How to store data from form builder in database

Question

I am trying to create a form builder that will enable users generate survey form/page.

After the form is generated the form attribute is stored on a table.

Question 1: Where can I store the form attribute knowing fully well that the number of fields user might add in the form is unknown.

Question 2: Where and how do I store data submitted through the generated form when some one for example completes the survey form.

Should I create new tables on fly for each of the form attributes? If yes what if over a million forma are created which translates to a million tables.

Is this where multi-tenancy comes into play.

Please provide your answer based on best practices.

Answer 1

I think I get what you're asking, but why not create one table with 100 columns, labelled 1-100. Set a limit on the amount of fields a user can create(Limit 100). Then, POST the fields and add a sql query to store the values...?

COMMENT ANSWER If the user is already signed in filling this form I would personally do the POST request on the same page.

<?php if (isset($_POST['field1'])){
 $valueforField1 = $_POST['field1'];
 $valueforField2 = $_POST['field2'];
 $valueforField3 = $_POST['field3'];
 $servername = "localhost";
 $username = "username";
 $password = "password";
 $dbname = "myDB";
 // Create connection
 $conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
 // Check connection
 if ($conn->connect_error) {
 die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
 } 
 $sql = "INSERT INTO Survey (field1, field2, field3) // I guess you would `have to add 100 fields here to accommodate the fields in your DB Also, you can set a default value in MySQL that way if field 56-100 is not set it has a value like 0 or add the value in this php file` 
 VALUES ('$valueforField1', '$valueforField2', '$valueforField3')";
 if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
 echo "New record created successfully";
 } else {
 echo "Error: " . $sql . "<br>" . $conn->error;
 }
 $conn->close(); ?>

COMMENT ANSWER or if you want to wait for the user to log in you can store all the values in a SESSION variable.

<?php
session_start();
if (isset($_POST['field1'];)){
if (!(isset($_SESSION['email']))){
$_SESSION['field1'] = $_POST['field1'];
// You would have to do 100 of these
}
}
?>

• Emeka Mbah: sounds like a nice idea. Like you said here add a sql to store the the POST or data/values where do I store the post values?