Please point me to a starting point for learning the mechanics of capturing data with an electronic form and having that data stored in an Excel Spreadsheet.

The form is still very much a draft, but I need to learn how to complete the cycle. If you wish, you can see it at http://partners4peace.org/civic click on "Who We Are" then "Civic Survey".

I'm including the website info in case you need to see it to recommend my study path. I'll work out the bugs in the form myself (with a lot of forum help from time to time). Thanks.

Andrea

Your link is not working and I tried civic.html but it's not there.

I have never done it myself but maybe this site can give you some ideas. Here is another suggestion.

Would you mind telling me what browser you used? That could be a bug I have to work out. I use FireFox and IE. Just in case, I copied the address directly from its page: http://partners4peace.org/civic/

Sorry, Roma. Ignore last reply. The link does not work within the forum. If you feel like, just copy/paste.

Thanks for the references. The second one confirms that what I want to do is doable. I'm a complete newbie on this and am probably putting cart before horse. I'll be following up on the second reference.

Andrea

Now I'm confused. This time when I posted my last reply, both the links worked. But that's another discussion.

Andrea

OK, so far I've figured out that

I have to code the 'Submit' button to go to a javascript (unclear on URL part)

The javascript takes the form's data and puts it somewhere (preferably a comma delimited text file)

The script also sends a 'Thank You acknowledgement' to user

Then the ?script or some other mechanism? exports the delimited text file to Excel.

Do I at least have the process correct? Thanks!

Andrea

The URL part is what tells the browser what to do with the data collected by the form. It is often a script that resides on the server (known as a server-side script) written in PHP or ASP (or maybe Ruby or PERL or Python). It can also be a javascript contained on your site (HTML page) and executed within the browser (a client-side script).

No matter which way you want to go, there is no easy or cheap way to directly import a file into Excel. You can build a CSV file from the data and have it mailed to you (or filed on your server for later retrieval, depending upon which scripting method you want to use). You will then have to manually import the data into Excel.

I hope I have understood your problem and this is the direction you are leaning toward. Looking at your survey, you would probably be better off using a server-side script as this would put the data formatting burden on your server and not your visitor's computer.

Yes, you've understood perfectly. Will putting the info collected into a database allow direct import?

Which, in your opinion, is going to be easier and most compatible to learn by an artifact who studied Basic and Fortran: PHP or ASP?

Thank you so much!
Andrea (non-swimmer who jumped into deep end)

I prefer PHP to ASP, but only because I have a Unix/PERL background. If you are experienced in Basic, then ASP would be better since it is based on that syntax (it is very similar to writing Visual Basic). But the determining factor is which does your server support. You may not have a choice.

My knowledge of Excel is very limited (never had much need for a spreadsheet) and I have probably misunderstood what you mean by importing data. What I thought you meant is to gather your data, then later on your own computer, run Excel and have it automatically display the gathered data. I am unsure if this can actually be done, no matter what source you use (CSV or database). I know Excel is very .NET connected now days, so maybe this can be done; it is just outside my area of expertise.

Using a CSV file is the easiest solution. Using a db would work, but would complicate the script when you do not need it. You would also need to be concerned with which database is available on your server (Access, MS SQL, SQL-Lite, or MySQL) and the server provided an ODBC connector to use with Excel. Then there are the security problems to restrict access to the database to contend with.

But then, if you used your server's database to store the data, then you would not need Excel to view the results. You could just write another script to fetch the data from the database and create a web page with the results. (A lot easiesr than it sounds).

I just wanted to be able to import the CSV file from Excel; and you've answered the question, thanks. I'm using Excel because I'm familiar with it and there will be a need for a user to call info specific to types of records, rather than reports.

Thanks so much for the life preserver!
Andrea

Good luck! If you decide to go the PHP route and need help, give a yell.

THANKS!

Roma, I was interested about the two links you supplied to Andrea in an earlier post and tried them both.

The first works a treat. It would save Andrea the hassle of creating PHP or ASP code etc. The only thing she (I am presuming) would have to do is re-create the form in Excel (from her own admission, she is familiar with Excel enough to manage that).

The spreadsheet is uploaded to their server from where you can either create a link to the form from your site, or inbed it into an iframe of a page within your project.

All data is saved on their server, and an email button can be placed on the form to send you the retrieved data immediately, or you can go to their control panel and download it yourself. This can be done in either html or xls format.

Their service is free if you only have one worksheet, and it is less than 1/2 a mb. More than that, you have to pay.

The second option has me totally confused. It says to install the code into a .jsp page, which I am assuming is a JavaServerPage.

Secondly, it states that the client must have Excel installed on their computer. Therefore, is the code only used for the client to retrieve data from your site? or is there some way to collect entered data?

Either way, how would you go about creating an JSP page within SS or WE?

Terry

I am a total newbie. I am interested in a web page that sends contact information (Name address, etc.) directly to a MS Access 07 data base (or Excell spreadsheet). Sending the info by/to an E-mail address is not acceptable.

Can virtualmechanics do this?

Hi Terry,
I am absolutely no expert here, it's just that in the learning process I stumbled upon JSP and remembered something about possibility to use excel. The basics about JSP and how to create forms you can find here. From what I understand you go about it in a similar way as you do with i.e. PHP files (server-side script).

JoeM,

SiteSpinner is a HTML development tool. It cannot perform tasks such as database access or scripting. You will need other tools to perform those functions, but you can use the SiteSpinner code objects or form actions to access scripts to perform these functions.

Larryd, I've decided to go with PHP and thanks to your recommendation checked my server and had it switched. Thank you.

Andrea

Thanks, I thought this was a task a newbie could learn, but it's too geek to me. Thanks anyhow.