[RESOLVED] hardcoding products in a website....

numerical25

Im working with a website that sells very little products. So instead of creating a database that holds all the products, I was just thinking about creating a product configuration application where I hardcode the products and price and description and put them all in a array. Then when the page comes up, just render a table that grabs the array and displays the products that way. Like I said, its not alot of products, possibly 10. Would this be bad for the server ? If this isnt a bad idea, then how far can I push it before I must use a database to store the products instead of a product configuration component.

I figure this wouldnt be a bad idea because Its not alot of products. Besides, when the page is called, then application is ran once and thats it. I figure That wouldnt cause any memory leaks or anything. Possibly a slow down on the loading of the page but nothing big.

What do you guys think, can I use it ?If so, can I use it serve up a good amount of products?

bradgrafelman

Why not just start with a database to begin with? A database isn't going to be offended if you only use it for 3 products, and it'll definitely save you some time later on down the road when you suddenly have 30 products.

In other words, do it the right way in the beginning, because it can save you a lot of time and effort later on. :p

numerical25

Cause I want something quick. I guess my question is, what harm and I doing by not using a database ? Besides the tedious transition of switching to a database if I ever decide to do so. Whats wrong with doing it without a database as far as performance is concerned and only performance .

NogDog

One major downside I see to hard-coding your data like that is the chance of things getting screwed up when the data changes. If this is your own web site and you'll always be the one making any changes, then that might not be an issue. But if someone else ever has to go into your source code just to change a price on one product, for example, that might be asking for unnecessary risks of script damage and panicky late-night phone calls to you. 😉 So just weigh that risk along with whatever small performance and time-saving gains you may achieve by hard-coding it into your script, then decide what is right for you.

HalfaBee

There is nothing wrong not using a DB, I would just make a small page that allows you to edit the product list and serialize the array into a file.
This file could then be unserialized and all the array would be filled.

It would be quicker and I would see no issue on server speed, for even a large number of products.
A DB is good if you want to sort/search the data.

leatherback

Take note of Nog's comment, and Halfabees: Make a small interface to edit the products (e.g., though a form that is populated with information from a file).

I actually use textfiles to store the results of complex queries with lots of sorting & nesting, to improve performance on my server.

numerical25

So what functions would i go about looking into to make an application read and parse words into an array and then rendering them onto a page ?

NogDog

I might look into setting up the data within a .ini-style file, then simply use the [man]parse_ini_file[/man] function to read it into an array, e.g.:

products.ini

; use [] section headers for product ID

[id00001]
name "This is item 1"
description "This is the description"
price "29.99"

[id00002]
name "This is item 2"
description "This is another description"
price "14.95"

PHP code:

$productArray = parse_ini_file('products.ini', true); // be sure to use 2nd arg
// show result:
echo "<pre>" . print_r($productArray, 1) . "</pre>\n";

Output:

Array
(
    [id00001] => Array
        (
            [name] => This is item 1
            [description] => This is the description
            [price] => 29.99
        )

[id00002] => Array
    (
        [name] => This is item 2
        [description] => This is another description
        [price] => 14.95
    )

)

numerical25

O sweet, that seems simple! So let me get this straight! All I have to do is setup a file that has a ext ini and then label each array with id00001 ?? my question about that is....

Does the array id have to be strictly named that way [id00001] .. Or can it be named differently such as something like this [id01] or [01]
what does the following mean...
; use [] section headers for product ID
Even though i feel what you said seems easy. Im not too formiluar with ini components period. does anyone know of any good tutorials or books that talk about how to take advantage of ini files
And does anyone know of any tutorials or books that talk about how to take advantage of specifically making ini files where you can make arrays like what nogdog just mentioned.....
Last but not least, does anyone know of any good tutorials that talk about how to setup and take advantage of xml files... thanks

NogDog

numerical25 wrote:
O sweet, that seems simple! So let me get this straight! All I have to do is setup a file that has a ext ini and then label each array with id00001 ?? my question about that is....

For this purpose, the file can be named whatever you want to name it. In fact, to keep anyone from accidentally accessing via their browser, you could give it a .php extension and add the following comment line to the top:

; <?php exit; ?>

1. Does the array id have to be strictly named that way [id00001] .. Or can it be named differently such as something like this [id01] or [01]

You can use whatever you want as the ID

2. what does the following mean...
; use [] section headers for product ID

Just a comment. ";" is like "//" or "#" in PHP

3. Even though i feel what you said seems easy. Im not too formiluar with ini components period. does anyone know of any good tutorials or books that talk about how to take advantage of ini files

All I know about is the [man]parse_ini_file[/man] manual page.

4. And does anyone know of any tutorials or books that talk about how to take advantage of specifically making ini files where you can make arrays like what nogdog just mentioned.....

See above. :p

5. Last but not least, does anyone know of any good tutorials that talk about how to setup and take advantage of xml files... thanks

Off-hand, no; but while searching, look for tutorials that use the [man]SimpleXML[/man] functions.