I'm kind of new to php. I've looked all over the internet for a tutorial that could get me started working in the direction I need to go but haven't had much success.
I need to create a form.
Here's what the form needs to have/do:
1. This form will be used to upload files (typically pdf or ppt).
2. The file needs to be uploaded to a specific folder on the server based on what "category" the user selects from a drop down menu in the form.
3. The form needs to have a few fields that the user would fill in describing the file being uploaded. Ex: name, description
4. Each "category" as mentioned in #2 will have it's own page on my website. Upon submission of the form, the respective "category" page needs to update and display information submitted and display a link to the file uploaded.
The basic idea is to allow people around the office to upload files to their respective department pages through a nice, easy web interface - then have that information actually display on our website for any users to see.
I'm sure there isnt' a tutorial anywhere that does EXACTLY what I want, but any advice on how I could approach this would be very much appreciated.
Advice for creating form?
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- jayshields
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Re: Advice for creating form?
Start off by creating a HTML form which accepts files. Then create a PHP script which handles the uploading of files. There are plenty of tutorials for this bit.
Next you have to decide how you're going to store your meta-data (the file descriptions). A few options:
- You could create a text file for each image and store the description in there.
- You could use a flat-file RDBMS like SQLite.
- You could use a proper RDBMS like MySQL.
In terms of simplicity, text files are the way to go - but that isn't an extensible solution and could get very messy if you've got a lot of files. The other side of the coin is using an RDBMS like MySQL - maximum extensibility but the most difficult (still not difficult at all though - we can help and there's loads on the net).
If you don't want file descriptions this is a very simple system. I assume you've got pre-defined categories (users can't create new ones) - although that wouldn't add much complexity anyway.
Start off by attempting the HTML form and considering your data storage options.
Next you have to decide how you're going to store your meta-data (the file descriptions). A few options:
- You could create a text file for each image and store the description in there.
- You could use a flat-file RDBMS like SQLite.
- You could use a proper RDBMS like MySQL.
In terms of simplicity, text files are the way to go - but that isn't an extensible solution and could get very messy if you've got a lot of files. The other side of the coin is using an RDBMS like MySQL - maximum extensibility but the most difficult (still not difficult at all though - we can help and there's loads on the net).
If you don't want file descriptions this is a very simple system. I assume you've got pre-defined categories (users can't create new ones) - although that wouldn't add much complexity anyway.
Start off by attempting the HTML form and considering your data storage options.