Forums

hi, am building a job site for a client, the resume/CV form is bulky and he wanted it in such a way that the front-end user can fill in his resume and CV's bit by bit and save the progress to edit at a later time, then when the user is satisfied with what he has filled in the form he can then click submit. i noticed there is only submit, reset and back button. is there a way to have the user click a "Save button" to save the form as draft until he or she is ready to submit?

Hi kevdiesel,

I would always try to break a big form into bite sized chunks as separate forms (or pages). Save each chunk to a record in the database table and keep the record identifier with the form in a hidden input so that the same record is updated on future saves.

I'd probably also add a 'status' column to the table with a value like 'wip' while the form is being completed/edited and 'complete' when it is finally submitted.

You'll need some way of preserving the identity of the form. What is best depends on the circumstances; a cookie might work (but you'll need to observe the local cookie regulations). The User session will work if you expect the user to complete the form in one session - albeit with some short breaks. A 'token' or the user's email can also be used if you need to allow for the user completing the form in several sessions or from different computers. The 'token' would just be a short random string to let them re-access a partially complete application.

Bob