Re: Form Design Advice

operationsengineer1(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

>i'm developing a number of data entry forms. thanks
>to many on this board, i'm getting pretty close. i
>*really* do appreciate everyone's knowledge and
>insight and their unselfish spirit.
>
>i want my data enterer to be able to verify what they
>entered and still minimize the clicks required to
>enter data.
>
>i ahve a form process that looks like this...
>
>1. display blank form
>2. perform insert after data is submitted (assuming no
>errors which i check for)
>3. perform select to get data entered
>4. save data in global session array
>5. redisplay the empty form (ready for new input) with
>the printed session array components (representing
>what was entered) above the form followed by "
>successfully entered."
>
>now that i've moved beyond filling in one column in
>one table, this seems to be an overhead hog -
>especially when multiple columns are entered into
>multiple tables.
>
>it's design decision time... am i being to picky by
>wanting to display the data without adding any extra
>button clicks?
>
>does anybody have a "cool green" way of getting this
>done?
>
>i'm thinking i can just do the data entry (and avoid
>the extra selects and session work) and include a
>button to include a user input variable number of most
>recent entries.
>
>tia...
>
>
Keith's first rule of user interface design "Given the opportunity to
screw something up the user will."

IMHO If you display the data that the user just entered they will ignore
the message that the data submission was successful and cheerfully
resubmit the dataset believing that it was not accepted the first time.
One way to prevent this is to lock all the input fields and perhaps
change the color of the fields so that the dumb user notices and
disable/remove the submit button. IF a combination of the fields is the
primary key then the database could help prevent resubmission as well.
Having said that; if the data that the user just submitted is displayed
then how do they clear the form to enter the next set? Click a clear
button perhaps? So your left with click to clear or click to view
last. Your preference. Personally I would choose the latter. HTH

--
Kind Regards,
Keith