[KLUG Members] PHP document writer

[Jason Edward Durrett]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your response.

> I'd go back a bit and simply branch the choice beforehand.  Do they want
> HTML or Spreadsheet?  Have them tell you first and then do it.
>
>   
I am writing this for my own company so I am in the position of seeking
the most efficient workflow in my business and also being one of the
primary users.  

> In other words, wherever it is that the person asks "I want to see this
> report", have the program ask AT THAT TIME whether they want the output
> in HTML or XLS (or whatever the other choice will be).  Then the PHP
> will only be run once for whatever they want.  The method described
> above seems to force them to do it in HTML first and then into another
> format.
>
> Request -> HTML -> Spreadsheet
>
> I'd recommend:
>
>                    HTML Report
>                 /
> choice options    
>                 \
>                    Spreadsheet Report
>
>   

This is a good suggestion.  One reason I am not using another program is
because I think there are too many options in alot of solutions (both
open source and proprietary).  So I am trying to write a very simple
solution for my business.   However, I think I see mistakes in other
modules that I have written so far because I did not push the "choice"
back further . . . That is, I wrote something that I and the other
managers wanted but creates more steps down the line for the people who
need it everyday.
>> I don't want to put all the possible sorting and filtering into
>> php because that seems like a never ending process . . . ie sort by over
>> ninety, sort by over ninety by state, sort by over sixty where all
>> accounts are in zip code xxxxx, etc. 
>>     
>
> Let them do all that in the spreadsheet if you want.  
>
> If you have a "choice" page beforehand, where they decide what month and
> what format they want, for example, you can add sort options there if
> you want.  
>
>   
>> I found a php class to do this but I still need to program it a bit.
>>     
>
> Do you mean it takes HTML and turns it into a spreadsheet or it takes
> raw data and turns it into a spreadsheet?
>
>   
Raw data . . . the idea is to push more data, in a useful way, depending
on function, to my employees but to keep it simple as possible.

Thanks again for the feedback.


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