Forms Design Software?

[hef2k@hotmail.com]

Gosh, I'm fed up with forms I see everywhere on the web created on
Adobe since they can not be saved with the user-entered data, only
printed. And I get a lot of complaints that the Adobe e-mail button
frequently does not work either, so the only alternative is to print
and then fax the completed form separately.

So, does anyone know of a simple form designer that works the way you
want? It is easy to use, can create a nice looking forms that can be
displayed on a web page, filled out on the web page, then saved and
printed (nicely formatted perhaps on one page) locally, and then
emailed so that the recipient can also print it (again nicely
formatted) and/or direct the contents of the fields into the
recipeint's database?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Harry

[Michael Vilain]

Re: Forms Design Software?

In article <1120672254.240 302.21990@g43g2 000cwa.googlegr oups.com>,
hef2k@hotmail.c om wrote:
[color=blue]
> Gosh, I'm fed up with forms I see everywhere on the web created on
> Adobe since they can not be saved with the user-entered data, only
> printed. And I get a lot of complaints that the Adobe e-mail button
> frequently does not work either, so the only alternative is to print
> and then fax the completed form separately.
>
> So, does anyone know of a simple form designer that works the way you
> want? It is easy to use, can create a nice looking forms that can be
> displayed on a web page, filled out on the web page, then saved and
> printed (nicely formatted perhaps on one page) locally, and then
> emailed so that the recipient can also print it (again nicely
> formatted) and/or direct the contents of the fields into the
> recipeint's database?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!
>
> -Harry[/color]

If I understand you question, the behavior you describe sounds very
"browser dependent". Saving the state of a form so you can go back to
it is different for each browser I use. Some clear the form if you hit
"BACK", some don't. I doubt you'll find an generic tool that provides a
cross-browser environment that does what you want, but I could be wrong.

If you want content saved, you might investigate saving it in a database
and associating it with a session ID. A web application should be
"stateless" and assume no connection from one page to the next except
through sessions, cookies, or hidden form fields. If a remote browser
has cookies turned off, you won't be able to save session information
anyway.

Good luck with your search. You might want to start reading up on web
programming beyond static HTML. I like php, but YMMV.

--
DeeDee, don't press that button! DeeDee! NO! Dee...