I've developed a modular online course with a large number of modules,
sections, tasks, readings, and assignments.
There is a section called "Progress" in which I want each student to
be able to keep track of what they have done in the course
(independent of other students taking the same course).
I tried cookies but it is limited to 20 items and I have about 60 or
more items that I want to include.  Using cookies is also not stable
because these students may use different computers in each learning
session or be on networked systems.
PHP sessions are too complex and as far as I can figure out, they do
not "hold" the information permanently.
I have PHP4+ and MySQL on the server and use them for a forum program
for the course.  Other options on my server are CGI/PERL, SSI, Flash,
and htaccess.
The students log on to the course web page and continue from there. 
The "Progress" file is a link to popup window from the main course
page.
I want the page to contain simple checkboxes for each section
completed, checkboxes for tasks, readings, and assignments; also, 3
short textboxes, a longer textbox for comments, and possibly a "things
to do" list.  If possible, an automatic total tally of their grades;
which either they can enter [or the teachers can enter for them
directly into their "Profile" -- which I know is much more complex].

I basically need a simple system (other than the limited cookies
method) that when students go to the "Progress" window they can "load"
their previous information and "save" it a the end.  The students
already have user names and passwords for access to the site.  I don't
need any email forms or a way to see what they have done on their
personal "Progress" page.

I need information on how I can do this -- with examples and sample
code or even a script easily modified for my needs.  I've alread
looked up
everything on cookies and PHP sessions.  I've searched all types of
scripts including PERL, Javascript, Flash, etc.  I need a very
specific answer on how to do this and with clarification until I get
it to work, theory is no good for me I need practical results. A list
of sites which contain scripts will not do.

I know the price is low for this type of information, but I will pay a
very nice "bonus" if I get this to work properly without having to get
a PhD in computer sciences.

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Request for Question Clarification by hailstorm-ga on 31 Oct 2002 21:24 PST

Does the solution have to be hosted on your local servers, or are you
free to use an outside resource to host the application?

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Clarification of Question by tube5000-ga on 01 Nov 2002 03:59 PST

I don't mind hosting the "Progress" section on an outside service
since the students only use it while online.

I just want it to be invisible; no indication that it is being hosted
somewhere else (no other company names, URLs, ads, etc.).  All the
sections of the course "flow" well together and have a certain style
and look to them.  I would like to be able to customize the resource
and it would also have to appear in a popup type of window (could be
up to 700x500).

The "readings" the student do appear in new full browser windows...
the course site is almost like a separate entity from the Internet...
I don't want any confusion as to whether they are "in" or "out" of the
course when they go to their "Progress" sections.

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Clarification of Question by tube5000-ga on 01 Nov 2002 16:25 PST

The students will see all of the information on the page on the first
day and will basically "check off" what they have done to determine
their progress.

I've worked out three possible pages ranging from simple to complex. 
The simple would be just the students plugging in the information and
saving it.

More complex would be the teacher inserting grades into each of their
pages.  (Remembering that the "Profile" popup window is the same URL
for each student at this point.)

Even more complex would be tracking their progress in terms of how
long they took to work through the course and a button to calculate
their grade totals.

This is the final piece of the puzzle... the course is already being
tested by real users.  The rest of the course works fine, but it is
over budget and I just want to finish this section to have a completed
project.  The cost in time and money is coming out of my own pocket.

security: .htaccess in a buried subfolder.  The folder contains all
the information that will be accessed by the users.  Access outside of
the course is via new browser windows and on other servers.

server:  PHP 4.2.2  MySQL 3.23.47  Apache/1.3.26

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Clarification of Question by tube5000-ga on 07 Nov 2002 20:20 PST

Thanks for all of your suggestions.  It was the first time using
Google Answers and I didn't know what to expect.

I found that I could try to take several different programs and choose
bits and pieces to do want I want -- isn't that what everybody does?

The PHP scripts that I found were only posted on the net over the last
couple of weeks.  I'm going to try with phpFormGenerator, ezSQL, MySQL
Interaction, DaDaBIK, and phpdbform.

Again, thanks... I do feel guilty that nobody is getting paid for
this...  I ended up doing the legwork searching for this myself in the
end.

Regardless, I'll use Google Answers more often and I'll try to be
fairer by asking simple questions.  I'll probably have lots of small
questions before I get things working well.

I don't yet have the practical experience to help you get this working
quickly.  But I can tell you that storing the students' information on
your server with a mySQL database is probably the best solution.  If
you've started looking into using PHP, stick with that as the
frontend, and just have it access mySQL to look up and modify the
student progress records.

I'll leave any further comments to a fellow researcher who's used PHP
and mySQL, and can help you with the actual implementation.

Would be glad to write this simple bit of code for you. How are you
wanting the sections on the progress page to be displayed? Do you
dynamically assign tasks? Example:

On Day 1, students sign in and only thing on progress page is "Section
1 - Homework Chapter 1 Review Quiz"

and by Day 6, you've allowed other sections to appear.

What I'm getting at is this- are students going to be able to see
everything required for the course on day 1, or will they only be able
to see what you've allowed them to?

Also, could you show a sample of the progress page? I think I know
what you want, but I want to be sure.

2 other things - 
1) What version of PHP are you running?
2) How are students presently authenticated? .htaccess? some custom
script? and LDAP directory? Where are their username/password
combinations stored?

Lots of questions, but want to get it right.

I've done work with similiar type of systems like this before.
The ideal way is to combine sessions and MySQL.
Use PHP Sessions to track who they are, they're User ID, etc, then
store the pernament information into a database.
You could even store the info as an array, so that it's all stored
together.
example:
userid = 1
data = michael|test|match|
I've used this myself a few times, and know it would work for what you
want.