How can I enter form data into database?

[~kev~]

The company I work for is a not-for-profit organization, we provide medical services for people who can not afford to go to the regular doctor.  We need a way to keep track of our patients and their visits and a way to search the data.

 

I found an html form, with name, address, phone number, zip code,,,,,, and made a few changes to fit our needs.  But I do not know how to get that information into the database.

 

I also need a way to make sure the information is not a duplicate.

 

Since we are a not-for-profit organization, funds are kinda tight.  That is why I want to go with php instead of buying medical software.  Most of the medical software on the market cost more then we can afford.

 

I'am a computer tech here at the office, but my field is hardware, networking, and malware removal.  PHP programming is new to me.

 

So where do I start?

[shlumph]

Install PHP, MySQL and Apache on your local machine for development. Once that's all setup, start reading some tutorials on PHP form processing. Here's one I just found on google that may help to get you started:

http://www.html-form-guide.com/php-form/php-form-processing.html

 

Start trying out some tutorials you find, until you feel comfortable building something from scratch. You may also want to install something like MySQL query browser to provide a GUI of the database.

 

Good luck & have fun!