Calling PHP Coders

[EnderX]

Ok guys, here's the deal. I have been asked by someone to write up an order form for a business. This business is going to repair boats and whatnot... anyway, the person that has asked me to make this wants to do this: When someone calls, he wants to enter their information into a form and then save it to the computer, but be able to print it out if need be. My question is this:

Should I just put together an Excel (or other spreadsheet) order form and tell him to just use that, or, do I go with an idea I had and make a PHP form.
Is there any way to make a .php document where he would enter his information and then it would print up an all text page (without the boxes)? I don't want this form to be sent anywhere, and still be able to be saved onto the computer. If this wouldn't be worth it, let me know what you think. Also, if my question is too spastic to understand, just let me know and I'll try and clarify. Thanks ;)

[mahangee]

Couldnt you just use Microsoft Access? As you can create forms on there and it would be easy to print things off etc.

And if you were asking if it could auto print in PHP as far as my knowledge goes you cannot auto print. I would go with Excel or Access. :D

[EnderX]

I've never used Access before, and I've never seen or met the people I will be working for (or their computer which may not have Access on it).. I don't want auto print, what I wanted is after he would fill in information, if it could take him to another page where everything was filled in, an example is when you go and order something online and it shows you your orderform after you are finished filling it out.. I think I will plan on going with Excel since it's just the easiest and there's less I would have to explain to them ;) Thanks for the input.

[mahangee]

Well you could easily achieve this with PHP using forms and such. Would you need the data to be stored in a database, or just go straight to a form where the user could print it off?

[EnderX]

It wouldn't neccessarily need to be stored in a database. It could be stored on the computer (preferably as a .htm or even .txt file). It would be from this new file that he would be able to print it off. The more I talk about this the more hassle it seems just for a simple thing that can be done in Excel... Maybe I was just trying to get too advanced for my own good :mellow:

[688206002]

It is definitely too much of a hassle to do something like this with PHP. Just a quick response to your question in the latest post, yes you can easily get PHP to output to text files. I do, however, strongly recommend using Excel or Access for this one (Access would be better than Excel but the latter would be simpler to use).

[EnderX]

I think I will use Excel right now unless the computer that they will be using will have Access. Thank you for your responses.. I'll let you know how it goes.

[688206002]

Originally posted by EnderX@Nov 27 2004, 12:09 PM
I think I will use Excel right now unless the computer that they will be using will have Access. Thank you for your responses.. I'll let you know how it goes.
13516


No prob. Just one quick thing though; most computers that have Excel should have Access, so using Access shouldn't be a concern :)

[EnderX]

What would happen if the computer I'm on has MS Works with just a basic spreadsheet program? Would Access be the same as Microsoft Works Database?

[688206002]

Originally posted by EnderX@Nov 27 2004, 12:30 PM
What would happen if the computer I'm on has MS Works with just a basic spreadsheet program? Would Access be the same as Microsoft Works Database?
13527


What extension does it (Works) use?

[EnderX]

Well.. I'll retype this now. I had it all typed up then there was that slight downtime.. here goes:

The extensions that MS Works Database uses are followed:
Works DB (.wdb) <---- Default file type.
Text & Commas (.csv)
dBASE III (.dbf)
dBASE IV (.dbf)

[688206002]

Originally posted by EnderX@Nov 27 2004, 12:30 PM
What would happen if the computer I'm on has MS Works with just a basic spreadsheet program? Would Access be the same as Microsoft Works Database?
13527


Okay, well a spreadsheet would not quite be the same as an Access DB (obviously :P) but as for the file extensions, Access can open the last 3 you mentioned. I'm not sure about wdb but since they're all MS software, there should be a way to import a wdb file.

[EnderX]

I'll give it a shot. I dont know if this guy is computer literate enough.. He didn't even know what a spreadsheet WAS... maybe we'll start small with the spreadsheet and then get more advanced with a database.. thanks for the input.. just proves why I joined this community ;)

[Exial]

Originally posted by 688206002@Nov 27 2004, 01:34 PM
What extension does it (Works) use?
13529


works uses ".wks" for the spreadsheet. One thing Access only comes with the most expensive version of MSOffice. I would use something else. ( like PHP MySQL and Apache) if they have high speed then you dont even have to have those programs localy