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I need to develop a long user entry form (Job application form). Which has many sub-sections like personal data, Exam Results, Work Experience, Membership etc...As all these cannot be displayed at once I want to show one section (personal data) first, then the user clicks the next button to show the next section (exam results) likewise. Once clicked the final submit button needs to store all the data in the db. How can I achieve this in C# .net core MVC?
Can anyone please suggest a good solution?
I would save the data in a database as the user completes each section.
Once clicked the final submit button needs to store all the data in the db.
Session is another option but a using a database is far more robust.
since the user has not yet confirmed the entries until last submission button is clicked, is it worth saving in a db? Further, all subsections need a back button so that the user can make changes in the previously entered data.
since the user has not yet confirmed the entries until last submission button is clicked, is it worth saving in a db?
Data stored in a database can be updated at any time. Show the user what they entered in a final confirmation page. The confirmation page is read only like a report divided into sections the user can review. Provide the ability to update any of the previous sections using links and/or buttons.
Fetching and editing data are very common operations in web development. Can you explain why data is not worth saving in a database?
Further, all subsections need a back button so that the user can make changes in the previously entered data.
All the more reason to store the data in a database. When the use clicks the back button fetch the data for that previous section and display the data .
It seems like you are making up problems that do not exist. Have you written any code? Perhaps you are new to MVC and going through a few tutorials will help.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/data/ef-mvc/?view=aspnetcore-8.0
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Hi @Monica Suriyaarachchi , since we are now working in MVC application, we can certainly do like what AgaveJoe shared to store data for each section, then we need to suffer from "data submit pending" for each section as it always cost some time for storing data. If we just want to submit once in the whole process, we might hide the last section at the same time we display the new section, Let's assume we already loads all the sections in the page, but at first, only the first section is displayed and others are hidden or collapsed, while click the "Next" button, the first section is collapsed and the next section is expanded.
Hi @AgaveJoe & @Tiny Wang-MSFT Thank you for your valuable comments.As Tiny Wang-MSFT suggested I also thought of hiding and showing sections as the next and back button operations. My concern is some user's attachments (certificate copies etc) are also need to be saved on the way, So if I store all these on the server and db and retrieve them back re-saving when the user edits and so on seems to be a hard job. Is storing data and files on the final submission a bad idea?
Yes, I am a bit new to MVC.
In MVC we can use form submit to transfer data, which supports upload file attachment as well, maybe you can take a look at this document.
So if I store all these on the server and db and retrieve them back re-saving when the user edits and so on seems to be a hard job.
Fetching, inserting, and updating data is common place and covered in every data tutorial.
I'm not sure what "seems to be a hard job" means to you. Can you clarify?
Is storing data and files on the final submission a bad idea?
In my opinion yes it is a poor design idea. It is a lazy man's load.
Rather asking for community design help then arguing with the suggestions, how about you write proof of concept code to figure out which approach works best.
Rather asking for community design help then arguing with the suggestions,
My intention was never to argue. Anyway, thanks all. Everyone's suggestions are humbly accepted.