Is this possible in ASP.NET - dynamic questions

[dw]

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes, text
fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin page so
someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server. The responses
from those questions need to then be stored on the database. Is this
possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it so complicated that
it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

[Marina]

This isn't complicated per say. It will require some work and knowledge of
ASP.NET, but in the long wrong, it will take less time to add new questions,
thus you will spend less time creating new surveys. Not to mention, once it
is up and running smoothly, you won't constantly be dealing with issues
arrising from having to repeatedly cut and paste to make some question work
correctly, etc.

It may be easier and cheaper to hire a contractor to build the system for
you, if you feel that will be faster then having your developer(s) get up to
speed enough to do it on their own.

Let me know if you have more questions

"dw" <co***************@uncw.edu> wrote in message
news:uI**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes, text
fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin page so
someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server. The responses from those questions need to then be stored on the database. Is this
possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it so complicated that it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

[Sahil Malik]

I tried doing this a while back.

The issues I ran into were that I couldn't come up with a scheme as far as
HTML goes, that would work perfectly in a cross browser scenario, and with
designers who are ultra picky about each pixel on the screen.

So I just hard coded (actually I took a midway route, I decided on all the
controls I might ever need and positioning was dynamic, so I had a weird
looking control that was a combo of radio buttons and checkboxes, I had to
know the control structure in advance) - but not that the above isn't
possible to do. I just had 2 days to come up with these pages, so hard
coding made more sense in my case.

- Sahil Malik
You can reach me thru my blog at
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/weblog/sahilmalik

"dw" <co***************@uncw.edu> wrote in message
news:uI**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes, text
fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin page so
someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server. The responses from those questions need to then be stored on the database. Is this
possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it so complicated that it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

[Scott Mitchell [MVP]]

dw wrote:

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes, text
fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin page so
someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server. The responses
from those questions need to then be stored on the database. Is this
possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it so complicated that
it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

You can definitely add controls dynamically based on various criteria -
in fact I'm in the midst of writing an article for MSDN Online about
this. There's also free survey apps that may be similar to what you're
looking for - they provide an admin page to add questions and whatnot.
The one I've been most impressed with is nSurvey - www.nsurvey.org

hth

--

Scott Mitchell
mi******@4guysfromrolla.com
http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com

* When you think ASP.NET, think 4GuysFromRolla.com!

[dw]

Thank you, Marina and Sahil. Very useful information. I appreciate your time
: )

"Sahil Malik" <co*****************@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:er**************@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

I tried doing this a while back.

The issues I ran into were that I couldn't come up with a scheme as far as
HTML goes, that would work perfectly in a cross browser scenario, and with
designers who are ultra picky about each pixel on the screen.

So I just hard coded (actually I took a midway route, I decided on all the
controls I might ever need and positioning was dynamic, so I had a weird
looking control that was a combo of radio buttons and checkboxes, I had to
know the control structure in advance) - but not that the above isn't
possible to do. I just had 2 days to come up with these pages, so hard
coding made more sense in my case.

- Sahil Malik
You can reach me thru my blog at
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/weblog/sahilmalik

"dw" <co***************@uncw.edu> wrote in message
news:uI**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes,
text
fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin page
so
someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server. The

responses

from those questions need to then be stored on the database. Is this
possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it so complicated

that

it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

[dw]

Thank you, Scott. I can't wait for your article! Where will it be posted?
Thanks : )

"Scott Mitchell [MVP]" <mi******@4guysfromrolla.com> wrote in message
news:41**************@4guysfromrolla.com...

dw wrote:

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes,
text fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin
page so someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server.
The responses from those questions need to then be stored on the
database. Is this possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it
so complicated that it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

You can definitely add controls dynamically based on various criteria - in
fact I'm in the midst of writing an article for MSDN Online about this.
There's also free survey apps that may be similar to what you're looking
for - they provide an admin page to add questions and whatnot. The one
I've been most impressed with is nSurvey - www.nsurvey.org

hth

--

Scott Mitchell
mi******@4guysfromrolla.com
http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com

* When you think ASP.NET, think 4GuysFromRolla.com!

[Scott Mitchell [MVP]]

> Thank you, Scott. I can't wait for your article! Where will it be posted?

Thanks : )
Alex, it'll be on the ASP.NET DevCenter:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/

In fact, you can see my existing articles there at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/co...scottmitchell/

Also, I'd be sure to announce it on my blog, so if you want you can keep
an eye on that, or subscribe to the RSS feed:
http://ScottOnWriting.NET

(The article's still a ways off, I haven't even yet begun writing it...
Look for it in December, most likely...)

Thanks.

--

Scott Mitchell
mi******@4guysfromrolla.com
http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com

* When you think ASP.NET, think 4GuysFromRolla.com!

"Scott Mitchell [MVP]" <mi******@4guysfromrolla.com> wrote in message
news:41**************@4guysfromrolla.com...

dw wrote:

Hello, all. We're building a Web app where we can have any number of
questions, which can contain any type of form element -- check boxes,
text fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, etc. We'd like to build an admin
page so someone can create the questions and store them on SQL Server.
The responses from those questions need to then be stored on the
database. Is this possible or is it just a pipe dream? If possible, is it
so complicated that it's better to just hard-code the questions? Thanks.

You can definitely add controls dynamically based on various criteria - in
fact I'm in the midst of writing an article for MSDN Online about this.
There's also free survey apps that may be similar to what you're looking
for - they provide an admin page to add questions and whatnot. The one
I've been most impressed with is nSurvey - www.nsurvey.org

hth

--

Scott Mitchell
mi******@4guysfromrolla.com
http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com

* When you think ASP.NET, think 4GuysFromRolla.com!