[FX.php List] Forms that create new records

[Dale Bengston]

Jonathan,

The browser will put up an alert if you are about to re-post the form  
to the server. The back button will trigger this if you back up over  
a form submit.

One way to handle this kind of multi-page data collection is to have  
a landing page or "hub" that aggregates the entire application,  
showing which pieces have been completed and which have not. You give  
them the first page (form), and when they submit that, they land on  
the hub, which allows them to edit that section, or click on a link  
to complete any other section they choose. If all your form submits  
land you back on the hub page, then it's easy for your patrons to  
click links to re-edit a section rather than go for the back button.

Using a hub page allows people to see progress better, and fill out  
your application sections in any order. When all the sections are  
complete, your hub page shows a "submit" button. At the point of  
submitting the application, and all along the process, your patrons  
can review their work so far.

I would opt for the "create record on first form and edit  
subsequently" model rather than storing the entire app in session  
variables.

Dale

On Oct 25, 2006, at 8:01 PM, Jonathan Schwartz wrote:

> That's a good suggestion, Erik.  In this case, it's Little League  
> (American Baseball for kids) registration  and I can imagine that  
> there might be some info that the parent might not have readily  
> available.
>
> I did discover another (apparent) benefit to using Session  
> variables.  It seems that when the browser BACK button is used in a  
> regular form (re-populating the form with an fx.php call) , the  
> browser issues a warning . No warning is issued when only Session  
> variables are used. Does that agree with your experience?
>
> J
>
>
>
>
> At 2:08 AM +0200 10/26/06, Erik Andreas Cayré wrote:
>> Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=sha1; boundary=Apple- 
>> Mail-5-978021615;
>> 	protocol="application/pkcs7-signature"
>>
>>
>> Den 26/10/2006 kl. 1.40 skrev Jonathan Schwartz:
>>
>>> New project.  The process is filling out  a series of form page  
>>> to generate a single new registration record.  I can think of two  
>>> ways to approach the process:
>>
>>> 1) storing the data in session variables until the last page is  
>>> reached, and then dumping it to FMP with FMNew().  One advantage  
>>> is that no new records will be created until the process has been  
>>> completed. It will also be faster because FileMaker will not be  
>>> involved until the last step.
>>
>> Advantage: you won't get orphan records in your DB, when users  
>> give up (computer crash, dinner, whatever...!)
>>
>>> 2) Create the record on the first page and edit the record's data  
>>> as the user progresses from page to page.
>>
>> Only go with this if the users are provided a way to access/edit  
>> the record at a later time. This would let the user leave the  
>> process, and complete it later, when they have time or have  
>> gathered information which they did not at first have at hand.
>> This is a special case, so it's probably not what you're looking  
>> for, but not having all the required info at hand is still a  
>> relevant issue. It's good practice to present the user with an  
>> overview of the complete process before she begins. It's  
>> comforting to know where you're going before you start the journey...
>>
>> just my 2¢
>>
>>
>> ---
>> Erik Andreas Cayré
>> Spangsbjerg Møllevej 169
>> DK-6705 Esbjerg Ø
>>
>> Home Tel: +45 75150512
>> Mobile: +45 40161183
>>
>> »If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well  
>> enough.«
>> -- Albert Einstein
>>
>> »If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to  
>> do it over?«
>> -- John Wooden, basketball coach
>>
>>
>>
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>
> --
>
> Jonathan Schwartz
> FileMaker 8 Certified  Developer
> Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance
> Schwartz & Company
> jonathan at eschwartz.com
> http://www.eschwartz.com
> http://www.exit445.com
> 415-381-1852
>
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