Hey All!

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I have just taken up a web content post and am having sum issues with a form for a client. They have a form available on line, however not all parts need be filled. Is there anyway of making the empty boxes dis-appear upon submission of the form. As I have never come across this before, I am unsure how to proceed. So any help given would be sweet as.
Cheers all.
Tom...

 

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Hi and welcome to CF!

Not entirely sure what you are asking here.

Dissapear from where? All that gets sent by the submission are the field names and contents. So if you want to present the results just look to see which names have values.

Harry.

 

Welcome to CF!

 

Hi there and welcome

 

Hi Welcome

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the forums...

 

Hi & welcome to CF

NB

 

Thanks for the warm welcome evry1.
The problem I am having with this form is that when I export the data for recording and printing (which is necessary for the data to be used), it exports the all the data inclucing the empty data and in these eco-friendly times wasting paper is a no-no.
So if anyone knows how to make the exported data disappear if empty, your help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Tom...

 

You haven't said much about how you are doing this.

How are you 'exporting' the form? And why use paper at all?

I would normally expect a form to be processed electronically, so I'm not clear on what you are doing.

When a form is 'sent' to the server in fact only the filled data is sent, nothing else.

Harry.

 

The form is used for the online submission of repeat prescriptions and when the practise export the data for printing the empty fields remain. The data is exported via e-mail to the practise and includes all data fields, Im jus hopin to find a way of removing the empty data fields using the html code for the form. ie. so that only the filled data fields are sent. I've never heard of it being done before, but am jus coverin my own ass by askin more experienced ppl's advice. Again all help welcome and greatly appreciated.
Tom...

 

I'm still not clear how you are exporting the forms. Are you saying that the form is emailed when completed?

What HTTP server are you using? Apache or IIS or similar? And what software lies behind this to generate the forms and send the email?

And if it is emailed where does printing come into it?

Harry.

 

Perhaps I'm not understanding the problem. Why are blank fields not important? If nothing else, they are used as placeholders to let you know that the data wasn't lost - there was simply no data entered.

Here's an example of why you can't simply drop blank fields. Let's say that you collect some data, and, since I don't know what format you're sending it in, let's say that you put the data in comma-delimted format:

name,address,city,postalcode,country,gender,date-of-birth,date-of-wedding,date-of-purchase,creditcardnumber,amount

A guy named Joe might enter the following data:
Someone,123 Main St,Anywhere,12345,USA,male,1/1/80,1/1/03,1/1/02,1234567890123456,14.50

But let's say some of the fields are optional, and I strip out blank fields. What if Steve entered the following data?
Steve,234 Elm St,Anywhere,12345,USA,2/2/81,2/2/03,9876543210987654,21.20

It's easy to figure out that Steve didn't provide his gender. But there are only two dates... which did he leave out? Did he leave out his birthday? Did he leave out his wedding date? Did we somehow lose the date of purchase? It is unclear as to what data we are missing.

When you include empty fields, it becomes obvious as to which data is missing:

No birthday provided: Steve,234 Elm St,Anywhere,12345,USA,,2/2/81,2/2/03,9876543210987654,21.20
No wedding date provided: Steve,234 Elm St,Anywhere,12345,USA,2/2/81,,2/2/03,9876543210987654,21.20
Purchase date lost: Steve,234 Elm St,Anywhere,12345,USA,2/2/81,2/2/03,,9876543210987654,21.20

So just because data is blank doesn't mean it's not important. Again, I'm not sure what you're asking, so this information may or may not be helpful to you.

 

The form exports as a text only e-mail using the "mail to" function within the form data, we currently use IIS Servers I believe. (as I am not in development I can't be 100% sure though.) We use a RTE Web application program called Cascade, which is solely used by us and nearly all NHS Wales websites.
I am not entirely sure why they need to print it off as i also thought it was just easier to run everything through a computer. However I can assume it has something to do with patient records, as although these are kept electronically a written master is always in place in the form of notes.
Tom...

 

Oh dear! I was always taught that 'mailto' was unreliable and insecure!

I believe that with some scripting it is possible to do what you want. Even better, write a proper CGI script that validates the input and sends a nicely laid-out email if you must have an email!

Harry.

 

Hey all again,
I jus wanted to say cheers for the replies, it was at the least very informative. However I feel everyone has misunderstood the query and I still can't find code to help me remove the empty boxes. I understand the ramifications of this in the general sense, however the boxes I remove would not incur upon the general form.

The boxes I would like to remove would all be in order as the form currently gives the option of filling in ten boxes for prescribed drugs. However not every1 needs ten types of drugs in one order, so I am trying to make it so if the extra boxes aren't filled, the empty data isn't sent with the rest of the form.

Any help given would be awesome. Thanks again
Tom...