Throwing a question out there as I'm getting nowhere fast. We have a need for contractors in the field with web access but without email access to be able to send files to us.
Ie, they have a scan but no email, I'd love them to be able to go to a site a drop a file somewhere which we would have access to.
However, I don't want them to have access to said box or have to sign up to anything, just visit a website.
I've looked at Dropbox and Yousendit but they don't seem to fit the bill.
If they have web access then why can they not have web based email such as gmail or ymail even if they do not have access to your standard email systems?
What was the issue with dropbox that it was not suitable? folders could be set up password protected exactly the same as on explorer so for example there is no reason for contract X to have access to the box of contractor Y,
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
This is really simple to implement with a bit of html and php. Just create a web form in the same way you would a contact form and add an input with the type 'file'. You can store this in a folder on the server or an sql database.
The main problem is trying to get guys with very little IT grounding to stop using snail mail. Some of them won't even have laptops with them, just brief access to a field based office machine or an internet cafe deal.
Signing up to Dropbox might be just a little beyond them, or can the part facing them be simplified?
I assume the problem is that you don't want them to be able to see any other files, including those sent in similar fashion by other contractors (because surely they can see their own already - it's on their computer in the form of a scan!)?
As Shaun said, I don't see why they can't use email if they can access the internet, and DropBox (and some of its ilk) should also be fine: You don't set up a single folder for all documents, that all the contractors can drop things into; you can share a specific folder with each individual contractor, so that all they can see in that folder is what they themselves have put there.
If you wanted to be clever, you *could* contract someone to solve the problem via a web page and a bit of PHP; the page would present the contractor with a dialogue to select the file(s) to upload, and behind the scenes it would either put them in a folder that isn't web facing, so nobody else has access to, or simply email it to you.
However, I think that would be akin to using a nuclear device launched from orbit to crack a nut (while simultaneously forging it into a newly invented wheel), given that in reality email or DropBox should easily suffice.
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
Okay, your reply to Shaun crossed with mine to you. That puts a slightly new perspective on it.
In that case, yes, it's possible - the web page and PHP solution is what you want. (Think about when you upload pictures to FaecesBook and similar; you'll in effect be creating a page that does that for the documents the contractors have to send you, with the exception of then displaying them!)
You will probably even find that there are free, off-the-shelf PHP scripts that your web developer can download and use on the page so he doesn't have to write his own. (Not that I've looked, but I'd be surprised if there aren't.)
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
I think that I would be prone to setting them up with Google mail Mark and giving them an hours training and an idiot proof login guide... I know the old adage, make it idiot proof and they just invent a better idiot but I can't see that they would struggle to send and receive mails from google.
You could even send each of them an email which includes a link to instructions and to write to you all that they have to do is reply to the email, not even put an email address in.
I'm actually sure that the guys are nowhere near as dumb as you indicate... although, after saying that I've got one client whose staff are purposefully acting dumb because he wants them to do things that they don't want to so they're making his life more difficult.
My suggestion of take one out and shoot them and the rest will fall in line didn't get adopted by the client though, lol.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
This is really simple to implement with a bit of html and php. Just create a web form in the same way you would a contact form and add an input with the type 'file'. You can store this in a folder on the server or an sql database.
Kris
This might be close to what I need. We currently have a contact page on our website where we ask them to fill in name etc. then click a button which has the address: websitename/cgi-bin/formmail.pl
I'm guessing we just need a new button which would ask for the file location and then upload it to our server?
Mark, when it comes to all things internet always go with Vince and Kris's suggestions over mine.
I'm a bit of a techno ludite (although it seems not to the standards of your contractors) that I want everything to be so simple that even I understand it.
That said, give me a mainframe and I'll beat the lot of em. lol
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
It's a few minutes of coding really. what it does is takes the file (in a similar way to the attach on the forum works) sanitises the data then puts it in a folder or a database. If you want to drop me an email with what you need I'll knock it together for you ove the next week or so. Kris@kmbookkeeping.co.uk
