Here's yet another way to do this. DB-intensive but has never given me any trouble (is vulnerable to a DoS attack, and merchant/siteowner knows this):
I use a db-based cart, and each product record in the products table has 3 fields: Qty, Reserved and Sold. When an item is put into a cart Qty is decremented and Reserved is incremented. When anyone asks to put an item into their cart the cart file is first scanned for expired items matching the requested one (I use an absolute and not an inactivity-based expiration). *All* matching items are returned to availability. If nothing, the user is given an apologetic message and the merchant gets an email stating someone tried to buy X product and couldn't. When Qty goes to zero in the first place, the merchant is informed via email. meant to keep customers from going thru an entire shopping process, getting denied at the very end and leaving angry. Maintains itself, but at the cost of the add'l overhead of running the expiration scan/update with every cart add request. --------------------------------------- Matt Robertson [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSB Designs, Inc., www.mysecretbase.com --------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________________________ Why Share? Dedicated Win 2000 Server � PIII 800 / 256 MB RAM / 40 GB HD / 20 GB MO/XFER Instant Activation � $99/Month � Free Setup http://www.pennyhost.com/redirect.cfm?adcode=coldfusionc FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
