Beginger Web Form Question

I think I have gotten in over my head, so a point in the right
direction would be nice.

What I want to do is create a document with checkboxes that all the
people in my office can check off when they finish a project. The page
will be hosted internally on a Mac. I know HTML design, but not a lot
of heavy coding (PHP or Java) but I can learn if directed to the right
sites.

So far it seems like I will have to install PHP and mySQL into the Mac
(or enable PHP anyhow I realize it is already in there). Then set up a
database to remember the states of the checkboxes... yeah I pretty much
have no idea how to do most of that.

Any ideas on a simple way to create a form that will be hosted
internally on a Mac and can have a bunch of data with checkboxes that
can be viewed and edited by multible users and will remember the states
of the checkboxes?

"umlatte" <post.mod (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

I think I have gotten in over my head, so a point in the right
direction would be nice.

What I want to do is create a document with checkboxes that all the
people in my office can check off when they finish a project. The page
will be hosted internally on a Mac. I know HTML design, but not a lot
of heavy coding (PHP or Java) but I can learn if directed to the right
sites.

So far it seems like I will have to install PHP and mySQL into the Mac
(or enable PHP anyhow I realize it is already in there). Then set up a
database to remember the states of the checkboxes... yeah I pretty much
have no idea how to do most of that.

Any ideas on a simple way to create a form that will be hosted
internally on a Mac and can have a bunch of data with checkboxes that
can be viewed and edited by multible users and will remember the states
of the checkboxes?

First some warnings

I started as a programmer before the first pc, and I never had much love for
database packages back them. I tend to look for a simple program I can write
to do a job.
I run apache on a linux box, so I don't know how well this would tranlate to
a mac.

I would write a simple perl script that generates a form containing fields
for person, project, and a bunch of status boxes.
Set up a file for each project
Set a line in the file for each user, created when they first access a
project. Line would be name and a bunch of yes/no items
When you see the person/project pair, get the correct record, display it,
ask for changes, rewrite if necessary
This way there are no hard limits on the number of projects and people
This is a slow, inefficient data base but for small numbers of items that is
not important
Then write a second script to show status of all projects & people, or allow
the use of 'all' for projects and people

I realize there are complications because of the looping nature of perl and
cgi but this is the essence of it.

Stuart

umlatte wrote:

What I want to do is create a document with checkboxes that all the
people in my office can check off when they finish a project.

Far too difficult to code from scratch - just download and install a
copy of Bugzilla instead

Andy Dingley wrote:

umlatte wrote:

What I want to do is create a document with checkboxes that all the
people in my office can check off when they finish a project.

Far too difficult to code from scratch - just download and install a
copy of Bugzilla instead

That seems way out of my league unless there is some kind of dumbed
down interface for the mac.

In article <1157125504.376804.183220 (AT) m79g2000cwm (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
"umlatte" <post.mod (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

I think I have gotten in over my head, so a point in the right
direction would be nice.

What I want to do is create a document with checkboxes that all the
people in my office can check off when they finish a project. The page
will be hosted internally on a Mac. I know HTML design, but not a lot
of heavy coding (PHP or Java) but I can learn if directed to the right
sites.

So far it seems like I will have to install PHP and mySQL into the Mac
(or enable PHP anyhow I realize it is already in there). Then set up a
database to remember the states of the checkboxes... yeah I pretty much
have no idea how to do most of that.

Any ideas on a simple way to create a form that will be hosted
internally on a Mac and can have a bunch of data with checkboxes that
can be viewed and edited by multible users and will remember the states
of the checkboxes?

OS X comes with Apache built in, which means you've got a Web server
already. I don't remember if it's got PHP added by default.

There's a database called SQLite that's very easy to install and yet is
still capable of quite a lot -- certainly all you'd need for it to do.
It'd save you some work versus getting MySQL or Postgres installed. When
I Google for "sqlite mac" I get this page, which looks like just the
ticket for you:
http://c-command.com/tools/sqlite

Disclaimer: I've used SQLite but not the package referenced above.

EVen simpler, you could skip using a database and store the data
yourself in a file. Me, I'd probably use a database, but I'm familiar
with them and even if a database seems like overkill at this point, it
won't if the project grows in scope (which these things tend to do).
YMMV.

There's a package called Spyce (http://spyce.sourceforge.net/) which
allows you to build dynamic pages just like PHP or ASP. The scripting
language is Python, which (I think) is installed by default with OS X.
You might find it less intimidating to install Spyce than PHP, but
you'll certainly find a lot more tutorials, etc. online for PHP.

Good luck!

--
Philip
http://NikitaTheSpider.com/
Whole-site HTML validation, link checking and more

Nikita the Spider wrote:

In article <1157125504.376804.183220 (AT) m79g2000cwm (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
"umlatte" <post.mod (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

I think I have gotten in over my head, so a point in the right
direction would be nice.

What I want to do is create a document with checkboxes that all the
people in my office can check off when they finish a project. The page
will be hosted internally on a Mac. I know HTML design, but not a lot
of heavy coding (PHP or Java) but I can learn if directed to the right
sites.

So far it seems like I will have to install PHP and mySQL into the Mac
(or enable PHP anyhow I realize it is already in there). Then set up a
database to remember the states of the checkboxes... yeah I pretty much
have no idea how to do most of that.

Any ideas on a simple way to create a form that will be hosted
internally on a Mac and can have a bunch of data with checkboxes that
can be viewed and edited by multible users and will remember the states
of the checkboxes?

OS X comes with Apache built in, which means you've got a Web server
already. I don't remember if it's got PHP added by default.

There's a database called SQLite that's very easy to install and yet is
still capable of quite a lot -- certainly all you'd need for it to do.
It'd save you some work versus getting MySQL or Postgres installed. When
I Google for "sqlite mac" I get this page, which looks like just the
ticket for you:
http://c-command.com/tools/sqlite

Disclaimer: I've used SQLite but not the package referenced above.

EVen simpler, you could skip using a database and store the data
yourself in a file. Me, I'd probably use a database, but I'm familiar
with them and even if a database seems like overkill at this point, it
won't if the project grows in scope (which these things tend to do).
YMMV.

There's a package called Spyce (http://spyce.sourceforge.net/) which
allows you to build dynamic pages just like PHP or ASP. The scripting
language is Python, which (I think) is installed by default with OS X.
You might find it less intimidating to install Spyce than PHP, but
you'll certainly find a lot more tutorials, etc. online for PHP.

Good luck!

--
Philip
http://NikitaTheSpider.com/
Whole-site HTML validation, link checking and more

I ended up installing MAMP (http://www.mamp.info/) which was extremely
easy. Then I fumbled my way through installing PHProjekt and that seems
like it will work fine for our needs.

Thanks for the input, looking through your links eventually led me to
MAMP.