PHP, shopping.

Anon

I'd appreciate help with the following...

I currently have a php3 site linked to 4 SQL tables: Users, Products, Baskets, Orders.

The problem is that the site currently requires users to log in or register. Upon doing this they are allocated a used ID which is placed in the shopping basket with the product ID and quantity when they add to basket.

I would like the visitors to the site to place products in a shopping basket before they need to register or log in. I don't know the common way of doing this, and would like to do it without cookies if possible.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

David.

Anon

Fairly painless method is to use cookies or sessions.

Give the cookie a unique id and each time the client comes back just refer him to the corresponding basket entry.

Only when he / she buys do you make them register. Your "register" table should reflect the same cookieid somewhere so you know who is visiting etc..

Anon

Thanks for your reply James,

I just wanted to check whether PHP3 supports sessions because I'm tied to it I'm afraid?

David.

thimble

The best method is not the most easy one. I have a lot of expierience with shopping carts, and i think the best method is to give your users a unique ID (like a random number+their IP adres) this is set in a table. Every time someone visits the site, you delete previous id's and cartitems.

Build up each page with the ID in the url (so when they go to i.e. the checkout it something like "http://cart.com/checkout?id=121545412.119.232.2" with this variable no users need to log in, but everyone has it's unique ID code true their shopping process. if someone leaves the site early , no data is kept.

Here's an example of giving id's in your index.php . you need to modify you mysql tables for use with a userid

if ($UID != "") {
$result=mysql("$DBName","SELECT * FROM Users WHERE User='$UID'");
$num=mysql_num_rows($result);
if ($num == "0") {
$dt=date("YmdHis");
$UID="$dt$REMOTE_ADDR";
$date=date("z");
mysql("$DBName","INSERT INTO Users VALUES ('$UID','$date')");
Header("Location: $PHP_SELF?UID=$UID");
}
}

I hope i helped you out in a way..

Greetingz!
Johan