Me again.<br /><br />The website I run is for a summer program. Throughout the year, families complete various processes online through forms ... filling out applications, registrations, choosing courses, etc. It's all very easily accomplished with FrontPage forms that dump to a txt file, then "deciphered" and imported by Excel.<br /><br />However, a few requests over the past couple years have me poking for alternatives again. The main request is that people would like a way to save what they have entered in so far to return to the site later and continue.<br /><br />This would necessitate a log in ... but, it would also need to be able to save what a user has entered in so far and allow them to return later. Would be different for each user.<br /><br />What are the possibilities? I've read here and there mentions of aMember. Is this the answer?<!--content-->
I believe aMember is really just for creating password protected sections of your site. I have not used it, but I read what others have said about it. If I'm correct, then it will only resolve the first half of what you want to do.<br /><br />The second half is for your members to have content that is assigned to them. When they log in (whatever mechanism is used) then your system needs be able to pull up their past work.<br /><br />There are many ways to skin a cat, but to me, this cries out for a database. I'm sure you could do it with a flatfile system (just another kind of database) but mysql would be more robust... IMHO, better.<br /><br />You're not going to like what I type next, but if you have created custom forms and you want to pull up that data as you have saved it in its current state, then you're looking at a custom programming job. You'll need a log in system that then gathers the data on command based on the identity of the person that logged in.<br /><br />If you're looking to start over from scratch then I would search for a robust CMS system, possibly a community type system (similar to Nuke but I wouldn't use Nuke for many reasons). I'd start my search at opensourcecms.org<br /><br />To clarify the aMember comment. I think aMember is useful if you wanted to create content and then restrict access to it. For example, a members only section of special content that you charge monthly membership fees for. aMember keeps the nonpayers out and lets your members in, but once they're in, aMember's job is over.<br /><br />That's my understanding.<!--content-->
I agree with surefire. A database system like mysql definately gives you more flexibilty. Plus you could leverage it to create other dynamic aspects of your site that are database driven.<br /><br />instead of using aMember, you can set something up yourself where each user would have a unique id (ex. combination of userid and password). When you do a lookup on the database, only an exact match on the unique id will pull back the pre-populated fields on the form.<br /><br />-Sam<!--content-->
I believe aMember is really just for creating password protected sections of your site. I have not used it, but I read what others have said about it. If I'm correct, then it will only resolve the first half of what you want to do.<br /><br />The second half is for your members to have content that is assigned to them. When they log in (whatever mechanism is used) then your system needs be able to pull up their past work.<br /><br />There are many ways to skin a cat, but to me, this cries out for a database. I'm sure you could do it with a flatfile system (just another kind of database) but mysql would be more robust... IMHO, better.<br /><br />You're not going to like what I type next, but if you have created custom forms and you want to pull up that data as you have saved it in its current state, then you're looking at a custom programming job. You'll need a log in system that then gathers the data on command based on the identity of the person that logged in.<br /><br />If you're looking to start over from scratch then I would search for a robust CMS system, possibly a community type system (similar to Nuke but I wouldn't use Nuke for many reasons). I'd start my search at opensourcecms.org<br /><br />To clarify the aMember comment. I think aMember is useful if you wanted to create content and then restrict access to it. For example, a members only section of special content that you charge monthly membership fees for. aMember keeps the nonpayers out and lets your members in, but once they're in, aMember's job is over.<br /><br />That's my understanding.<!--content-->
I agree with surefire. A database system like mysql definately gives you more flexibilty. Plus you could leverage it to create other dynamic aspects of your site that are database driven.<br /><br />instead of using aMember, you can set something up yourself where each user would have a unique id (ex. combination of userid and password). When you do a lookup on the database, only an exact match on the unique id will pull back the pre-populated fields on the form.<br /><br />-Sam<!--content-->