Pulling from SESSION vs. COOKIE ?

ecumike

Working on a shopping cart for a buddy, and currently, I assign a unique# and store it in a cookie, if a cookie doesn't exist already.

Then that # is used to keep track of the user's shopping cart items. Basic stuff.

Currently I have it set so when you click on 'add to cart' it pulls your # from your cookie, but I was wondering if it's better/faster/more proper to get/set the cookie #, then store it in a SESSION var. and use/pull from the SESSION instead of the COOKIE all the time (after that initial visit)?

Andrew_W_Peace

Using sessions is an alerternative to cookies. Usually you want to use one or the other. I would suggest sessions, because I find them easier and they are slightly more secure. Just store their ID number as a session variable and you're all set!

ecumike

Yes, but sessions die when the window is shut, and I don't want the person to lose their cart.

Yes, I just read a good article about them from another thread here and figured it all out.

I don't want sessions only. I need/want to at least use cookies to save the user's cart for when they come back and to 'personalize' the site a bit for them. So, there's no difference, b/c either way, the server is collecting a # from the cookie.. either the one I set that maps to a DB, or the SESSION's #, so it makes no difference for my shopping cart. Thanks.