Save html-forms data to local disk?

[grz02]

A question on html-forms:

We have an application where users will get a CD with,
among other things, some html-forms for them to fill in.
When they click the submit-button, the data is transferred
to a webserver php-script that will then process the info.
The forms-definition looks something like this:

<form action="http://www.ourdomain.c om/receiver.php" method="post">
<p>Question 1:
<p><textarea name="reply01" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea>
<p>Question 2:
<p><textarea name="reply02" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea>
<p>Question 3:
<p><textarea name="reply03" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea>
... etc ...
<p><input type="submit" value="Submit answers!">
</form>

Now, my concern is (since there might be quite a lot of data filled in),
if e.g. the internet-connection for some reason is broken
at the moment when the user clicks the submit-button,
there is a risk they will lose all the text and would have to re-type it,
which I would like to avoid, of course.

How can I best solve this issue?

Ideally, I would like to store the info on their local C: drive
before submitting, and automatically retrieve the text if they
later return to the page, but I guess that's not possible from
an html doc, right?

If so, any other suggestions how to resolve this issue?

TIA,

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: Save html-forms data to local disk?

I noticed that Message-ID:
<1641ee43.04021 70821.4f5aebc0@ posting.google. com> from grz02 contained
the following:
[color=blue]
>Ideally, I would like to store the info on their local C: drive
>before submitting, and automatically retrieve the text if they
>later return to the page, but I guess that's not possible from
>an html doc, right?[/color]

Don't think so.[color=blue]
>
>If so, any other suggestions how to resolve this issue?[/color]

Submit each text area separately? Possibly on separate pages with a
bit of javascript to take you to the next page.

Of course if you need an internet connection to do this the page could
come from the server with just a link on the CD.

Then after submitting each textarea separately, you could repopulate it
with the data

<p><textarea name="reply01" cols="40" rows="5"><?php print
$_POST['reply01']; ?></textarea>

etc...
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[Chung Leong]

Re: Save html-forms data to local disk?

Trying saving the data into the cookie using Javascript.

Uzytkownik "grz02" <grz01@spray.se > napisal w wiadomosci
news:1641ee43.0 402170821.4f5ae bc0@posting.goo gle.com...[color=blue]
> A question on html-forms:
>
> We have an application where users will get a CD with,
> among other things, some html-forms for them to fill in.
> When they click the submit-button, the data is transferred
> to a webserver php-script that will then process the info.
> The forms-definition looks something like this:
>
> <form action="http://www.ourdomain.c om/receiver.php" method="post">
> <p>Question 1:
> <p><textarea name="reply01" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea>
> <p>Question 2:
> <p><textarea name="reply02" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea>
> <p>Question 3:
> <p><textarea name="reply03" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea>
> ... etc ...
> <p><input type="submit" value="Submit answers!">
> </form>
>
> Now, my concern is (since there might be quite a lot of data filled in),
> if e.g. the internet-connection for some reason is broken
> at the moment when the user clicks the submit-button,
> there is a risk they will lose all the text and would have to re-type it,
> which I would like to avoid, of course.
>
> How can I best solve this issue?
>
> Ideally, I would like to store the info on their local C: drive
> before submitting, and automatically retrieve the text if they
> later return to the page, but I guess that's not possible from
> an html doc, right?
>
> If so, any other suggestions how to resolve this issue?
>
> TIA,[/color]

[grz02]

Re: Save html-forms data to local disk?

Thanks for hint, seems like cookie could do the trick then...

Unfortunately, I dont have much experience w client-side scripting,
could someone please provide or point me to some sample-code
I could elaborate on here?

Thanks,


"Chung Leong" <chernyshevsky@ hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<GOidncrs7 _1eLK_dRVn-vA@comcast.com> ...[color=blue]
> Trying saving the data into the cookie using Javascript.[/color]

[grz02]

Re: Save html-forms data to local disk?

Found some very helpful code here:

http://www.echoecho.com/jscookies02.htm

so that problem is basically solved now.

But just realized I have a follow-up Question:

By experiment, it seems if I have two different
html-docs in the same local directory, say c:\dir
they will share the same cookie-string.

But if I have two html-docs in different local directories,
say c:\dir1 and c:\dir2 , they will have different cookie-strings
stored independently.

So the Question now is:

Is there any way to define a "global" cookie that will
be shared by all documents stored on the local drive,
regardless of the different directory-paths?

And where can I find some documentation that describes
such implementationa l details?

Thanks,

[Chung Leong]

Re: Save html-forms data to local disk?

You can set the domain of the cookie. Try this cookie API. Can't remember
where I got it from...

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaS cript">
<!--

// name - name of the cookie
// value - value of the cookie
// [expires] - expiration date of the cookie (defaults to end of current
session)
// [path] - path for which the cookie is valid (defaults to path of calling
document)
// [domain] - domain for which the cookie is valid (defaults to domain of
calling document)
// [secure] - Boolean value indicating if the cookie transmission requires a
secure transmission
// * an argument defaults when it is assigned null as a placeholder
// * a null placeholder is not required for trailing omitted arguments
function setCookie(name, value, expires, path, domain, secure) {
var curCookie = name + "=" + escape(value) +
((expires) ? "; expires=" + expires.toGMTSt ring() : "") +
((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
((secure) ? "; secure" : "");
document.cookie = curCookie;
}

// name - name of the desired cookie
// * return string containing value of specified cookie or null if cookie
does not exist
function getCookie(name) {
var dc = document.cookie ;
var prefix = name + "=";
var begin = dc.indexOf("; " + prefix);
if (begin == -1) {
begin = dc.indexOf(pref ix);
if (begin != 0) return null;
} else
begin += 2;
var end = document.cookie .indexOf(";", begin);
if (end == -1)
end = dc.length;
return unescape(dc.sub string(begin + prefix.length, end));
}

// name - name of the cookie
// [path] - path of the cookie (must be same as path used to create cookie)
// [domain] - domain of the cookie (must be same as domain used to create
cookie)
// * path and domain default if assigned null or omitted if no explicit
argument proceeds
function deleteCookie(na me, path, domain) {
if (getCookie(name )) {
document.cookie = name + "=" +
((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
"; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT";
}
}

// date - any instance of the Date object
// * hand all instances of the Date object to this function for "repairs"
function fixDate(date) {
var base = new Date(0);
var skew = base.getTime();
if (skew > 0)
date.setTime(da te.getTime() - skew);
}

// -->
</SCRIPT>


Uzytkownik "grz02" <grz01@spray.se > napisal w wiadomosci
news:1641ee43.0 402181458.76203 418@posting.goo gle.com...[color=blue]
> Found some very helpful code here:
> http://www.echoecho.com/jscookies02.htm
> so that problem is basically solved now.
>
> But just realized I have a follow-up Question:
>
> By experiment, it seems if I have two different
> html-docs in the same local directory, say c:\dir
> they will share the same cookie-string.
>
> But if I have two html-docs in different local directories,
> say c:\dir1 and c:\dir2 , they will have different cookie-strings
> stored independently.
>
> So the Question now is:
>
> Is there any way to define a "global" cookie that will
> be shared by all documents stored on the local drive,
> regardless of the different directory-paths?
>
> And where can I find some documentation that describes
> such implementationa l details?
>
> Thanks,[/color]