for more information on python go to python.org




Just search the internet for "form processing php script" and you will find what you need.

C and Python are not the right tools for this simple job, stick to PHP.

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks

[eljizzle]

Ok...I'm still having trouble here....I got php downloaded, but the install looks insanely complex. I know this sounds dumb, but I only have access to the shared drive, not the computer that drive (and web files) is one or its OS. It is going to be a very small site, like 15 pages or so with information and one page with the one form. This form is pretty much the reason this site is being implemented and I'm about to go insane trying to figure it out. I have the form perfect, I just can't figure out how to get the information sent to me or left on the server in a file. All the client computers are using updated firefox, so I've got to imagine that they are using the latest java. This being said, I am fine with a client side solution as well. If anyone can help further, I'd be very appreciative, I really have no idea what I'm doing and my job may depend on this....(long story)

THANKS

[kerowo]

You will need to talk to the IT guys about getting PHP installed on the server.

[eljizzle]

[ QUOTE ]
You will need to talk to the IT guys about getting PHP installed on the server.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it still considered a "server" if I just have one folder of the .html files on a folder of this mapped drive? I don't even know where that computer is, and I can't find out due to reasons I won't go into. Can I just put certain php files in that folder and have it work? Is there ANY other way to do this besides server side? I mean there is seriously no idea that is too basic...all I need is a reliable way to get the data that was put in the form, i don't care what format or file type its in....I mean something as crazy as automatically doing a "save as" and saving the page or something...i don't know...thats probably not an html function, but again, I'm looking for client solutions here...thanks in advance to anyone that can help

[kazana]

It's easy enough to find out if php is installed.

Just drop a phpinfo.php file into the directory with this in it:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>&lt;? echo phpinfo(); ?&gt;</pre><hr />

Then request that file in your web browser. If it returns some table with all kinds of settings and parameters, you'll know it works. If it returns the above, php is not installed.

[kerowo]

I believe that PHP is interpreted, what the means is that there is a program running on the server* that reads the PHP code and executes it. If you don't have authority on that box to run programs you won't be able to do anything with the forms once they are filled out. In fact, I'm not sure how you are going to get anything to go back to that location.

I'm assuming you are pointing directly to the file on that server and there isn't a web server running there, so when the browser posts back the stuff in the form there isn't anything on the back side to read it.

If you don't have access to the machine and can't get the owner of the machine involved and it's top secret then you 1) have a crappy job and 2) are probably out of luck. You would be better off either trying to use your own computer at work, assuming you have admin rights on it and can run IIS and PHP on it, or trying to find some free web hosting place to run the page on.

*A server is any machine that isn't someone's desktop, and sometimes is someone's desktop.

[eljizzle]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe that PHP is interpreted, what the means is that there is a program running on the server* that reads the PHP code and executes it. If you don't have authority on that box to run programs you won't be able to do anything with the forms once they are filled out. In fact, I'm not sure how you are going to get anything to go back to that location.

I'm assuming you are pointing directly to the file on that server and there isn't a web server running there, so when the browser posts back the stuff in the form there isn't anything on the back side to read it.

If you don't have access to the machine and can't get the owner of the machine involved and it's top secret then you 1) have a crappy job and 2) are probably out of luck. You would be better off either trying to use your own computer at work, assuming you have admin rights on it and can run IIS and PHP on it, or trying to find some free web hosting place to run the page on.

*A server is any machine that isn't someone's desktop, and sometimes is someone's desktop.

[/ QUOTE ]

ok, thanks for the input..

keep in mind, I'm not an IT person, or involved in IT in any way. I basically just suggested that I make a website that would solve a lot of the inefficiencies of my department, and my manager told me to go ahead, I sort of promised that I could implement this "form" because our current method involves multiple users opening an excel sheet, entering data, and resaving it, and this results in all kind of problems like duplicate entries, multiple copies of the spreadsheet and on and on....the form seemed like the perfect solution...but i guess its harder than i thought