how do i create an interactive table with html? or should i use javascript?

Question

when a table cell is clicked i want an email sent to me and i want the cell to change color. In other words.....the cell says "open". when someone clicks on it it will send an email to me letting me know it's been chosen and on the webpage the cell will change to "closed". how the heck do i do that??

Also, when it sends me an email there needs to be an option for the person who clicked to enter their name and return email

So is this something i can do with html? or i need to use java?

are there key words i should be searching for that will help me?

Answer 1

You need a server-side scripting language to do what you want.

1. Only a server-side scripting language can retain which cells have been selected between various users.

2. While you can use JavaScript / DOM to change elements on a page, and to create things such as mailto links, you cannot reliably receive e-mail from someone without using a server-side language. Additionally, some antivirus / Internet security programs will not allow users to use mailto links.

I sincerely doubt you are going to find this all packaged together on the Web. You can find bits and pieces of it, but tying them together would probably be on you.

Answer 2

I am not aware of an HTML function that will do all the things you want from a single click. With HTML, it is only one action for one click. You would need to use a Javascript, Java, or other language to do multiple actions from a single click.

Do a search for "javascript" and you should find several sites offering tutorials on javascript. You may also find some already writing scripts that can do part of what you want (such as send the e-mail) and you would just have to add a line or two to do the other actions (such as changing the cell color).

Answer 3

Definitely javascript and possibly some php. If you just want the user's email software to fire up with the click then that's an easy link. If you want the email sent without user interaction then you want to use a javascript-ajax call back to your server where php will assemble and send the email.

Answer 4

HTML in itself is not ment to be dynamic. It is what it is, although you can do everything but change the word open to closed by using link colors and having the cell linked to an email address. But Javascript would be a better way to go, but you can use any scripting language such as vbscript, DHTML, etc... but java is probably your most likely source code you will find. Have you tried http://www.planet-source-code.com? Their are over a quarter million lines of code available in javascript you can use and they also support PHP, PERL, ASP, and much more!!!