Service Call Estimator Based on Drop-down Answers?

[himini]

I would like to develop an app on a website where customers answer a few simple
questions from dropdown menus and then receive the estimated price of the
service based on their answers. It would only be about five or six pieces of
information total, but one or two of their answers would determine whether and
how certain other questions would be asked. I'm unsure about how to begin this
process. Do I need to create a database for such an app? There really aren't
that many price points involved. I was thinking of using PHP and MySQL--
(ColdFusion and ASP are not supported on my web host), but maybe some other
method is better.

I don't know much about scripting at all, but it seems to me that something
like this should be fairly easy to write. Is anyone aware of any tutorials or
help on making a script like this or using dreamweaver to achieve it? The best
I could do with a search was to find this $700 extension:
[url]http://www.estimatesonline.com/main/[/url].

I'm hoping there's a way to achieve something like this on my own. Thanks for
any help or suggestions.

[Paul Whitham TMM]

Whether you need a database depends upon the number of items in the
combination and the ease in which you want to update the information. A very
simple solution could be hand coded.

You may want to look at the calculate form option from [url]www.yaromat.com[/url]

--
Regards

Paul Whitham
Macromedia Certified Professional for Dreamweaver MX2004
Valleybiz Internet Design
[url]www.valleybiz.net[/url]

Team Macromedia Volunteer for Ultradev/Dreamweaver MX
[url]www.macromedia.com/support/forums/team_macromedia[/url]

"himini" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:d10t3f$hft$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> I would like to develop an app on a website where customers answer a few

simple

> questions from dropdown menus and then receive the estimated price of the
> service based on their answers. It would only be about five or six pieces

of

> information total, but one or two of their answers would determine whether

and

> how certain other questions would be asked. I'm unsure about how to begin

this

> process. Do I need to create a database for such an app? There really

aren't

> that many price points involved. I was thinking of using PHP and MySQL--
> (ColdFusion and ASP are not supported on my web host), but maybe some

other

> method is better.
>
> I don't know much about scripting at all, but it seems to me that

something

> like this should be fairly easy to write. Is anyone aware of any

tutorials or

> help on making a script like this or using dreamweaver to achieve it? The

best

> I could do with a search was to find this $700 extension:
> [url]http://www.estimatesonline.com/main/[/url].
>
> I'm hoping there's a way to achieve something like this on my own.

Thanks for

> any help or suggestions.
>