If you need to set up a data base to collect information from customers on your website, how do you do that?

Question

I am new to web site design and data base development, so if you started a web page, and you wanted to collect emails and such from customers, are there programs out there for that, or do you outsource this or what?

Answer 1

You can do this a number of ways but a number of companies enable you to set up a web site that will take care of setting up the database. I'd start at Godaddy.com and check out their packages.

If you;re starting a store and want to sell products then check out Yahoo Small Business: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com

Answer 2

Wow, if you only knew what you were getting yourself into. You just opened your own little can of worms. Good luck, I've been battling with this database thing for a while. I decided to use Perl and CGI for my submittal and retrieval programs, and MySQL for my databases. You'll need to first find a server to store the databases. Price will determine the amount of space you need. If you are small time, I suggest searching for free MySQL Servers. Next you'll need to learn the Perl Programming necessary for access, reading and writing. If I were you I would skip the whole Answers thing and go to your used book store and look for any books you can find on Perl and MySQL. You'll also need to check with your Website's server to find out if it has a perl bin. If not you'll need to find a server that will give you access to their Perl bin, and find out the path to that bin.


If you just want them to fill out forms that send you email from them write off a webpage, I would suggest just making an email form, plain and simple, then build your own database on your own computer. If you need to call that information up later, then you're getting into CGI, which is a Perl program. It's not easy. Hopefully you have ASP capabilities from your server. It's much better.

I might be able to help you a little, but I'm new to it myself. You could spend all day asking questions on here, and then suddenly realize you're only touching the surface. So you REALLY need to just go buy the book. You'll learn much faster that way I promise. It's really not all that hard once you get the language down. Most of the programs are rather short.

Answer 3

unless you know how to program in multiple languages you will have to outsource-
Chances of finding a prebuilt script to your exact needs are slim.
The variables that you will need to know are the languages supported by the server you use, ie: php,asp,jsp, ASP.net etc
and the database to be utililised. ie: mySQL, Access, SQL server etc.
You'll also need to know SQL....