Online grid/form

Delphi91

OK, here's the thing.....

I'm contemplating setting up an online (intranet) form for colleagues at work to indicate times during the day when they are available to do specific tasks. The day will be broken down into timeslots and I'd like people to be able to go to the form and to enter their availability by placing an entry (number) into the relevant box corresponding to the timeslot when they are free. In essence it will be a grid with rows corresponding to the timeslots each day and five columns corresponding to the days of the week.

I'd also like to be able to limit each timeslot to one entry.

Can anyone advise as to how this might be implemented. I've done some html and Java but I'm not at all familiar with any scripting languages.

Mike

StickyMcGinty

i've done a similar tool before....

i had to use ASP/C#.NET as they were the technologies they insisted we used in the multinational i was working for

but if it was my choice i would have used PHP. if you've a good grasp of Java you should have no problem adapting to any scipting language imo. you'll need a SQL server backend to store the records. MsSQL server (for .NET) or MySQL (for PHP) would do the job nicely

smcelhinney

Would you be opposed to maybe taking a pre-developed app and customising it? Thats what I did with TeamCal

Failing that, if you know Java, you can knock up a relatively simple JSP version using a MySQL database.

Cantab.

Delphi91 wrote: »

OK, here's the thing.....

I'm contemplating setting up an online (intranet) form for colleagues at work to indicate times during the day when they are available to do specific tasks. The day will be broken down into timeslots and I'd like people to be able to go to the form and to enter their availability by placing an entry (number) into the relevant box corresponding to the timeslot when they are free. In essence it will be a grid with rows corresponding to the timeslots each day and five columns corresponding to the days of the week.

I'd also like to be able to limit each timeslot to one entry.

Can anyone advise as to how this might be implemented. I've done some html and Java but I'm not at all familiar with any scripting languages.

Mike

Sounds like you want to re-invent the wheel to me. What kind of features does your organisation require and how much will it cost you to implement? What are the benefits to your organisation of spending all this money on a custom application?

Delphi91

Cantab. wrote: »

Sounds like you want to re-invent the wheel to me. What kind of features does your organisation require and how much will it cost you to implement? What are the benefits to your organisation of spending all this money on a custom application?

Spending all what money??? I'll write it myself if it's straight forward enough!! (and I won't charge!)

If you must know, its for a school. I want to create a template so that each year when teachers volunteer to substitutue for absent colleagues for two classes each week, I can get them to open a webpage on the intranet and fill in the relevant information.

As for re-inventing the wheel, well, I wasn't aware that something like this already existed. All I was asking for was a pointer in the right direction. I'll do the rest myself.

Cantab.

Delphi91 wrote: »

Spending all what money??? I'll write it myself if it's straight forward enough!! (and I won't charge!)

If you must know, its for a school. I want to create a template so that each year when teachers volunteer to substitutue for absent colleagues for two classes each week, I can get them to open a webpage on the intranet and fill in the relevant information.

As for re-inventing the wheel, well, I wasn't aware that something like this already existed. All I was asking for was a pointer in the right direction. I'll do the rest myself.

I guess time and money aren't interchangeable in your sector. Try www.swifttide.com. I'm sure they could engineer you a solution quickly. Although, if you're keen, it could be a nice little project! I wonder would the unions object to such a system? How would you motivate your staff to use the system?

Delphi91

Cantab. wrote: »

I guess time and money aren't interchangeable in your sector. Try www.swifttide.com. I'm sure they could engineer you a solution quickly. Although, if you're keen, it could be a nice little project! I wonder would the unions object to such a system? How would you motivate your staff to use the system?

I haven't come across Swifttide before, but we're about to roll out a similar package.

As for the unions objecting, well, staff already sign up on a sheet of paper in the staffroom at the start of the year. So, this really wouldn't be any different except that they'd do it online on our intranet.

I'm quite keen to do the project myself if it's not that complicated. I was just curious as to what approach people felt would be the most appropriate.

Many thanks for everyones suggestions.

Mike