Re: DON'T use old cart file!
This WebDNA talk-list message is from 1997
It keeps the original formatting.
numero = 14234
interpreted = N
texte = >Hi Ken, >Well the idea seems obvious, as a matter of fact, when I started thinking >about customizing, I thougth in this direction, but I had several problems: >> >> What you might want to consider doing instead, would be to make >> WebCat create a special database for each of your repeat customers - > > I have about 2000 regular customers-does that mean that I'll have to have > 2000 databases?Yes and No. The truth is, there's another way to do it --- without adding ANY new databases. I came up with two solutions when I thought this out, but the larger number of regular customers you have, the more sense it makes to have a separate database for each of them.Besides, there's no reason NOT to have a separate database for each repeat customer. The fact of the matter is that it really doesn't make any difference *how many* databases you have! You could have millions of them, and if only a handful of them are open at any one time, who cares how many there are?Just use the [closedatabase] tag in the right places to make sure the custom databases get closed immediately if you're worried about it, or else let WebCatalog close them automatically ... because it WILL close them automatically for you, and you don't even have to worry about it ... :)>I want only the customers who WANT to save the record >to do it, and not automatically. So I'll have to have this >save record button ...No, you don't need a Save record button. Just let WebCat create a custom database -- automatically -- for ALL your customers, and don't worry about the databases it creates that never get used again. You're too worried about having lots of little databases on your site, and all I'm saying that it is NOT a problem, believe me.Besides, if you really feel you *must* get rid of the unused databases, you can always write a special WebDNA snippet that checks them all to see when they were used last, and trashes the ones that haven't been used in 30 or 60 days or whatever. But don't let that 'perceived problem' stop you from making WebCat create these small custom databases automatically, okay?>... and I have no idea how to make WC >to create a database that is not there already.Aha! I think that's because you may not know how to use the [writefile] context yet! Take a look at the HTML docs regarding [writefile], then try experimenting with it (on a small scale) until you get it to do the right thing for you, then you can write new databases on-the-fly whenever you need to ... :)>>By making WebCat add any new items she picks from the >> main store to her own customized mini-store AUTOMATICALLY, this >> insures that her mini-store always has a complete selection of all >> the items she has ever purchased - thus making her trips to the main >> store less and less frequent as her mini-store gets more and more >> customized to her own shopping needs. > >This part is not clear to me at all, because it seems that I'll have the same >problem that I've been facing already: when they click the display >button,I'll have to display the items with an $add command and it will have >[cart] value there, and when they go to main store they'll have another >[cart] value there.Okay, I'm sorry to have written this the way I did, because I think I confused the issue.Let me correct my previous statement by saying that you will NOT have a problem with two separate carts, because you're not actually dealing with two separate carts in my solution, that's why I proposed it. Here's a better explanation:The custom database which acts like a mini-store for each repeat customer is nothing more than a private area -- inside the main store -- that display each customer's commonly-purchased items. In other words, each customer has what appears to be a nice little private room that's full of every item that customer has ever purchased before. But that private room is still located INSDIE the main store.So when a repeat customer enters your main store, where does she go first?That's right, she goes immediately to her own little private storeroom, where all her favorite items can be selected within a few seconds. Then *after* she has selected the items she needs from her mini-store (or store-within-a-store), she can then go to one of two other places:1- Out into the *public part* of the main store, to pick up some new items that she has never purchased before, or ...2- Directly to the checkout, because she's not interested in buying anything new today since she found all the items she needs in her own little mini-store.>It seems a little complicated for my modest possibilities, so I need a little >more detailed help, if it's possible.Yes, I can understand that. In fact, this is what I do for a living, and the more powerful the site, the more complicated it gets. That's why, sometimes, I actually have to *charge* for this kind of advice ... :)Let me know if you want me to rework your site for a fee, okay? I've already done it all in my head anyways (as you can tell), but I really cannot afford to spend much more time helping you here on the list without some kind of compensation.Anyways, I hope what I've offered up to this point will help get your store moving in the right direction ... :)Sincerely, Ken Grome WebDNA Solutions 808-737-6499 http://www.smithmicro.com/webdnasolutions/.
Associated Messages, from the most recent to the oldest:
>Hi Ken, >Well the idea seems obvious, as a matter of fact, when I started thinking >about customizing, I thougth in this direction, but I had several problems: >> >> What you might want to consider doing instead, would be to make >> WebCat create a special database for each of your repeat customers - > > I have about 2000 regular customers-does that mean that I'll have to have > 2000 databases?Yes and No. The truth is, there's another way to do it --- without adding ANY new databases. I came up with two solutions when I thought this out, but the larger number of regular customers you have, the more sense it makes to have a separate database for each of them.Besides, there's no reason NOT to have a separate database for each repeat customer. The fact of the matter is that it really doesn't make any difference *how many* databases you have! You could have millions of them, and if only a handful of them are open at any one time, who cares how many there are?Just use the
[closedatabase] tag in the right places to make sure the custom databases get closed immediately if you're worried about it, or else let WebCatalog close them automatically ... because it WILL close them automatically for you, and you don't even have to worry about it ... :)>I want only the customers who WANT to save the record >to do it, and not automatically. So I'll have to have this >save record button ...No, you don't need a Save record button. Just let WebCat create a custom database -- automatically -- for ALL your customers, and don't worry about the databases it creates that never get used again. You're too worried about having lots of little databases on your site, and all I'm saying that it is NOT a problem, believe me.Besides, if you really feel you *must* get rid of the unused databases, you can always write a special WebDNA snippet that checks them all to see when they were used last, and trashes the ones that haven't been used in 30 or 60 days or whatever. But don't let that 'perceived problem' stop you from making WebCat create these small custom databases automatically, okay?>... and I have no idea how to make WC >to create a database that is not there already.Aha! I think that's because you may not know how to use the
[writefile] context yet! Take a look at the HTML docs regarding
[writefile], then try experimenting with it (on a small scale) until you get it to do the right thing for you, then you can write new databases on-the-fly whenever you need to ... :)>>By making WebCat add any new items she picks from the >> main store to her own customized mini-store AUTOMATICALLY, this >> insures that her mini-store always has a complete selection of all >> the items she has ever purchased - thus making her trips to the main >> store less and less frequent as her mini-store gets more and more >> customized to her own shopping needs. > >This part is not clear to me at all, because it seems that I'll have the same >problem that I've been facing already: when they click the display >button,I'll have to display the items with an $add command and it will have >
[cart] value there, and when they go to main store they'll have another >
[cart] value there.Okay, I'm sorry to have written this the way I did, because I think I confused the issue.Let me correct my previous statement by saying that you will NOT have a problem with two separate carts, because you're not actually dealing with two separate carts in my solution, that's why I proposed it. Here's a better explanation:The custom database which acts like a mini-store for each repeat customer is nothing more than a private area -- inside the main store -- that display each customer's commonly-purchased items. In other words, each customer has what appears to be a nice little private room that's full of every item that customer has ever purchased before. But that private room is still located INSDIE the main store.So when a repeat customer enters your main store, where does she go first?That's right, she goes immediately to her own little private storeroom, where all her favorite items can be selected within a few seconds. Then *after* she has selected the items she needs from her mini-store (or store-within-a-store), she can then go to one of two other places:1- Out into the *public part* of the main store, to pick up some new items that she has never purchased before, or ...2- Directly to the checkout, because she's not interested in buying anything new today since she found all the items she needs in her own little mini-store.>It seems a little complicated for my modest possibilities, so I need a little >more detailed help, if it's possible.Yes, I can understand that. In fact, this is what I do for a living, and the more powerful the site, the more complicated it gets. That's why, sometimes, I actually have to *charge* for this kind of advice ... :)Let me know if you want me to rework your site for a fee, okay? I've already done it all in my head anyways (as you can tell), but I really cannot afford to spend much more time helping you here on the list without some kind of compensation.Anyways, I hope what I've offered up to this point will help get your store moving in the right direction ... :)Sincerely, Ken Grome WebDNA Solutions 808-737-6499 http://www.smithmicro.com/webdnasolutions/.
Kenneth Grome
DOWNLOAD WEBDNA NOW!
Top Articles:
Talk List
The WebDNA community talk-list is the best place to get some help: several hundred extremely proficient programmers with an excellent knowledge of WebDNA and an excellent spirit will deliver all the tips and tricks you can imagine...
Related Readings:
Thanks Grant (1997)
OT - Public Upload Security (2002)
Banners (1997)
Webmerch Error (1998)
WebCatalog NT beta 18 problem (1997)
stumped (2001)
Search in 2 or more catalogs (1997)
WebCat2b12--[searchstring] bug (1997)
ExpireDate Zero or Greater than Today (2006)
possible, WebCat2.0 and checkboxes-restated (1997)
Conversion Database Blues (2001)
Appending current [date] to a database (1997)
any idea (2004)
WebCAT has the devil in it! (2003)
One other big addition... (1997)
[movefile] (1999)
Great product and great job ! (1997)
Client-side Image Maps and WebCat? (1998)
Text data with spaces in them... (1997)
Template not found error messages (1997)