How to count submitted forms and store their information without a DB?

I need way to:

a) count how many forms were submitted based on a specific form field value, as well as

b) preserve that data for later manipulation if needed, so I guess sending all form data to an email will not be enough.

About a)

The idea is to count, how many different form submissions have occurred.

So let's say: Keeping something like:

Form containing a specific field value A was filled 100 times;

Form containing a specific field value B was filled 200 times;

Form containing a specific field value C was filled 500 times;

We will have no more then 5 alternatives here.

I'm thinking about a txt file but, perhaps there is a nicer way ?

About b)

I would like to avoid building a database just for this still, I wish not to neglect the fact that, perhaps latter, that information should be retrieved somehow开发者_JAVA技巧.

I'm thinking about a XML file... ?

Is there better ways? Perhaps using only XML for both cases and deal with this at once?

Any caveat that I should be aware of ?

Thanks a lot.

From your description I would say using sqlite would be an ideal solution. OK, I admit it is a database - but it is also a text file (which you can move about) and provides you with the means to easily filter and manipulate the data.

Take a look at PEAR::Log http://pear.php.net/package-info.php?package=Log

You can get an awful lot done with a little code.

Sqlite is bundled with PHP5+

There is an Sqlite PDO driver for Pear::Log here