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Subject:RE: Forms in all their infinite variety From:KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 20 Feb 2001 09:26:55 -0500
At a previous company, we transitioned (kinda late)
from a BBS for our Technical Assistance Center, to
a web site. We implemented forms with HTML and CGI.
It all DID tie into a database (SQL), and we DID have
the completed forms sent as e-mail, but the forms
were very simply formatted, since we knew that some
recipients would not have anything more than text-based
mail readers.
These days, if the functionality isn't available
pre-packaged, we'd probably do it with XML and Python
(well, maybe PERL, but only because we have a PERL
chauvanist a couple of cubes down the hall...)
I would prefer the off-the-shelf method, if it's
available. If you find something suitable, please
shout. We need a similar setup here. A commercial
product has several advantages over an in-house one-off
solution.
/kevin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tothscribe -at- aol -dot- com [mailto:Tothscribe -at- aol -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 8:12 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Forms in all their infinite variety
[snip]
> I'm starting a massive redesign of my section's
> Intranet site, which includes a large number of forms.
> The Powers That Be want these online forms to be in a
> format that allows the user to:
> - Fill them out online without special plug ins
> - Send them via email *as a form* (not just the data)
> - Print them out for records/faxing, etc.
>
> But at the same time, the user must not be able to
> change the form itself, just enter data.
>
> Connecting these forms to a central database is not
> necessarily considered desirable because these are the
> sort of forms that get passed between two or three
> sub-sections.
>
> I have researched several ways of putting these forms
> online, but they all fail one or more of those criteria.
[snip]
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