How to create and manage a dynamic page based on user generated content

Question

I'm trying to create a website that will take data from some file as input to a javascript page that will then do some data crunching and spit out some html. Additionally, I want the website to allow users to upload their own data to then be displayed. I'm imagining something like where the top center of the page has the results of the javascript, and below is a list of uploads and clicking on one will update the top display with new data from that upload.

I obviously don't want to reinvent the wheel and roll my own user authentication and content management system, so I was looking at drupal. Is there some way to extend drupal to do this (or a module that already does)? Or is there a better way entirely that I'm not aware of? Thanks.

Answer 1

I don't know if there is a framework for this, but look into jQuery templating. Other javascript libraries also offer something similar. You might also want to look into the Cappuccino framework.

Answer 2

It seems you have a very specific JavaScript use case. It is necessary for all these things to take place on the client (i.e. browser) side with JavaScript? Can it not be done on server side? There are thousands of modules in Drupal and some of them might be able to fully/partially meet your requirements .

I'd suggest you buy a ebook/book version of the excellent https://www.packtpub.com/drupal-6-javascript-and-jquery/book by matt butcher. After reading this book you should be able to get a fair idea of the direction you need to head in.