Posted by Jeff North on 10/18/06 02:16

On 17 Oct 2006 09:43:47 -0700, in comp.lang.php "jazzslider"
<jazzslider@gmail.com>
<1161103427.146519.108070@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> wrote:

>| Hadn't thought of using InfoPath...of course, I'm generally uneasy
>| about using proprietary formats anyway, especially Microsoft's
>| proprietary formats. Even so, I do have it on my computer, and it
>| looks like it does a lot of what I'd like it to do...is there a way to
>| display fillable InfoPath forms in a web browser? I suppose that would
>| take extra plugins too.

InfoPath (as far as I am aware) is not browser centric.

>| The plugin problem for me is like this: the people who will need to
>| fill out these forms are not the people in my department; rather, they
>| are our customers/clients/etc...in other words, people whose computers
>| I have no control over. In addition, a large segment of my target
>| audience is pretty low-tech; they don't have the latest browsers, and
>| some may not even have their own computers. (i.e., they would be
>| accessing the forms on public computers)

I feel your pain :-)
When I first 'discovered' XForms I thought it was the answer to all my
prayers. But then reality set in :-(
I needed the added ability for the client to work in either on-line or
off-line mode. This meant that their data had to be saved to a local
drive (something that javascript can't do, not easily anyway).

>| That's one of the reasons why, if I need a client-side plugin, I need
>| it to be invisible...I can't expect my target audience to actively
>| download and install separate plugins, and I can't really rely on
>| JavaScript (although it'll be available in most cases). Flash would be
>| OK since it's so ubiquitous, but you're right that it still wouldn't be
>| available 100% of the time.

I looked at the Flash plugin but I haven't tried it.
This might be the way to go due to the diversity of the client base.

>| However...if our server could do the vast majority of the work
>| ordinarily done by a browser plugin and then serve up a result
>| consisting of XHTML + a minimal amount of JavaScript when the user
>| agent can handle it, that would be ideal. I think this is what Chiba
>| does, but if it does it on the server side then I can't use it (since I
>| can't install Java code on the server).
>|
>| This is the kind of support I'd like to see PHP have for XForms...I
>| realize PHP can't actually perform the client-side page modifications,
>| calculations, etc. indicated by XForms actions, but a well-written PHP
>| implementation could easily generate the JavaScript to do that, OR
>| provide an alternate (understandably much slower) way of getting some
>| of that functionality via multiple page requests if JavaScript is not
>| available to the user agent.

I don't think that the rest of the world has caught onto XForms as yet
thus the development is quite slow.

Have you looked at AJAX. Since you are processing the information
on-line then this might be the way to go. Of course it doesn't have
the built-in whiz-bang features of XForms but it could be implemented.

What I'm wanting is that mySQL supports XML files. Infopath allows you
to specify tables and fields for each entry and when you complete the
form the data is placed within the database automagically :-)

>| Put more simply, I think what I need is a PHP port of Chiba or Orbeon.
>| :)
>|
>| You said, however, that Java solutions would be client-side plugins
>| rather than server-side...could such a plugin be downloaded and run
>| passively (i.e., without the user having to deliberately find it and
>| download it to their computer) and invisibly? I suppose that would be
>| a potential security risk, but even still if it's possible it might be
>| my ideal option. If that's possible, how would I do it?

I think that is part of the browser security setting. Not sure about
this, you'd have to check.

[snip 2 end]
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jnorthau@yourpantsyahoo.com.au : Remove your pants to reply
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