what to do with my form to store results in a database?

I have a lovely form that I finally got done, and it is saved as an asp file. The problem is I don't know how to create a database on the server (GoDaddy hosting -- it shows options like SQL and MySQL) to store my data but they can't seem to tell me what to do with the little icons to turn them into tables or databases or whatever that I can use.

Don't laugh at me...I started this project with Frontpage and have spent weeks trying to work around the Frontpage issues on the form. I've figured out enough to finally get that all resolved except I don't think the Frontpage system works with GoDaddy...at least that's what they say every time I call and ask for help. (And especially since I got rid of some of the gobbledygook that was keeping the form from displaying properly!) This is fine with me, it's too confusing anyway. But I have no idea what to do to create the database or connect my lovely form.

I am a whiz when it comes to things like Access on my desktop, but this online form stuff is new to me and I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this project.

Any person kind enough to offer a solution to a newbie would be greatly appreciated!

re: what to do with my form to store results in a database?

I have developed a database on GoDaddy before. You have to move your mouse over those tiny icons and see what tool text pops up telling you what it is...

The tool (I think) is phpMyAdmin, and is actually a nice database admin tool. Here is one tutorial I found on it
http://www.reg.ca/faq/PhpMyAdminTutorial.html

You should be able to create a database, then a table, then go into the table and look for the icon that is for inserting records, then you can hand type records in.

Or once your table is created you can use SQL to insert large amounts of records.

It takes a bit to get use to it, but trust me, if you work at it and figure out what all the "little icons" actually do you will start to see that its got everything MS Access does, its just a little more abstract to work with.

Its hard for me to "type" out a solution since it has a visual interface. Im sure there are more tutorials out there too, and if all else fails, email GoDaddy and ask them to provide you with some support on using it!!! ;-)

re: what to do with my form to store results in a database?

As far as connecting your form......

You need to create a connection string to the database once you created it, get the values of the form and have SQL in your page that inserts the values into the database.

Also since you are on the GoDaddy server, this means (I'm pretty sure) that your page will be running on a Apache server, which means you have to write your pages in PHP, or javascript, etc.

ASP\VB will not work. That code will only work on a Microsoft IIS web server.

There are really good PHP and ASP tutorials here:
http://www.w3schools.com/asp/

http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

re: what to do with my form to store results in a database?

Hello LisaB0212,

If you want we could show you how to complete your task without the use of any GUIs. It would be more beneficial to you in knowing how to do this without the assistance of “proprietary site tools”. That way if you ever switch providers you don’t have to learn new tools.

It sounds like you have completed one third of the work now. The form page from my understanding is completed and that was the first step.

Second step sounds like something you have a good understanding on how to do. So create an Access database on your desktop. Then within that database create a table and for every <form> element (textbox, dropdown, textarea, checkbox, radio) that you have on your webpage create a field within your table. Tip: name the fields in your table the same names as the elements within the form.

The Third step is where it seems that you will need our help on. So, after completing the first two steps; move (FTP) your form page along with the completed database up to your website. Then list of all your form elements and database filed names and we can show you how to make a post page.