What is the ideal way for this scenario?

Question

4.00/5 (2 votes)

See more:

I am working on a small Web application that involves some data entry. The tricky part(at least for me) is the data entry is divided into several steps. To make it clearer, the following are some of the steps involved.

1. User enters header information on one page and clicks on save button. User is moved to the next page.
2. He enters the details on another page and clicks on save button. User is moved to the next page.
3. He enters some more details on the last page and clicks on save button.

I made it that way because I think saving all the data at once might cause performance issues on the application especially when the usage is quite heavy. My problem is, if the user clicks on cancel at step 3, data from steps 1 and 2 should also be deleted from the database. I believe this will require a transaction but going through some of the articles on the net, transactions will sometimes require table locking and might also cause performance issues. Im stuck with this one and I really want to think for the approach before coding, instead of doing trial and error.

My question is, what is the ideal approach for this kind of scenario?

Appreciate your help.

Posted 17-Mar-11 15:12pm

walterhevedeich

Add a Solution

Comments

Pong D. Panda 19-Apr-11 0:27am

Nice question, vote up!

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-17T15:20:00

Since this is a web app, you shouldn't enter any data to your database until the user fills in the final step: what if he goes through steps 1 and 2 and then decides not to complete step 3, but to go surf for Dilbert cartoons instead? Or go home?

Suddenly your data integrity is shot to hell anyway.

Instead, store your info from steps 1 and 2 in the Session, and save it all to the DB when the user has completed step 3 and all data is verified.

BTW: Do try not to make your software work around "I think saving all the data at once might cause performance issues" - try to make it work around the user, and what he is going to have to do as part of his workflow.
Unless the user is pasting hundreds of records from a file, any performance hit is going to be pretty trivial.