Document "Dropbox" for receiving files from many people. reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- codyy5 · 2023-09-28 19:31 hello, I'm looking for a self hosted solution to be able to receive paperwork from many people. Ideally I would be able to create a link I can share to everyone, where they can then go, input some details such as their name and then upload some pdfs. Basically I need to track who has and who hasn't submitted the paperwork for my event. I am using Alf.io as the event ticketing and payment solution and I can get a list of attendees from it. I can use it's api to get a list of attendees and I can write a script to correlate the attendee list with the paperwork submitted list of I can get one. I tried using nextcloud and this is what has gotten me the closest to what I need with their anonymous file drop feature. But since I am looking at receiving paperwork for around 200 people, and nextcloud placing all docs on the same folder and not tagging the docs with name, or providing a way to recieve name info it will quickly become a pain trying to figure out who has and who has not submitted the paperwork for the event as I will have to manually do it. Is there anything self hosted that can accomplish what I want? In summary, recive documents and create say a csv or similar of the people details that have submitted paperwork? If not I might need to go with cheddarup or a similar "waiver/doc" paid SaaS provider as they seem to provide exactly what I need. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tristinDLC · 2023-09-28 23:18 Are you needing to host your custom instance of Alf.io at the same place you plan to store your uploaded PDFs and attendee data? If yes, you should be able to create a simple site using [a DigitalOcean dropl et](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/marketplace/catalog/alf- io/). They should have the tools available to parse your forms and create downloadable files. ____ If you can spin up Alf no problem, but just need a way to facilitate, organize, and download your attendees' PDFs (as well as some sort of file export of attendee info), then I'd highly suggest something like using Deno (if you know JavaScript/TypeScript) as a file server. There are plenty of modules available (even deno/std should take care of your needs it sounds like) to help you piecemeal the right webapp for you. Deno is incredibly simple and you can get an HTTP file server up and running in minutes with just a handful of lines of code. As a JS/TS dev, I've fully transitioned from nodejs to deno for building any of my apps or services. I have multiple personal and professional projects successfully running with deno. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- codyy5 · 2023-09-29 00:54 Hmmm ill look into deno, I already have a non production ready version of Alf running, and a vps I was planning on installing too so I'll look into deno. But the digital ocean route seems easier? Could you explain more how that would work? Do they have a pre-built solution? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tristinDLC · 2023-09-29 00:57 I've honestly never used DigitalOcean specifically, but know it's a popular cloud host. My comment above has a link directly to the droplet docs for setting up your own instance. It should have everything you need. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NikStalwart · 2023-09-29 01:01 Tell me more. Why deno > node? I've mostly stuck with node for inertia. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tristinDLC · 2023-09-29 01:15 I was big into node as well. Deno was built by the same guy to resolve some of the issues inherent in node using updated code standards. It's also Typescript first and most importantly, it's very secure. By default your deno server is walled off and you actually have to explicitly grant it things like filesystem and network access. It runs both deno modules as well as node moduals now and by default supports the more modern ESM system (though you can still use CommonJS if you must). ___ I'm not saying it's currently a node killer as it doesn't have the same robust community and 13yr history... but given the choice, I'll always be choosing deno as long as my project can support it. I'd say give it a try if you're only using node due to complacency/familiarity. It's a great framework. Optionally you can check the other popular JS runtime `bun`. I've played around with it and it's good too... I just found my rhythm with deno and stopped playing around with bun. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NikStalwart · 2023-09-29 01:22 Thanks for that. I'll put both deno and bun on my "list of cool things that I should definitely try / look into but will probably forget about". Programming is only an ancillary hobby for me and I don't keep up with all the latest in the field. I only really use (and abuse) node because my programming journey started with frontend javascript (Win7 widgets: remember those?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tristinDLC · 2023-09-29 01:25 I started programming by building macOS widgets in CoffeeScript lol. Now I work for an IoT SaaS as a front-end dev and application integration engineer. What a wild ride it's been... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cazador517 · 2023-09-29 01:36 Maybe Builbase can be good a match for this. Checkout their [docs for creating forms](https://docs.budibase.com/docs/public-forms#). You can test it out in their "cloud" version for free (without credit card) and then selfhost it if you like it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- zfa · 2023-09-29 07:39 Sounds tailor-made for people to email you the docs as attachments? Everyone knows how to use email, not everyone wants to learn about your new service. Sender addresses are harder to spoof and can't be typo'ed in a submission form and depending on your inbox tech you can still parse it programatically.