Automatic Form Submit

[shake]

I have to develop an application sounds like this:-
User is allow to access a form (is actually a test/quiz) within a
specific time frame, let say 45 minutes. After this 45 minutes, if the
user has not yet click the submit button to submit the form, the
system need to automatically submit it.

So, can anyone teach me how to check the time out as well as how to
make the form submit automatically? Thank you very much.

[Paul Liversidge]

Re: Automatic Form Submit

shiek_wei@yahoo .com (shake) wrote in message news:<71008909. 0306301841.4a9c 919f@posting.go ogle.com>...[color=blue]
> I have to develop an application sounds like this:-
> User is allow to access a form (is actually a test/quiz) within a
> specific time frame, let say 45 minutes. After this 45 minutes, if the
> user has not yet click the submit button to submit the form, the
> system need to automatically submit it.
>
> So, can anyone teach me how to check the time out as well as how to
> make the form submit automatically? Thank you very much.[/color]

PHP is server side, i.e. once its given the page to the client, its
done with and is no longer running. The only way you can do this is
with JavaScript but that's easily hacked to stop the auto-submit
firing.

I'd approach the problem differently. Put a countdown clock on the
page, using JavaScript or Flash and tell them if they don't submit by
the end their results will be disqualified. You can still have the
auto-submit feature, if you like.

However, when the page is delivered you need to make a note, store the
current time, make a MD5 hash uniquely and embed this in the quiz.
When they submit, compare the hash against the time the form was
submitted and do as necessary.

Ensuring that they haven't cheated is another complex issue though but
depends on how unique your quiz is and if you can identify your
quiztakers uniquely.

[MeerKat]

Re: Automatic Form Submit

Alternatively, you could have each question on its own page, storing
each answer every time the page is submitted. Additionally, you could
calculate how long a person has taken to do the quiz by working out the
time between the first question being served and now. If it is more than
45 minutes then you can reject the answer and the quiz is over.

Paul Liversidge wrote:
[color=blue]
> shiek_wei@yahoo .com (shake) wrote in message news:<71008909. 0306301841.4a9c 919f@posting.go ogle.com>...
>[color=green]
>>I have to develop an application sounds like this:-
>>User is allow to access a form (is actually a test/quiz) within a
>>specific time frame, let say 45 minutes. After this 45 minutes, if the
>>user has not yet click the submit button to submit the form, the
>>system need to automatically submit it.
>>
>>So, can anyone teach me how to check the time out as well as how to
>>make the form submit automatically? Thank you very much.[/color]
>
>
> PHP is server side, i.e. once its given the page to the client, its
> done with and is no longer running. The only way you can do this is
> with JavaScript but that's easily hacked to stop the auto-submit
> firing.
>
> I'd approach the problem differently. Put a countdown clock on the
> page, using JavaScript or Flash and tell them if they don't submit by
> the end their results will be disqualified. You can still have the
> auto-submit feature, if you like.
>
> However, when the page is delivered you need to make a note, store the
> current time, make a MD5 hash uniquely and embed this in the quiz.
> When they submit, compare the hash against the time the form was
> submitted and do as necessary.
>
> Ensuring that they haven't cheated is another complex issue though but
> depends on how unique your quiz is and if you can identify your
> quiztakers uniquely.[/color]

--
MeerKat