[Resolved] sessions in shopping cart?

phpjaco

hello

i have made a shopping cart system [my first one], im slightly confused about where to go from here?

i have set up my db so that all the products / images are displayed correctly, but need advice on the "add to cart"

i naturally assume i will be using sessions to add the products to your cart? but confused about how i will implement this?

<b>would this approach work</b>
1. ok so you see a product you like, you click on add to cart
2. this brings up a little popup which ask you how many of the specific item you want to buy.
3. on one of the pages you register session variables such as quantity, product etc.
4. when you click on submit, you append the "add to cart" info to the session variables?
5. and on checkout you print all the information from the cart

is this approach correct, and how do i append the information in a usable format to the session variables?

do i need to use session arrays [if this is possible] or how do i go about this?

any help would be of great help
thanx in advance

mysticav

phpjaco

hello

thanx for the reply

found a good tutorial:
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/Building-an-ECommerce-Site-Part-2-Managing-Users-with-Sessions/3/

will check out your links too.

phpjaco

hello.. my question now gets back to arrays and sessions ...

i have not used arrays much and was just wondering about this:

if (!session_is_registered("SESSION")) {
   session_register("SESSION");
   $SESSION["product"] = "";
   $SESSION["quantity"] = "";
   $SESSION["id"] = "";
  }

does this create an array under $SESSION, this confuses me or is this merely variables called $SESSION["product"], $SESSION["quantity"] etc.

on my "add to cart" page i have this:

session_start();
  if ($number_of_items) {
    $SESSION["product"]= $product;
	//$SESSION["product"]["quantity"] = $number_of_items;
	$response ="You ordered: ".$SESSION["product"]. "<br>";
	$response .= "Number of items:".$SESSION["product"]."<br>";
  }

when i read this value it only returns the last value, i know im missing something fundamental here since my knowledge of sessions and arrays are not up to scratch...

hmemnon

Hi jaco

I recommend that you start here
and read all about arrays, including multidimensional arrays, you're going to need them...

Cheers

phpjaco

ok, so what i did now is the following:

session_start();

  if (!session_is_registered("SESSION")) {
   session_register("SESSION");
   $SESSION["product"]= "test";
   $SESSION["count"] = 0;
  }
  if (!session_is_registered("USER")) {
  session_register("USER");
  $USER["firstname"] = "";
  $USER["lastname"] = "";
  $USER["email"] = "";

  }

  $products = array();
  $products =  explode(":",$SESSION["product"]);

  foreach ($products as $value) {

$writearray .= "<b>product is :</b>" .$value. "<br>";
}

and on my cart page:


session_start();
  if ($number_of_items) {
  $SESSION['count']++;
    $SESSION["product"] .= ":".$product . "<br>";
	//$SESSION["product"]["quantity"] = $number_of_items;
	$response ="You ordered: ".$SESSION["product"]. "<br>";
  }

ok so basically i did here is evertime i add a product i append it to the session['products'] variable and also add a : to the string, when i read it i explode the string where the : is and now the products is in a array which i can use.

ok i probably havent thought the whole thing throught yet but slowly getting there.

hmemnon

You're getting there, but I advise you to look up info on multi arrays... Cleaner code, easier manipulation...

Cheers

phpjaco

ok so here is some more code:

session_start();

   $products = array("name" => array(),"quantity" => array(),"id" => array());

  if (!session_is_registered("products")) {
   session_register("products");
  }

first i create a multidimensional array called products i then make it a session variable, is this right so far.

session_start();
  if ($number_of_items) {
    $products['id'] .= ":".$id;
    $products['name'] .= ":".$product;
	$products['quantity'] .= ":".$number_of_items;
	//$SESSION["product"]["quantity"] = $number_of_items;
	$response ="You ordered: ".$product. "<br>";
	$response .= "id:" .$id."<br>";
  }

is the code correct here, would this add the info to the product array?

and how do i read the info back, can i use


  foreach ($product['name'] as $var1) {

  // some code
 }

how can i customise the foreach to read out all values not just the name or id or whatever?!

hmemnon

Check your PM box jaco...

Cheers

phpjaco

ok what i did was this now. you click on "add to cart" this brings up the little add to cart screen.

this has the following code:

session_start();
  if ($number_of_items) {

  if (count($product_name) == 0) {
   $product_name = array();
  }
  if (count($quantity) == 0) {
   $quantity = array();
   }
  if (count($id_product) == 0) {
   $id_product = array();
   }

  if (!session_is_registered("product_name")) {
   session_register("product_name");
  }
  if (!session_is_registered("quantity")) {
   session_register("quantity");
  }
   if (!session_is_registered("id_product")) {
   session_register("id_product");
  }
    array_push($product_name,$product);
	array_push($quantity,$number_of_items);
	array_push($id_product,$id);

so this is where most of the stuff happens,first i check if the arrays are null [so that you create arrays if there arent any - and not delete ones that allready exist] , then register the arrays as sessions. next i push the new values into the arrays.

the only thing that confuses me is how do i put these 3-4 arrays together?

so now on my main page i have:

session_start();

  $number_rows = count($product_name);
  if ($number_rows > 0) {
   foreach ($product_name as $value) {
    $writearray .= "<b>Product:</b> ". $value. "<br>";
	}
	foreach ($quantity as $value2) {
	$writearray .= "<b>Quantity:</b> ". $value2. "<br>";
	}
	foreach ($id_product as $value3) {
	$writearray .= "<b>id:</b> ". $value3. "<br>";
	}
  }

the reason i am using 3 seperate arrays is bacause i dont need to use multidimensional arrays as a product doesnt have arrays inside them - only product name, price, description, id etc.

but how can i create the 3 arrays here now into one array that i can output on my form?

could i use array_merge($product_name,$id_product) - but that wouldnt work as it would just throw it all together?

phpjaco

ok i chickened out and just used a temp table for now...