Doug, here's what I've always done. User visits site - CF creates a shopping cart key (createUUID()) and stores it in the session scope, as a cookie, or puts it into a very simple CARTS table.
My cart_contents table looks like this (pardon the caps, I still use caps for SQL) CREATE TABLE CART_CONTENTS ( CART_KEY char(35) NOT NULL default '', PRODUCT_ID int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0', OPTION_ID int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0', QUANTITY int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0', ACCESS_TIME datetime NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00', PRIMARY KEY (CART_KEY,PRODUCT_ID,OPTION_ID) ) TYPE=MyISAM; This setup allows me to have multiple SIZES/COLORS of each product in the cart, and keep them separate. The "access_time" field allows me to delete old cart contents. When the user checks out, an ORDER is created in the ORDERS table, and the I *COPY* the cart_contents items into an ORDER_CONTENTS table with the same structure, except the order_contents table also contains the CURRENT price of the product. Never rely on your products table for historical price information. I had a customer that was constantly changing prices, and if I only did joins to the product table to get price, things would get ugly. You could optionally maintain a "price_history" table or something, but that overcomplicates it if you ask me. After checkout is complete, the cart_key stored in the session scope is deleted... if they do more shopping, an ew cart_key gets created. Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:262568 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
