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Formatting Form Results in Frontpage?
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Bret
Nov 9, 2011, 8:29:05 PM11/9/11
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Hello,
I'll start by saying that I AM NOT A WEB DESIGNER, and I am not payed
to be. I am a technician with enough technical know-how that I was
nominated for making my police department's website. I am an employee
at the department.
I designed the departments website from a template and that was easy
enough. It's generally well liked and although not a gem that someone
with real talent could make, it get's the job done. On to the real
problem.
The chief now thinks I'm a web design genius and would like a fillable
job application put on the webiste on which people can fill out their
information and submit it, and the form would be emailed to his email
address. Here's what I have done so far...
http://www.hickoryhillspd.comcastbiz.net/Dispatch_App.htm - Direct
link for your reference. Form field names are NOT YET COMPLETE, I am
aware.
-As you can see, I have made the entire form, with the fields, and
formatted it how I would like the user to see it (still needs tweaking
for asthetics).
-Tables are used for most of the page in order to keep things
organized.
-Our comcastbiz host does have frontpage extensions installed and
running
-I already modified the form properties to send it to my email address
for purposes of testing.
After submitting the form, I receive the email on my account. Awesome!
Something is working.... But the form data is formatted pretty much
exactly how it appears in the "confirmation" page that the user gets
after clicking submit. It's one straight line from top to bottom with
all the fields listed, instead of being formatted in an organized
manner. It looks like this:
Position Applied For: Part Time Radio Communications Operator
Date of Application:
Last Name:
First Name:
Middle Name:
Street Address:
...And so on, all the way through.
AND SO MY QUESTION IS: How do I get the results of the filled and
submitted form to format in a way similar to how I designed the form
for the user to see? Any help or criticism of the form design is
welcome.
Let me know if there are any more resources I can assist in getting.
I'll start by saying that I AM NOT A WEB DESIGNER, and I am not payed
to be. I am a technician with enough technical know-how that I was
nominated for making my police department's website. I am an employee
at the department.
I designed the departments website from a template and that was easy
enough. It's generally well liked and although not a gem that someone
with real talent could make, it get's the job done. On to the real
problem.
The chief now thinks I'm a web design genius and would like a fillable
job application put on the webiste on which people can fill out their
information and submit it, and the form would be emailed to his email
address. Here's what I have done so far...
http://www.hickoryhillspd.comcastbiz.net/Dispatch_App.htm - Direct
link for your reference. Form field names are NOT YET COMPLETE, I am
aware.
-As you can see, I have made the entire form, with the fields, and
formatted it how I would like the user to see it (still needs tweaking
for asthetics).
-Tables are used for most of the page in order to keep things
organized.
-Our comcastbiz host does have frontpage extensions installed and
running
-I already modified the form properties to send it to my email address
for purposes of testing.
After submitting the form, I receive the email on my account. Awesome!
Something is working.... But the form data is formatted pretty much
exactly how it appears in the "confirmation" page that the user gets
after clicking submit. It's one straight line from top to bottom with
all the fields listed, instead of being formatted in an organized
manner. It looks like this:
Position Applied For: Part Time Radio Communications Operator
Date of Application:
Last Name:
First Name:
Middle Name:
Street Address:
...And so on, all the way through.
AND SO MY QUESTION IS: How do I get the results of the filled and
submitted form to format in a way similar to how I designed the form
for the user to see? Any help or criticism of the form design is
welcome.
Let me know if there are any more resources I can assist in getting.
Ronx
Nov 10, 2011, 4:00:11 AM11/10/11
to
Bret has brought this to us :
In my opinion it would be much easier to get a
reasonable layout if the form results were stored
in a database, rather than emailed - and I would
never use FrontPage extensions to process a form
that is emailed anywhere because the email
address is in the code ready for spammers to find
and use.
With a database you would only have to produce a
web page to display each record, and the page
layout can be as you wish. The only problem is
the technology used for the database - Access or
SQL Server requires a Windows server, but
FrontPage will work directly with Access. On a
Unix Server you would need to learn PHP and use
mySQL.
As far as changing the layout in an email goes,
the only alternative to the present layout is to
use an HTML email.
HTML emails are all about presentation - they are
not useful in a business for online forms since
it is difficult to get the information from the
email, except by reading and retyping. The
non-HTML layout can be read by Excel (for
example). HTML emails are best used for outgoing
mail, such as newsletters, where presentation is
preferred to function. A quick search on Google
shows many examples of HTML being used for
marketing (newsletters) but none (zero) for your
purpose.
To create an HTML email from your form results in
a layout you want:
First, you must learn another web based language
- either PHP for a Unix server, or asp.NET
(vb.NET or C#) for Windows servers.
Then use that knowledge to wrap the results from
each form field in HTML and CSS and add that to
the message that will eventually be sent.
FrontPage cannot do this.
FrontPage can create and send HTML email - but
you have no control over the formatting - it is
exactly the same as the text layout, but with
bold field names.
--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (Expression Web)
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp/wf-menu.aspx
Microsoft is closing this newsgroup - for details
of why and where to go see
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp/newsgroup-closure.aspx
reasonable layout if the form results were stored
in a database, rather than emailed - and I would
never use FrontPage extensions to process a form
that is emailed anywhere because the email
address is in the code ready for spammers to find
and use.
With a database you would only have to produce a
web page to display each record, and the page
layout can be as you wish. The only problem is
the technology used for the database - Access or
SQL Server requires a Windows server, but
FrontPage will work directly with Access. On a
Unix Server you would need to learn PHP and use
mySQL.
As far as changing the layout in an email goes,
the only alternative to the present layout is to
use an HTML email.
HTML emails are all about presentation - they are
not useful in a business for online forms since
it is difficult to get the information from the
email, except by reading and retyping. The
non-HTML layout can be read by Excel (for
example). HTML emails are best used for outgoing
mail, such as newsletters, where presentation is
preferred to function. A quick search on Google
shows many examples of HTML being used for
marketing (newsletters) but none (zero) for your
purpose.
To create an HTML email from your form results in
a layout you want:
First, you must learn another web based language
- either PHP for a Unix server, or asp.NET
(vb.NET or C#) for Windows servers.
Then use that knowledge to wrap the results from
each form field in HTML and CSS and add that to
the message that will eventually be sent.
FrontPage cannot do this.
FrontPage can create and send HTML email - but
you have no control over the formatting - it is
exactly the same as the text layout, but with
bold field names.
--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (Expression Web)
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp/wf-menu.aspx
Microsoft is closing this newsgroup - for details
of why and where to go see
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp/newsgroup-closure.aspx
Bret
Nov 10, 2011, 9:06:06 PM11/10/11
to
> Microsoft is closing this newsgroup - for details
> of why and where to go seehttp://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp/newsgroup-closure.aspx- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
This just got a lot more complicated for me. I'll clarify that the
database idea works just fine for me. It's the chief that would like
to see the results emailed right to him. But if that's a less feasable
option...
The way you're explaining it is that no matter which way we decide, I
have to learn a new programming language/make an entirely new
database, and it has to be compatible with our comcastbiz host (which
is virtually option-less). Am I correct?
Like I said before, I'm not a web designer, and I'm definitely not a
programmer (And most importantly, I'm not paid to be either). If you
can confirm that I have to do a lot of work to code something
completely new and foreign to me, I'll go ahead and scrap this project
and reach out to other resources I have to help out.
If you think this will be easy and can point me toward some resources
to help out, I at least have enough knowledge to fudge my way through
it. It will get me a whopping bunch of brownie points, which have
absolutely no value in the real world.
Thanks for your help,
Bret
Ronx
Nov 12, 2011, 5:13:37 AM11/12/11
to
Bret used his keyboard to write :
A database is a means of storing information in a
fashion that makes it easy to add data and
retrieve it. The database could be a collection
of tables stored in a propriety container - such
as mySQL, Access or SQL Server - or a collection
of simple text files.
A suitable text file would have each column
separated by a tab, pipe (|) or comma.
You already have a means, supported by your host,
for this - FrontPage with FrontPage extensions.
Use the form properties to save the form results
as a CSV file (Comma Separated Text).
The next problem is presentation:
Most hosts support PHP - there are tutorials for
PHP (and other web based topics) at
http://w3schools.com
You could use PHP to create an email that looks
pretty - but would not be functional, or use PHP
(this is more difficult) to read the database and
present the stored data on a web page.
Or, with no programming on your part, the
database can be downloaded and imported into
Access or Excel. It is fairly simple, in Access,
to create a Form that resembles the web form and
present the data in that. It is also possible to
use VBA in Access to download the database and
Import it into a table. (Don't ask me how, but I
have seen it done).
Whichever route you take, there is a learning
curve to get over.
fashion that makes it easy to add data and
retrieve it. The database could be a collection
of tables stored in a propriety container - such
as mySQL, Access or SQL Server - or a collection
of simple text files.
A suitable text file would have each column
separated by a tab, pipe (|) or comma.
You already have a means, supported by your host,
for this - FrontPage with FrontPage extensions.
Use the form properties to save the form results
as a CSV file (Comma Separated Text).
The next problem is presentation:
Most hosts support PHP - there are tutorials for
PHP (and other web based topics) at
http://w3schools.com
You could use PHP to create an email that looks
pretty - but would not be functional, or use PHP
(this is more difficult) to read the database and
present the stored data on a web page.
Or, with no programming on your part, the
database can be downloaded and imported into
Access or Excel. It is fairly simple, in Access,
to create a Form that resembles the web form and
present the data in that. It is also possible to
use VBA in Access to download the database and
Import it into a table. (Don't ask me how, but I
have seen it done).
Whichever route you take, there is a learning
curve to get over.
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