On Wed, 2010-04-14 at 06:49 +0100, Lester Caine wrote: > Nathan Rixham wrote: > > Peter Lind wrote: > >> On 13 April 2010 17:27, Paul M Foster<paulf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >>> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 03:20:23PM +0200, Merlin Morgenstern wrote: > >>> > >>>> Hello everybody, > >>>> > >>>> I have form where users enter data to be saved in a db. > >>>> > >>>> How can I make php save the form data into a session before the user > >>>> leaves the page without pressing the submit button? Some members leave > >>>> the page and return afterwards wondering where their already entered > >>>> data is. > >>> I hate to be a contrarian (not really), but there is a paradigm for > >>> using web forms. If you want the internet to save your data, you have to > >>> press the little button. If you don't, then it won't be saved. Not hard > >>> to figure out, not hard to do. If you have to go do something else while > >>> you're in the middle of a form, open a new tab/window and do it. When > >>> you come back to your original form, the data will still be there (but > >>> again, not *saved* until you hit the little button). > >>> > >>> Sorry, I just get cranky with people who won't follow the rules. > >> > >> There are rules and then there's stupidity based on tradition. The > >> fact that websites previously threw away whatever work you had done > >> because you automatically got logged out of your session after half an > >> hour of typing does not mean you should call this a rule that should > >> be adhere to. Google figured it out and did so well: backup > >> automatically and let the user discard manually - not the other way > >> round that leads to lost work. > >> > >> Apart from that, I note that the OP has seemingly managed to solve the > >> problem and all these emails are rather pointless. > > > > Concur, and this is nothing to do with the web; http only constrains > > that the data should be POSTed or PUT; not /when/ a save action is > > triggered. > > > > Functionality is in the realm of the application, and if the client > > application (in this case the web page) determines that information > > should be iteratively saved, then that's what it should do. > > > > see google docs, gmail etc for real world examples. > > And a few BANK sites could do with considering waring people that they will time > out before you have time to actually write in their message box for on-line > emails which you have to use since they will not accept off-line ones. I had a > complex message FROM them to answer - and save just told me the seesion had > timed out! Bank solution - I should have copied their message to a word > processor, and then copied the answer back later ... perhaps they should add > that with a warning when trying to use their email page ;) > > -- > Lester Caine - G8HFL > ----------------------------- > Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact > L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk > EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ > Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk// > Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php > Banks are notorious for not knowing about technology. My bank has a constant popup for Windows software that I 'must install' and has even asked me before to send my bank details over unencrypted email (my actual bank and not a phishing scam, as it was in reply to a question about that darned popup!) Thanks, Ash http://www.ashleysheridan.co.uk
