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Re: When does a "Template" become a "Form"

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From: Sailesh Panchang
Date: Jan 19, 2011 7:06AM

Birkir,
Right, my choice too would be HTML / PHP etc. But Michael needs to
answer this one. His question specifically relates to a Word doc of
which he is the author.
Sailesh



On 1/18/11, Birkir Rúnar Gunnarsson < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> And if they are form documents where the data is expected to be in a
> certain format e.g. to be put into a databse, xml file or ba script,
> wouldn't it be less work in the long run to create these as html
> documents with Javascript validation, and put them online?
> It does take some work, and it depends on the data and the volume you
> deal with, but it is often surprisingly easy to save time by putting
> in some development and automate the most boring of tasks, data entry.
> I am sure you know all of this though, and have your reasons, but may
> be your situation and decissions could be informative to other list
> members, so I just brought this up out of curiosity.
> Thanks
> -B
>
> On 1/18/11, Sailesh Panchang < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> Michael,
>> That is certainly your prerogative. But the questions I'd ask myself are:
>> What do I do with the files after they come back with data? Will
>> content formatted as a form facilitate data validation or process of
>> pulling data into a database or other repository? Or are the answers
>> reviewed and processed manually and their particular format is
>> unimportant? So if a form format is not going to be useful, then you
>> can avoid the extra work!
>> Regards,
>> Sailesh Panchang
>>
>>
>>
>> On 1/18/11, Langum, Michael J < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>> On occasion, we get request to post WORD files (see example attached)
>>> that
>>> are intended to be used by end-users to provide information back to our
>>> program offices. They are NOT formatted as WORD forms, but simple .doc
>>> files.
>>>
>>> The thinking is that these WORD files are "Templates" that the end user
>>> can
>>> use to provide needed information, and are not FORMS.
>>>
>>> On the one hand, I'm inclined to say that they are forms, and that
>>> therefore
>>> they need to be built with FORM tools that provide prompts, and allow
>>> tabbing.
>>>
>>> But, since I'm the person who would typically need to re-format the
>>> files,
>>> I'm reluctant to give myself all the extra work.
>>>
>>> Any opinions?
>>>
>>> -- Mike
>>>
>>>
>>