Best way to move data across multiple pages?

[David Hearn]

I am trying to build a few pages basically emulating a wizard that you
might find in a Windows product. A few fields to fill out on one page,
move to the next, then the next. Finally, at the end, submit the data
from all the pages and save it all to a database or send it via email.
What is the best way to hold this data so that it there at the end for
posting to the database or email?

Thanks in advance!

[Steve C. Orr, MCSD]

If there are only a few pages to your wizard then the best approach would
likely to make each wizard screen into a panel on a single page. Then just
show & hide each panel in succession as appropriate. That way all your data
stays on one page and it's quite simple.

Some other (more complicated) approaches involve storing the data in staging
tables in your database in between pages, storing the data in session state,
using hidden fields, and/or storing the data in an XML structure or strongly
typed dataset.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
[url]http://Steve.Orr.net[/url]


"David Hearn" <dhearn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:dor8jvct11vo17vb6vph4b174jr6j8u0oa@4ax.com...

> I am trying to build a few pages basically emulating a wizard that you
> might find in a Windows product. A few fields to fill out on one page,
> move to the next, then the next. Finally, at the end, submit the data
> from all the pages and save it all to a database or send it via email.
> What is the best way to hold this data so that it there at the end for
> posting to the database or email?
>
> Thanks in advance!

[David Hearn]

Thanks Steve! That was the answer I was looking for. I guess I just
never thought about using the panels that way.


On Fri, 8 Aug 2003 23:26:37 -0700, "Steve C. Orr, MCSD"
<Steve@Orr.net> wrote:

>If there are only a few pages to your wizard then the best approach would
>likely to make each wizard screen into a panel on a single page. Then just
>show & hide each panel in succession as appropriate. That way all your data
>stays on one page and it's quite simple.
>
>Some other (more complicated) approaches involve storing the data in staging
>tables in your database in between pages, storing the data in session state,
>using hidden fields, and/or storing the data in an XML structure or strongly
>typed dataset.