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Posted by Kevin Davis on 09/04/07 18:42
On Sep 4, 11:54 am, ELINTPimp <smsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sep 4, 11:36 am, Kevin Davis <kevin.da...@kevincdavis.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Sep 4, 10:14 am, ELINTPimp <smsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > On Sep 4, 11:00 am, Kevin Davis <kevin.da...@kevincdavis.net> wrote:
>
> > > > Hello,
>
> > > > I'm a new person when it comes to PHP and I have a quick question.
>
> > > > I would like to create a form that will allow the user to add more
> > > > information using the same form in case they have (similar to various
> > > > employment sites).
>
> > > > What would be the best way of using form arrays for that function?
>
> > > > Thank you,
> > > > Kevin
>
> > > Hi Kevin,
>
> > > I'm not sure exactly what you want to do...using your example of an
> > > employment site...do you have a form that gathers a users employment
> > > history, for example? And, if the employee has more than one previous
> > > employer, to return to the same form so they can enter more
> > > information? And, I assume, you do not want to submit the data to
> > > persistent storage (ie database) until they are complete with the
> > > form? If I'm off, let me know, just need clarification...
>
> > Sorry about that I should added some claficiation.. The example would
> > be if the user has more than one previous employer and they have add
> > more until they are done. That is correct I don't want the user to
> > enter the information to the database until they are done.
>
> > Thanks..
>
> OK, than you really have 3 options, the last 2 I'll mention has
> several ways to implement each.
>
> First, you can use database transactions. So, the solution would rely
> more on the database rather than PHP. Basically, once the user starts
> entering data, you open a persistent connection and start a
> transaction. As data is added, modified, or deleted, you make those
> changes to the database transaction. If errors popup, you do a
> rollback. The data isn't actually saved in the database until you
> commit the transaction. Good things are this makes it easier on the
> PHP end, bad thing is the persistent connection, the overhead created
> by talking to the database so much, and implementing a rollback on
> data that wasn't saved incrementally could be bad news for your
> customer (might have to enter in lots of data). I would be cautious
> using this solution for your current situation, from what I see you're
> doing.
>
> Second, you use some form of data persistence between request,
> typically using the SESSION superglobal or another form of filesystem
> persistence. This one is the real PHP option. Here, you have to
> (carefully) manage the data the user enters, often using some sort of
> array mapping so you can update/delete/search for a particular record
> within an array. So, if storing in $_SESSION, you could create a
> single namespace for the type of data, and use it like an array stack
> to hold the records so as to have a single location to manipulate it
> and not pollute the namespace. Something like:
>
> $employmentHistory = array();
> array_push($employmentHistory, $record);
> $_SESSION['employmentHistory'] = $employmentHistory;
>
> Another option, which would probably be nicer to manipulate but would
> generate additional overhead, would be to create an employmentHistory
> object and serialize/deserialize them during the requests. This is
> something I've done in the past.
>
> Your third option, again, lives outside PHP. You could use javaScript
> or another client-side scripting language to generate additional
> records on page, as needed, before even submitting it back to the
> server. While this potentially could clutter up the page if there are
> many, it can often be done gracefully and well done. In this
> situation, you would be looking at a DHTML solution, of which there
> are many tutorials on the Internet to get you started, if you choose
> this method. Generally, and increasingly nowadays, this solution is
> being implemented more and more for situations like this. I've also
> use this solution numerous times with great success.
>
> So, that's a brief overview of how you can attack this problem. If
> you need additional information on either of these suggestions, just
> let me know.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
If possible can you show how you would implement the 2nd and 3rd
options. Just a breif overview would be helpful.
Thank you for suggestions.
Kevin
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