Web Based Front-End For Database

[Carlosinfl]

I need to know if there are any examples / templates I can use and or buy which will allow web users to submit data in pre-defined fields and pump them into my PostgreSQL database.

I have a dedicated PostgreSQL database server and need to have a way users can enter data into it. I don't care what the data is but I am just looking for a PHP or any actual web form template that will pass data into PostgreSQL. I'm not a web developer nor do I have any ability to code HTML / PHP / Ruby / Python sadly

So tl;dr:

Need a way to populate data into my new database w/ doing SQL INSERT scripts. Basically looking for a web form that allows people to enter something like:

Name:
Email:
Date:
Notes:

CREATE TABLE webform
web_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
web_name VARCHAR(50) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
web_email VARCHAR(75) UNIQUE NULL,
web_date DATE NOT NULL,
web_notes VARCHAR(100) NULL
;

That's an example above but I will conform my database around the template since that's the one thing I am limited by currently.

 

[PTNL]

Would any of the existing GUI Tools work for you? If not, why?

But the missing element that I see from this thread is the technical competence of the target users.
- If they are technical people, why not expose one of the more advanced power tools? Or at least let them submit to you the database schema script?
- If the users are not technical, then how much faith are you putting in them with proper datatype selection and field widths? How would they setup keys, indexes, constraints, etc.?

 

[hofan41]

Datatables' Editor generator can help you create all the code you need to expose your database publicly.

https://editor.datatables.net/generator/

Or you can try phpMyAdmin.

 

[Bigbacon]

sounds like to me you want a web form that allows people to generate other web forms, which are stored in a database and not necessarily generate a database table directly.

 

[Carlosinfl]

I didn't propose my question correctly.

Most / All the tools PTNL posted are front-end administration tools which honestly for my opinion doesn't get better than pgAdmin3. It's the best free and prefer it over Navicat. That being said, it's not what I am looking for. It may be able to do my desired goal patially in regards to popularing data but it's not something users can interact w/

If you have a website that has a survey page with three text boxes:

- Name
- Favorite Color
- Place of birth

I want users to hit an HTML page on the web with similar but not exact text entry boxes above and submit data to the back-end database.

I don't expect users surfing a website to say "Hey, lets submit this form data but 1st let me CREATE TABLE / ALTER TABLE to submit this exact data.

If the template or form suggested is for cats, then I will create a database / table specific to cats and hold appropriate fields. Understand?

I just want a submission form template I can host on a web server that connects to a database. I don't care really what the form fields are as long as I can create the database / table(s) around the provided form. I would think there has to be a SQL submission form template or example I can use in PHP or something to allow users to populate generic data in my database. I just want a way to populate data...nothing more...nothing fancy. Doesn't need to be HTML 5, JSON, etc etc etc. I am a PostgreSQL DBA w/ limited programming experience so just would like to drop in a template which connects to a database. I can care less what the data is. I just want data to play w/ random data.

Hope that explains a little better what I want.

phpMySQL is for MySQL, not PostgreSQL and while, yes there is a PostgreSQL version, it's basically a watered down crappy HTML version of pgAdmin3. All the tools in that list provide users w/ an administrative interface which can drop them into the database and allow them to perform inserts / updates but this isn't what I want. Basically for admins who prefer to configure / administer their database via a GUI (not what I want / need). Just a generic PHP web form which can talk to PostgreSQL.

 

[PTNL]

This clarifies the goal. My next question is how are users (or at least the content collectors) supposed to get the data *out* of the constructed table? Would you support defining table relationships, setting indexes, etc?

Another perspective comes to the reliance on the HTML values and naming conventions. Think more about having a field called "CustomerName", and a later revision of the HTML has "CustomerNammme". What happens then? Would you be responsible for assisting with data merging? Are you perhaps putting too much trust with the markup writer to ensure that proper IDs/Names are used?


As it stands, I think the biggest limitation is the lack of development knowledge for the OP. So, depending on the answers to my previous questions, I feel that any of the following could be a better fit:

1) Hire a contracting company to do the work. Consider building in training for the usage and maintenance.
2) Change the datastore to a NoSQL database. This pushes both the creation, upserts, and reads into an existing API that the webpage/website devs can consult. (This also removes the maintenance time for your original idea.)
3) Reconsider an existing tools reviewed, but choosing one that lets you lock down the users' capabilities further. Perhaps a reduced exposure/complexity is a safe alternative.

 

[Dogs]

Guys, I really think you're over-thinking this to unbelievable extremes. He has no need to switch to a NoSQL database or generate tables dynamically. He just wants a web form so non-technical users can type in data and add it to a predefined table.

He wants some sort of solution where the users open up a web page with a form they fill data into. He wants them to be able to hit the submit button and have the 'solution' put the data into the database.

There's no technical questions or business questions to be answered about this. He wants a form that dumps this into a database. He should find a consultant to write it. They should give him a reasonable quote, since this should realistically take two hours to write and an hour to integrate into your environment. A contractor, of course, will bill you for more hours than that, for his own protection, but it won't be very expensive. If it needs to be updated, a fair contractor will do this for very little. We're talking college student level work here, and the thread starter has made it clear that the only reason he hasn't just sat down and wrote it himself is that he's not comfortable with his level of programming expertise.

For example, in a Java environment, you're looking at the following:
- A JSP page which contains the form. The form will have fields matching the table. The form will verify that the data is complete and submit the field to a servlet.
- A servlet which parses the data out from the Request object (probably does some sanity checks and sanitation as well) and passes it to a service object. After everything is done, it will write to the Response object something to indicate whether it was successful or not.
-A 'service' class which will do any extra processing and handle any error handling logic as it gives the parameters to a DAO class to handle the actual insert.
-A DAO class which will take the parameters, add them to an ad-hoc query or sproc and then open a connection and actually execute the actual SQL.
The end result will be something you can deploy to Apache Tomcat or something like JBoss and the result will be a web form that takes its contents and puts it in the database.

This is a really straightforward job. If you can't afford a contractor, you could probably learn enough of whichever language to write it yourself in a relatively short amount of time, and of course this forum is always here to answer questions and offer advice.