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General Discussion

Vincent Trapani
Vincent Trapani
2,642 Points

I am building a job application form. What happens to the inputted data after it is submitted?

I understand how to build the form on the front end thanks to the HTML forms course. No issue there. I also understand that the inputted information is sent to the backend/server, but that is all I know. Does it then turn into php code? Even so, what can I do with it?

My company uses either an old fashioned paper application (yawn...) or a pdf app I created. Issue here is both of these methods are slow and inefficient. I host the apps on Google drive (either scanned for paper app or saved pdf), so my desired result is to have an applicant input their information on our website, and then I get a beautiful and sexy application as a result (something manageable and universal like a pdf).

In other words, raw and unsexy information (ie php code I assume) is not my desired result.

A few relevant details to my question are: most applicants are not super computer savvy ie can't figure out how to download, fill out and send a pdf or use something like google chrome or another browser to open and fill out hence why I am here to learn and find a solution to my issue.

Is there anyone who could impart some wisdom and knowledge on me?

Thank you all.

Vince

1 Answer

Seth Kroger
Seth Kroger
56,413 Points

Does it then turn into php code?

It gets turned into a message backend processes. The language and framework the backend is written in doesn't matter. It can be in PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, etc. The important thing is that the backend code needs to be written by someone and is in place to handle the message when it comes in. Otherwise the server won't be able to do anything with the data you're sending. It will be dropped, hopefully with an error response.

You then need to process what you received. Almost certainly you'll save the data to a database for storage, and perhaps turn in into a document or email.