Use Office to enter data into a form online. (Like a signup form)

[Scotty D]

I have a database of people who have signed up to be a part of our mailing
list (along with phone numbers and other personal information). I need to
enter that data into a web form (like the standard "Click here to sign up"
form that you see on webpages). Is there a way to make Access enter this data
into the form automatically so we dont have to re-enter all the information
manually?


Thank you.

 

[gllincoln]

Hi Scotty,

Yes - it can be done. I'm not comfortable with directly facilitating this being done or offering code examples- because I don't personally know the details of who and why. No offense intended but nothing said in a forum is going to make me comfortable with this.

I can't think of many scenarios where someone would legitimately want to do this? If you have access to the server's database, it's easier to export a tsv (if LAMP backend) or a csv (if IIS/SQL backend) and import that directly into the server's database.

With Windows hosting, most support RDC - making it easy to do this. With LAMP, you normally have access to phpmyadmin and that makes it easy to import tsv files. (tsv works better with LAMP.) Just export the data you want to insert into the database - FTP it to the server (if need be) and import the data on the server side. Much cleaner and more efficient way of handling the transaction and it doesn't smell funny - like someone trying to punch bogus leads into a web form and get paid for the bad or old data, or just trying to mess with somebody.

Cordially,
Gordon

 

[Scotty D]

I definitely understand what you are saying. I would be skeptical about this
too, but I assure you that I am totally legitimate. I work in the promotions
dept of a radio broadcast company. We have a number of live events (as many
as 40 per week) and we have our listeners sign up to be a part of our mailing
list, as well as enter to win prizes. It is a pain in the ass however to
manually enter each of these people into the computer one by one on the
webpage. It would be much easier if we could create a database of people and
then have that be put into the computer.

I totally understand what you are saying regrading the integration of the
database into the existing one. However we do not manage our webpages. We
have an outside company that manages the database and webpages. We asked them
if we made a database and saved it in any format they want if they could add
it in, and they said there is no way they can do it. (Truth be told, I think
they are morons. I have spoken with them a number of times and have gotten
the impression that I have much more knowledge about this than they do... I
dont think they care)


I would be more than happy to discuss this with you further, and can give
you any details that you would need in order to help me. (I would rather not
post these to a forum, but I can give you our company's contact information
and information about our webpages and how they work and anything you'd
need). I do however understand that posting code like this could be used by
some unsavory people to some awful things to other people.

Thanks,
Scotty

 

[gllincoln]

Hi Scotty,

I've been tied up with some projects for the past couple days - tell you
what, send me the URL of where the form is to gllincoln at live dot com - I
will take a look at the form and see whether it's manageable to auto-post
the data. I would want some way to verify your employment with the radio
station and see for myself that the form is associated with the radio
station but we can handle those details in private email.

Cordially,
Gordon

 

[fergusonproperties]

I would be interested in this "how to," as well, but I'm not even sure if
we're talking about the same thing. I'm writing a personal database to
facilitate our residential rental property home business (a merging of
QuickBooks, Outlook, and other property management functions). I'm trying to
tailor this specifically to our personal procedures so that my husband can
step in and assist with the office end of the job at any time with little or
no training. One of the things I'd like to do is take info that he would
type into an Access form (such as rental applicant info) and be able to press
a button to have it automatically open a web page, fill in the data into the
appropriate fields on that page, and execute a button on that page (such as
the web-based credit/background check service that we use). It would be so
much easier than having to train someone on all of those steps manually, plus
it would save time. Is this the same scenario that the two of you were
discussing, and is it simple enough that you wouldn't mind explaining the
set-up to a "power user" (NOT a programmer)? Thank you!