Programming advice sought by ITDummy

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ITDummy

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#15048 1-Aug-2007 14:55

Hi,

I'd like to understand what's involved in programming an interactive web tool, like this one:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?r.l1=1073861225&topicId=1073877791&r.l2=1073866217&r.s=tl

Basically, a questionnaire that is completed online and automatically produces a personalised report (based on the variable answers in the questionnaire).

I have no IT/programming experience at all, so any insight would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Greg

xcubed

195 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 17

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Lifetime subscriber

#80743 1-Aug-2007 15:26

If you want to code this yourself, there are a number of ways to approach this:

- Client-side only: Use Javascript to do the whole thing on one page. Not a prefered method, but useful if your web host doesn't allow server-side scripting or the questionaire is very simple.

- Database driven: Use a server-side scripting environment like ASP or PHP to store question results in an SQL database of some description. Useful if you need to keep a record of people's answers, or allow them to complete parts of the questionaire at different times.

- Store data in the session: Kind of a cross between the previous two. Use server-side scripting, but keep the values in session state on the server or in a cookie on the client machine. Data won't be stored anywhere for the long term.

If you have a number of questionaires to produce, I would recommend looking for a content management system (CMS) that can provide the infrastructure you need.

HTH,
Carey

ITDummy

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#80749 1-Aug-2007 16:04

Thanks XCubed... that's helpful.

As there will be numerous questionnaires and they need to be stored, the database driven option, using a CMS makes sense.

Can you or someone else recommend the best place to source the infrastructure and service provider(s) to establish it?

Cheers,

Greg