hey, okay im tryin to have a go at making a simple shoping cart.

i have already set up my DB table for products and i have got my page to show them with pagination.

Now im at the stage of creating my add to basket script bit so i can then get the info for ordering and displaying basket contents.

Now im thinking to use cookies, and was going to have

setcookie(product_id, 1, mktime() + 3 days)

but twigged that it will over write the older one

so what would be the best way to do this?

Thanks,

Hi Dan.

You could create cookies using an incrementer in the name of the cookie.

ex: productID0, productID1, etc..

then with php variables inside variables { } loop thru
$_COOKIE['productID{$incrementer}'] from 0 to whatever cookie is set.

or use an array

jd.

im thinking more having a database and have a cookie with the identifier

Session Cookies would be the best way to do this, it's like a cookie that only lasts for the visit (Until browser is closed/emptied). The Values are stored server side in a flat file (making them load up faster in an array!).

I find them much more simple to use then cookies (What need to be set before headers sent).

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php

Yeah - you could create a database row in a shopping_cart table with a master id and serialized data for the products stored. Saving a cookie on the users end with the shopping_cart id for retrieval. If a session is new and the shopping_cart cookie is set, you can pass the shopping cart data in a session varible. Whenever the user modifies contents in thier cart, you can overwrite the serialized data in the db table.

okay i have got my "basket" bit done now i think,
i have a databse table with
basket_id | sid | product_id | product_qty | add_time

and it inserts everytime something is added to users basket, ALSO i have it to if they add to basket on a item which is already in their basket instead of adding another record it adds the saved qty to the new qty to be added.

i think at the moment i have to get my basket page done to show basket contents and have delete etc options.

and my order script.

BUT at the moment the only form of payment is check in the post, but i am hoping to be able to get permission for online donation, and can then have it forward them to the donation service with the total amount all done so they just enter card details and "donate" and then once its confirmed ship order.

but i need it so its flexibile just not sure on best way to go about it.

Thanks!