arrays and cookies

Lcousins

Hi,

I'm trying to get a grip of arrays, specifically how to store and add to a multidimensional array in a cookie.

I'm jumping in at the deep end as arrays are my weak point with php, going through the first 2 pages of google results for tutorial, examples and advice has just got me more confused than ever.

following the classic shopping cart model, i am looking to store item name, item price and quantity of that item. I am looking for the same cookie to store this information for multiple selections

eg
blue books, 5.99, 22
socks, 4.99, 5

I would put some code but I dont know where to start, any advice at this stage much appreciated .

luke cousins

as an alternative - I found this script written by some nice person, but I dont understand what is going on at all, anyone care to anootate it for me??

function additem($id, $name, $count, $prix)
{
	if ($this->items[$id][1] > 0 )
	{
		$this->items[$id][1]+=$count;
	}
	else
	{
		$this->items[$id][0]=$name;
		$this->items[$id][1]=$count;
		$this->items[$id][2]=$prix;
		$this->items[$id][3]=stripslashes($name);
	}
	setcookie("cart",serialize($this->items),0,"/");
	$this->empty=false;

Lcousins

right breaking it down:

what do the following mean/do and what is the difference:

->
=>

<=

laserlight

Originally posted by Lcousins
right breaking it down:

what do the following mean/do and what is the difference:

->
=>

=
<=

If you have to ask such a fundamental question, it means that you're trying to run before you can walk.

Step through a tutorial for beginners, and then read (or later, refer to) the PHP Manual.
I recommend Paul Hudson's online book, Practical PHP Programming, for starters.

Lcousins

hi, thanks for the link, having had a quick browse I have a feeling I will use it a lot. 🙂

I wish I could think of a way to phrase the question better, this shopping cart is one of the last bits of a rather large content management system, Ive left it till last because its one of the few things I can't figure out how to do without using arrays.

Now I am finally facing up to them I can use them fine(except multidimensional ones in cookies!) by cutting and pasting code from tutorials but I dont understand how they are working, i cannot find any logic in them.

the ' =>' seems like such a basic thing, yet even the most basic tutorials fail to mention what they are, it isnt listed amongst the maths operators or the logical operators.

Anyway, I'm tired now, thanks for the link and your help, hopefully it will all make sense after some time away from the computer...:bemused:

luke

laserlight

the ' =>' seems like such a basic thing, yet even the most basic tutorials fail to mention what they are, it isnt listed amongst the maths operators or the logical operators.

That's because it isnt a mathematical or logical operator.
It has to do with key/value pairs in arrays.

For example, one would declare an associative array like:

$array = array("key" => "value", "foo" => "bar");

Or one could access key/value pairs when using a for loop over an array like:

foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
	echo "Value at key $key is '$value'";
}