2 replies to this topic

[DC_Tally]

I have need of a small desktop application that creates styled (css?/java?) browser mini forms. Each form it creates must be output with a corresponding ini file that it reads from and stores its data into. The app would be like a very scaled down version if the vb form designer. It would need a layout area defined that enables users to position and align form components that are placed within it. I have an idea how to put some of these elements together but am not a seasoned programmer by far and some of this seems very advanced (for me anyhow).

I've seen a bunch of online form builders and some very expensive components like this one, but nothing that does quite what I'm looking for. Plus, this project doesn't require allot of the functionality that these other options provide.

Here are my questions.
Is this a big undertaking?
If so, is this something that exists in an open source project?
If not, would anyone be interested in helping me make this a community effort?
If not again, would someone care to guide or mentor me through doing this somehow?


Thanks!

[dargueta]

What language do you plan on writing this in? And how fancy do these forms get? Are you going to add support for images, drag-and-drop design, etc?

[DC_Tally]

Hello dargueta, thank you for replying. I have been looking at a few things but I like the Idea of an .hta desktop app that can write simple .hta desktop forms. I'm not married to this idea but at first look it seems ok. It would allow the use of html, java and vbscript to achieve the result. I also thought that the use of jquery ui and a basic wysiwyg editor would be a starting point. I have never done something like this so I don't know if writing your own code would be preferred over re purposing some other similar code.

It would not be necessary to add image support. The app would open to a basic editor with a resizable staging area. This would define the size of the resulting form. This "stage" would have an underlying grid that can be used to aid in aligning the form elements that are created on it. The form elements would be dragable and also snapable to the previously mentioned grid so that the user has flexibility to layout the form however they see fit. Aside from the common form elements there would be an element that lets users define paths as well. Finally, the app would also have a preview function of some kind as well as a save function. The save function would write the form and associate the ini file with it so that the resulting form would have the built in save form input functionality.

I hope my explanation was ok... let me know if I can clear anything up for you.