Auto saving with javascript and asp

any recommendation on concepts or better if there's codes which I can modify. Best if the codes comes with explaination of processes etc

One option would be to have the "edit content" inside an iframe, the iframe can contain a form with a multi line text box, and a javascript timer running in the background that periodically "posts" the data back to itself... and as part of the posting process it could capture the content, save it and then put it back into the text box... Main issue I can think of tho would be cursor positioning as it is likely to happen during someone typeing...

Also you might want to consider using a rich text editor for you blog, and they may have this feature built in.

We are almost there.

So now I have the method for passing the variables in the background to my .asp script using prototype (i can easily write a count down to call the function every 2 mins), how do i program my asp side to process the data? And save the thing as a draft for future reading?

well don;'t you already have a server side asp script for processing the form?

it would be handled by the same script - you are just posting the form to the same place...  i assume you have the asp under control... non?  if not then you can base your asp code of the tutorials here:

http://www.w3schools.com/asp/asp_inputforms.asp

you will need a way to differentiate between a full form submit and a partial (save as draft) submit....

there are many ways you could do this, i'd start by experimenting with putting a name and value on the submit button (like this):

<input type="submit" name="saveas" value="Save"/>

not sure if prototype will send that value when you call $(formId).request(); if not then this will work and you can test to see if saveas = 'Save'

if that doesn't work, then you could try something more tricky, like adding a hidden field that is updated when form is submitted:


<form name="myform" id="myform" method="post" action="http://www.mysite.asp" onsubmit="$('saveas').value="final";">
      <input type="text" name="txt1" id="txt1"/>
      <input type="text" name="txt2" id="txt2"/>
      <input type="text" name="txt3" id="txt3"/>
      <input type="hidden" name="saveas" id="saveas" value="draft"/>
      <input type="submit"/>
</form>

then you can test to see if saveas is 'draft' or 'final'

oops, that was bad syntax, should have been this:


<form name="myform" id="myform" method="post" action="http://www.mysite.asp" onsubmit="$('saveas').value='final';">