Guestbook and Forum in DreamweaverMX

Fergal C

Please advise as to what I need to know to build a simple guestbook and discussion forum in Dreamweaver. I have no problem with creating the forms but I can't figure out how to display the captured data within the site.

I'm not looking for specifics, just suggestions as to what Dreamweaver tools I need so I can study them up in my Dreamweaver Bible.

Thanks, Thanks!!

Seth Brundle

Learn ASP / PHP / JSP / CFM and type it in the code view by hand and incorporate it into a MySQL (or MS Access) database (unless the site is going to be hugely popular)!
Honest!
By the way you would be better off downloading pre-built forums from the internet, e.g.
Web Wiz Guide or Snitz (ASP)
phpBB or vBulletin or yabbse (php)

Snowball

Originally posted by kbannon
By the way you would be better off downloading pre-built forums from the internet, e.g.
Web Wiz Guide or Snitz (ASP)
phpBB or vBulletin or yabbse (php)

Definatly. also phpBB is not bad. Has not really got a patch on vBulletin but its good. vBullein u'd have to pay for

Fergal C

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check out vbulletin etc.

Previously I built guest books and discussion boards very easily in Frontpage. Maybe I'll do that again and and try to incorporate them into the Dreamweaver site.

Seth Brundle

Don't use Frontpage for designing any part of a website!

Fergal C

I previously used FrontPage to design a simple portal website. Utilising insert components it was very easy to create things like guest books, discussion boards, site maps and site search.

Everything seems much more difficult with Dreamweaver (although the results are much better), Am I missing something?

Is there an easy way to have information, a browser enters into a form, displayed within a page on the site, eg a simple guest book?

Seth Brundle

The easiest way is to have a page (HTML) with a form which when submitted is sent to a page that contains server side code (ASP / PHP / JSP / CGI / CFM) which will insert the form contents into a database (MySQL or Access for e.g.). Once they are in the DB then the user is brought to the show page (which is also based on server side language) which retreives the results from the DB.
Learn one of the languages and try it yourself.
ASP (www.manastungare.com/asp/practicalguide.asp) with MS Access
or
PHP (www.php.net) with MySQL (www.mySQL.com)

[edit]
I should also have mentioned that you can also download pre-built guest book applications from the internet (for nowt). They will depend on which server side lanbguages your web server supports. Try the likes of www.aspin.com or www.phpresourceindex.com or www.cgi-resources.com

Fergal C

Thanks, I'll have a look at the pre-built options.

dynamic.ie

Check out these free, ready made solutions:

Web Wiz Forums - http://www.webwizguide.com/web_wiz_forums/default.asp?mode=aspv

Web Wiz Guestbook - http://www.webwizguide.com/asp/sample_scripts/guestbook_script.asp

To do what you want in DW you need to get to grips with one of the programming languages such as asp, asp.net, php, or cold fusion, and a database, such as MSSQL, MySQL or Access. Once you choose your combination, for example ASP.NET and MSSQL, you can use dreamweavers ready made functionality to start developing the site as you want it, instead of using an off the shelf package. Benefits to both sides I suppose:

DIY - more control but also costs more (time, money, etc.)
OFF THE SHELF - quick, cheap and easy to get and install but lose control over functionality.

All the best!

Dave

mneylon

Just my 2 cents:

Frontpage may have improved over the years, but it is still a horrendous product and should be avoided.

DW is aimed at people who know HTML etc., or want to handover their creations to people who do

Homesite is for coding purists, though they might say that they use Notepad, Editplus or Vim.

As for bulletin board software:
PhpBB is excellent, though vBulletin is definitely the best.
YaBBse is best avoided - they keep on finding really dodgy bugs in it

Fergal C

Thanks all, for your suggestions and links, much appreciated. I will look at the pre-built solutions in the short term and try to learn more about building dynamic pages over time.