autosave

[bert56]

In my form you can only save at the end.to the database.

 

Is it possible to make it autosave on harddisk alsotoets.php?

 

[ginerjm]

Are you asking "how to do a file download"?  Are you suggesting that your script automatically download a file onto a user's hard drive?  Seems like a script I wouldn't want to be running on my machine if it is going to be putting things on my drive.

[davidannis]

From looking at the script it looks like the form is very long so I think the OP wants the user to be able to suspend in the middle and come back to complete the form. Is that right?

[ginerjm]

I think the approach should be to provide a button to do that but do it on the server.  Maybe create a table to hold the form element values and some kind of key for the user to provide in order to return to work.

[bert56]

Isn't it possible to make an autosave each five minutes on the server or on an extra table?

 

The pupils does not have very much time to do other things than answer the questions.

[ginerjm]

You could use JS to trigger a submit every so often.  Or Ajax to push all the data to the server without disturbing the user.

[bert56]

What is the easiest way, Javascript or Ajax?

 

I have to read about it how it works, because I never used such code.

 

Do you have a hint for me?

[ginerjm]

Why not simply make the form shorter and let them take a break between multiple input pages?  Then you can simply use one script to collect all the data (in batches) and store it in a table or session array and post it when the process is complete.

[bert56]

I try to understand the information. 

 

1 I think when I store the data in a table it will take more time than when I store it in a session array. 

 

2 When there is no electricity for a moment the data in the table will be saved, but the data in the session array will be gone. 

 

3 An autosave is quicker, I think, but not possible in PHP, only in Ajax or JavaScript. But when we have problems with electricity, the data will be saved.   The problem is that it is very difficult to handle.

 

Did I understand the three points correctly?

 

So I can better break the form in four input pages and post it in different tables. But when there is a problem with electricity the pupils have to make one input page again? That does not make them happy, but it will be.

[ginerjm]

Are you that worried about electricity outages where you are?  Data saved in the session or in the db will be saved since both are at the server, not at your clients.  And yes - if the data is saved in either you can re-build the input for the users from either the session or the db.  From what you are saying this form is so long it takes the users too much time to complete and you must be worried that the clients will 'time out' and lose everything they are working on .  To me that indicates that I need to build my pages differently.

[cyberRobot]

Have you looked into Local Storage?

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/11/local-storage-and-how-to-use-it/

 

Note that I haven't used this option myself. I've only seen it used by third-party solutions like JotForm.

Edited May 27, 2014 by cyberRobot

[bert56]

Thank you, I do it also.