Using Forms
There are lots of free forms available for your use on-line… Nice!
Except most of the time they don't tell you how to use the form, or charge you an arm and a leg, so you can collect the information you are looking for.
Rent-a-form from 3rd Party Forms Services
On this page you can find examples of working Simple Forms
In the Text Book, Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way, Ian Lloyd recommends using an On-Line Form service "Freedback.com"
They allow 1 free form with a six month life span:
Unlimited questions per form
Unlimited submissionsSpam filtering
Submission notification emails
Ad shown after form submission
Ian then goes on in Chapter 7 and shows you how to edit the Freedback Markup, for your own purposes…
Other 3rd Party Services include:
This is their free offer
Forever Free
Unlimited Forms
50 Fields
100 Submissions / Month
- 1 User
- 1 Theme
- 1 Report
- 50 MB Storage Limit
Conclusion
The limiting factor of the on-line form generators is the amount of submissions you can receive from potential clients. And, buying their services can get expensive real fast.
The Coffee Cup Database using Web Form Builder (for PC or Mac)
One of the nice things about the Coffee Cup Form Builder is that it delivers you your Data in a Safe & Secure way…
You can get the Data in e-mail, online or saved to a CSV text data file or for the advanced user you can send the data directly to an SQL Database Server. THe best part, if you choose the option to save your data to a .csv file or to your sql server, There is NO addition fee. For example:
You get the e-mail, that someone filled out your form!
Hey
there,
Someone filled out your form, and here's what they said:
| Name: | Ferdinand Feghoot IV |
| Email: | galacticgarry@gmail.com |
| Web Address: | uofgts.com |
| Comments or Questions welcomed!: | To save form results in a text file, check the box marked save to a text file and enter a desired file name in the input box. The data will be recorded to a CSV file in the folder on your web server that contains the Web Form Builder files. You'll find the form on your website, the path will look something like this... "name_of_Form"/storage/csv/form-results.csv |
| Submitted On: | 2013-05-27 01:47:35 |
| IP Address: | 24.21.46.58 |
Note: Customizing your email message is as easy as 1-2-3! To get started, edit your form and go into the Settings > Email Notices Tab and then click on "Configure email message". Web Form Builder supports HTML and CSS so there is no limit to how snazzy you can design your message. For more info go here. Hope you're enjoying the software!
The .CsV data looks like this, it is in a comma delimited file, understood by database and spread sheet programs…
name_field,email,url,comments_field,recaptcha,_submitted_,_fromaddress_
gts,galacticgarry@gmail.com,uofgts.com,"noon test",,"2013-05-23 11:59:11",24.21.46.58,
"Ferdinand Feghoot IV",galacticgarry@gmail.com,uofgts.com,"To save form results in a text file, check the box marked save to a text file and enter a desired file name in the input box. The data will be recorded to a CSV file in the folder on your web server that contains the Web Form Builder files.
You'll find the .csv form on your website, the path where the form is located will look something like this… it's in a folder with the name you gave the "Form" …
"name_of_form"/storage/csv/form-results.csv"
Which can be pasted directly into a spread sheet.
When the amount of data you are collecting becomes difficult to manage, it is time to set up an sql database…
This aspect of web work is beyond this class… (this really Geeky stuff)
You'll need to have a Host that supports SQL databases… You'll also need to set up a "test server" or convert your local computer into a "server".
you'll also need to install a database on your local computer and a database front end like phpmyadmin…
If you have a Mac you can turn your Mac into a server… You'll find instructions here…
http://www.coolestguyplanettech.com/how-to-install-php-mysql-apache-on-os-x-10-6/
adding phpmyaddmin
http://www.coolestguyplanettech.com/installing-phpmyadmin-on-mac-osx-10-7-lion/
OR FOR THE PC (And Mac)
A much easier way to turn your Mac or PC into a server is to install Xampp for the PC or Mac http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Yes, it really is geeky!
Another good Form Alternative
If you want to build your own forms and learn how they work, a good alternative is Jame Huggin's Free Form
http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/hefs/hefs-example-1.htm
He provides a free detailed manual that takes you step by step through the process of setting up a safe and secure form. It'll take a bit of work!
I think you'll agree, the Coffee Cup Form Editor is the best alternative for beginning web builders! And, it's available for both PC and Mac
Next: a quick review of how to upload and down load to your remote host server… using ftp/sftp.
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