This is a technical design question more then a syntax question.
I have a large page with 9 forms corresponding to different tables. I've wrestled with the design and I there's no way out I have to send all the forms via ajax to the server for processing. There are lots of interrelations. I can't combine the forms into one large one either. So the question is what's the best way to send a lot of forms via ajax. To further complicate the issue there are dynamic forms with fields with same names.
I'm trying a technique of:
1. serializing each form,
2. prepending the form name to each field name
3. combining the serialized version of the forms into one
4. posting that combined serialized form to the server as one
5. breaking them apart on the server side into separate arrays and then finally doing the application logic
I just don't know if there's a tried and true easier solution and I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill
If there's genuinely no way to redesign the page, then your solution seems simple and straightforward to me, not at all "mountain"-ish. To me, though, your description of the page screams "redesign," though of course I don't have enough information to work with.
One such redesign would be to send field changes to the server as they happen, rather than waiting and submitting the entire thing. The server side can hold them as "pending" if you need the user to explicitly commit the whole thing when they're done. But that depends on expense of server resources, etc.
You should be able to send 9 separate AJAX requests without hassle (assuming that a: each doesn't rely on the response of another, and b: this isn't something which happens all the time).
Using your javascript library (you are using one, right??) just loop through your forms and AJAX submit each one. I think it'll probably only process probably 2 at a time, but if that's not a problem to your design, then all should be sweet.
It would certainly keep the PHP/Server-Side part of the equation much much simpler.
If you were working with a high-traffic site, then you'd probably want to reduce the number of requests being made, but chances are your current setup will work sufficiently well.
I'd prepare a javascript dispatcher which would smartly do the job of posting the data. So when the submit button is pressed it would collect all the data needed, and then send the data to the appropriate controllers on the server side.
It could block the form, in the meanwhile, or display a "Processing..." popup.
Related
I have a dilemma and I guess the best way to solve it is to turn to the community. I have an Add button, that gives you a list of options. Depending on which option you choose it should show a dialog box and a form.
What is the best way to do it?
Have all the forms already coded and delivered and activate the right one (this might mean that I have to repeat a lot of code and it's not an optimized way of doing things)
Load the form through Ajax (this could be a good way if it wouldn't come with the expense of having to fetch the form from the server)
Create it dynamically in Javascript? (the best?)
First one is surely not an option if you have most of the questions same.
Option 2 and 3 have both their plus/minus points.
AJAX Fetching Form
This way, you avoid cluster on the code page, you can hide certain options from users until they select particular option (this can be both good/bad depending on circustances).
Might involve more time in fetching data from another server, but less processing on client side, more on server side.
Dynamic Javascript
Quite opposite of the above, all the form generating rules will have to be in form of JS and thus available in source code. Can cluster it a bit, and not hidden.
More data processing on client side than on server side.
If it was upto me, I would do AJAX one, just because it looks cleaner, but depending on your restrictions/tolerance, you may go for 3 as well.
Second option is same with the first one; to fetch the right form, you must have forms already there.
Third option is good but it is not so edit-friendly. You will come to your code after 3 weeks and BOM!
I can recommend you to AJAX one, even if you write that much of code. But pay attention to this
I've created a jQuery form that people can fill in. When they're finished, they can click one of two buttons to post the form to a PHP file. The PHP file processes the data in the form and put it into the database. The database then has some triggers, and the data is output.
What I'm wondering is if I should submit to the same PHP file regardless of which button they press and just use conditional statements inside the PHP file? Or is it cool if I use a different PHP file: one for either button?
I'm also using the PHP wordwrap() function with <br> as an argument. I'm wondering if I should just be using CSS to word wrap because it may cause problems with handling the data form within MySQL.
If the logic triggered by the two buttons is largely similar, then a single script makes sense - you only have to special-case whatever minor bits are different between the two.
If the two logic paths are fundamentally different, then it may make more sense to have two separate scripts. The choice is up to you.
As for wordwrap, generally you should alway store data in its "raw" format, and only do such processing upon retrieval for display. This is especially true if the data will be used in multiple output formats: plain text, html, pdf, excel, etc... Each has its own word wrapping rules/requirements, and forcing your data to be stored in html-style means you'd just have to undo all that work when dealing with one of the other targets.
Six of one, half dozen of the other on the method. I personally progressively enhance my forms to use Ajax submission to an "AjaxDispatcher" that processes ALL form submissions, but that's entirely preference.
With the PHP, be thinking about the worst case scenario--if someone gets some bad info through or the DB fails, how am I going to tell them of the problem? That's why I use the Ajax method, with built-in return methods for easy notification. It can be done server side too to avoid ajax, it's just not as quick for the user or pretty.
Definitely don't forget the form pre-processing, which is made much easier via jQuery inline validation It makes for more user-friendly feedback about form issues and doesn't "cost" a php hit in the process. It's not a replacement for server-side validation, but a nice added touch.
I would question the need for two buttons. I do UI development in online applications for a living and a recent site "dictated" that we do two buttons for relatively similar paths because the marketing types couldn't understand how similar the paths were. It turned into a giant mess, with multiple different "paths" through the process that just confused the living daylights out of the site's users. Never mind that it resulted in having to write a test routine that had 14 different cases (don't ask!) Depending on your situation, you can draw from hidden fields, combinations of answers, or other methods to achieve a form with just one simple input, which is much more user friendly in the grand scheme of things. It also makes it an easier decision on your part as to how to process the data.
When in doubt, remember that the art of UI is simply making an unfamiliar situation feel familiar to the user despite never having been there before. Now, how many forms have you filled out recently with two different methods to submit, side-by-side?
I wouldn't personally wordwrap a textarea. It could have some unexpected consequences if the user starts resizing your textareas as most modern browsers now allow. HTML actually handles wrapping relatively gracefully, considering it's just markup.
When I first started web development with php, when using POST I would have the page with the form that contained the information and then another php page which the “action” attribute pointed to and hence where the all the processing i.e. database work was done. After making a website with many forms I found that I was building up lots of pages and it was getting quite messy.
Then I started to look for a way to avoid this. I then found that I could post a page to itself and hence halving the amount of pages that I needed to use to submit a form. I did this using the isset() function in php. The problem with this is that the whole page needed to be refreshed.
Even more towards the future I discovered jquery and its use of ajax to submit forms etc. This led me back to me original problem of having too many pages and getting confused with what did what. So now I am wondering (although I’m not quite sure I can make sense of it) if there is a way to combine the two? Can jquery use ajax to process a form which points to itself?
The other options that I was thinking of would be to have one page that I send all forms and actions to, which has all my processing in and determine which section to use based on a switch. I’m not sure of the effects that this would have on performance though.
What views do you have on each of the methods?
What are the pros/cons?
Are any of the methods I mentioned frowned upon/bad practice?
This question has been baffling me for a while now, and so I thought it best to get the thoughts of the experts.
Thanks in advance.
Adam Holmes.
Well the answer is quite simple. Jquery uses AJAX to request pages the same way as you would with a regular form. Thus you can use jquery to post information from the form on the page itself, and then as you would normally with isset() do whatever you want.
The obvious advantage is that you don't need to refresh the page, and everything seems more seamless. However sometimes you will need to refresh anyway, for instance during logging in. The disadvantage is that users with javascript off will not be able to use that form, however from my experience this now mostly applies on mobile devices, and in limited manner even then.
I would say that using jquery/ajax to submit your forms is the way to go, just be sure to provide javascript-less alternative if it is something essential and if you receive a lot of traffic from mobile devices.
Somebody else will probably provide more elaborate answer, so take this just as a little summary.
jQuery can process it, and send anywhere you want :-)
Don't you thinked about using some kind of classes and autoload ( PHP 5 ) ? - it makes choosing in your second option much simpler ( somepage.php?class=Foo&.... )
Alright I'm going to create a fairly complex form to post via AJAX a lot of different types of information PHP page which will then parse the data and CURL the various datatypes into the correct tables in another database.
Usually I just send a HUGE POST request and then parse the information in the PHP page, making multiple CURL requests along the way to post the various elements.
The downside is the form isn't super responsive, it generally takes 5-10 seconds for the PHP page to give the a-ok. I'd like this new form to be more snappy for better data entry, allowing the user to move onto the next entry without a hitch.
So just looking for some professional advice: Make 5 AJAX requests to 5 PHP pages or stick with the large load?
In terms of scale, there generally wont be many users it at the same time (it's internal for an organization), I'm trying to optimize for a single person submitting many entries over and over again with the same form.
Any and all advice is very welcome and appreciated.
PHP page which will then parse the data and CURL the various datatypes into the correct tables in another database.
Are you making an HTTP Request then? If yes, you should stick to one big AJAX call because otherwise you'd have to establish an HTTP Connection 5 times and establishing a connection takes time!
On a webpage, where there are various fields, I tend to find it best to just send the data over as the users enter it, and jquery makes it easy with the event handling, so that if there is a problem the users can be informed quickly.
But, if the data must be processed as a group, for example, you have a 100x100 matrix and only when it is filled in can you do the mathematics, then one large post works.
So, it depends, if you can't validate until you have all the related information, for example, you don't know if an address is valid until you have street, city, state, then wait until all three are entered then submit the information.
Without more information as what is being done it is hard to really answer the question, but, as a rule of thumb, submit the smallest amount of information that is useful to give the fastest response back to the user if there is an error.
One thing to keep in mind: If you're using file-based sessions and those "5 posts" are all handled by the same site/server, you won't be able to have those 5 POSTs running in parallel. PHP will slap exclusive locks on the session file for each request, so they'll effectively be processed in a serial manner rather than parallel.
Unless you do a session_write_close() in each one, you'd be better off doing one big POST instead and save the extra overhead of establishing/tearing down 5 connections.
I am quite new to web development and have a task to develop a web application that will basically show the user 5-15 pull down lists on one page, where each selection will limit the choices in all other lists. The user should be able to start with any one of the lists (so no set selection order) and when the user have selected something in each list or all parameters are otherwise locked by previous choices the user has to press the GO button and some calculations will take place, presenting a database selection. Basically it is a muliple parameter product selector application.
The relations between the lists are not simple, and could need calculated fields etc, and one list could affect the content of several others. The database behind will be MYSQL, probably a single large table, with perhaps 30 fields and 500-5000 rows. I will be using PHP, JavaScript and perhaps AJAX unless you have a strong reason not to.
I have done some research and found three ways to do this:
Send all data to the browser and handle the filtering etc client side with Javascript.
Send parameters back to the server after each selection and reload the whole form after each selection. Probably a littebit Javascript and most code in PHP.
Use AJAX to change all list content dynamically without reloading the whole form.
Since I am so new to this I have a hard time telling which way to go, what pitfalls there are etc...
I have some conserns:
A. Slow initial loading. Worst for #1?
B. Slow dynamic response. Worst for #2?
C. Complicated programming. Worst for #3?
D. Compatibility issues for different browsers and plattforms. Have no idea of which method is most likely to create problems...better if I use some Framework?
E. Could I even try to make something at least part-working for people with javascript turned off? (like selecting each list on a new page and having to press GO button each time)? (I think I can tell my users they must have Javascript on so no big issue....) Perhaps #2 is best here?
F. I think the specification of "free selection order" means I have to download most of the database initially, so perhaps I should try to avoid that option.....if I keep it I might as well use method #1, or???
G. It would be best to do as much as possible of the selction/filtering in SQL to allow future extensions by building custom SQL code, so that gives a big minus to #1...
H. Other pitfalls etc???
I have found tutorials etc for all three methods, but if you can point to good resources like this I would appreciate it, especially so I dont base my code on examples that are not smart/good/compatible....
1:
http://www.bobbyvandersluis.com/articles/unobtrusivedynamicselect.php
http://javascript.about.com/library/bl3drop.htm
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/JavaScript/Q_20523133.html
2:
http://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/php_drop_down_list.php
http://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/php_drop_down_list3.php
3:
http://techinitiatives.blogspot.com/2007/01/dynamic-dropdown-list-using-ajax_29.html
http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/Build_an_Ajax_Dropdown_Menu
http://www.noboxmedia.com/massive-ajax-countryarea-drop-down-list/
http://freeajaxscripts.net/tutorials/Tutorials/ajax/view/Create_AJAX_Dynamic_Drop_Down_List_using_PHP_-_xajax.html
3+jQuery:
http://remysharp.com/2007/01/20/auto-populating-select-boxes-using-jquery-ajax/
Now to the question: Could anyone experienced in all these methods help me out a bit, with the evaluation of methods 1-3 above so I can choose one and get started on the right track? Also, will I be helped by learning/unsing a framework like jQuery+jSON for this?
Rgds
PM
I'd definitely recommend using AJAX with jQuery its tested in all of the major browsers and has simple calls that will make it a lot faster to code and you wouldn't have the browsers compatibility problems of normal JavaScript.
Send all data to the browser and handle the filtering etc client side
with Javascript.
You mentioned that your table has 30 columns and 500-5000 rows potentially? In that case it would not be a good idea to send that much data when the page loads as: 1. It will make the page slower to load and 2. It is likely to make the browser hang (think IE).
Send parameters back to the server after each selection and reload the
whole form after each selection.
Probably a littebit Javascript and
most code in PHP.
I'm not sure how this differs much from the third approach, but probably you mean that you need to reload the page? In that case it isn't likely to be a good user experience if they need wait for the page to refresh every time a drop down selection is changed..
Use AJAX to change all list content
dynamically without reloading the
whole form.
By far the best approach from a user's perspective as it makes filling out the form simple. Perhaps slightly harder to implement from your end, but as you would likely need to perform the same calculations with each of the solutions - might as well move them to a separate page that can be called by AJAX to retrieve your data. As others have mentioned, using jQuery for all your JavaScript/AJAX stuff is going to make things a hell of a lot easier ;)
My personal recommendation is to go with AJAX.
Raw SQL or not is really a question of what backend you are using.
You need to be able to set the relationships between the different selections. The population of the lists must be able to communicate with your backend.
The real issue here is how you implement the relationships between selections. I have no good answer here, it depends heavily on the backend and your administrative needs. It can be hard coded in PHP or configured via XML or via administrative interfaces and persisted to your database solution.
It's no easy task to make it fully customizable.
The reason why i suggest using AJAX is basically because you need to filter upon any change in any selection. That would mean either download a lot of unused information or a lot of page refresh. Going with ajax gives the user a smooth experience all the way.
jquery is a simpple way to use... You can also try a particular class called xajax..! These will make stuff easier.