Event Booking - Need to mull over some ideas to make it easier

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Currently we have a site where people can signup for events online via a form.

They fill in their name, email address and tick off the event(s) yes or no using the checkboxes beside the date and time of the event. They can signup for more than one event at a time if they want.

We allow guests so forcing login is not an option.

The form is emailed to 2 people, me being one. I save the emails sorted into folders for the event and keep a hand written list (yes I know how barbaric!) because some people email directly saying yay or nay or have to cancel.

The confirmed list is an HTML page with names down the left and columns across labelled with the dates. In the "boxes" beside their names we put yes or no. This currently is updated manually and not necessarily the moment someone signs up (much to some's dismay).

Sooo, I want to get some suggestions on how this can be made simplier keeping in mind:

• They can sign up and cancel without using the form.
• If we get a phone call or get a verbal confirmation we need to be able to add/delete that person.
• The participants want everything really simple. The idea of having to login when we orginally started the site didn't fly.
• The other person involved with organizing this has to be able to easily take care of it in my absense.

Got any ideas?

[GMF]

Mhh... what comes to my mind is PHP and MySQL.

Form data is stored in the database and the confirmed list html reads from the database..

Database could look something like this

CREATE TABLE signups (
    name                  VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, # name of person
    email                  VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, # email of person
    event                 VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, # name of event

and some extra fields


Mhh.... how can you cancel? Only via mail/phone or do you want an extra form for that?
If via mail/phone then you have to drop that DB entry from the database manually, shouldn't be that hard (PHPmyAdmin).
If via another form you need some kind of verification, else someone can delete everything and everyone...

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Right now, they could go back to the signup form and cancel.



With your PHPAdmin idea - the other person looking after this would probably freak out. Would need some kind of form for them to use that on submission would remove the yes and replace with a no. Actually, that would have to happen if they went back to the signup and resubmitted with a no also.

[GMF]

Originally Posted by HTMLBasicTutor

With your PHPAdmin idea - the other person looking after this would probably freak out

Well, you could make a PHP form for that, that reads the database and if it finds a match - drop the table. You could even recycle the signup form - only use name, email (and whatever you like) to check if this data exists in the database, asks if you really want to delete and then drop the data.

Would need some kind of form for them to use that on submission would remove the yes and replace with a no. Actually, that would have to happen if they went back to the signup and resubmitted with a no also.

K, bit hard to read that line (punctuation ?? )

Since no signup and therefore no username/pw things can get very dangerous, a.k.a.: A hacker/script kiddy could delete event signups etc...

The first event signup is no problem.
If they want to change something later they HAVE to input something that authenticates them as this person. So, you could give them a salted md5 hash (or whatever) after their first event signup, that they have to safe (use for later authentication)... Or, they use their name and email to authenticate...

User friendliness is one thing, but security is a far bigger concern.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Let me sleep on this.

If they went back to the original signup form they have to fill in their name and email to process the form, it is checked that those 2 fields are filled in already as it is now.

The part you were confused about:
The other person that helps look after this is not a web person therefore they would freak if they had to use PHPAdmin or even maybe break something.

Do you think I could adapt an exsiting reservation script?

Any idea how MeetUp works? Do you have to join the group before being able to sign up for an event? Not that I want to use MeetUp. Some of the participants are in another group that uses MeetUp hence why they are a little impatient when their confirmation isn't showing right away.

[GMF]

Originally Posted by HTMLBasicTutor

The other person that helps look after this is not a web person therefore they would freak if they had to use PHPAdmin or even maybe break something.

That is why I suggested to make a "delete_event_signup.php".

This is a form as any other, with some fields to check against the database.

You get a cancel request - you enter the required fields into the form - on submit form checks if there is a database entry - if yes: "do you really want to delete? YES / NO", if no: "No data found, please check your input".

Well, the required fields depend on what you authenticate a person with. If you have decided on a route then it is almost smooth sailing.