Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Unleashed- P27 potx

The next few steps outline creating a new recordset to retrieve the Employees information as well as a customized way to create a randomized order number. Obtaining the Customer ID Probably the most crucial piece of the puzzle is the session variable created when the user logs in. So far, you've been adding items to your cart and modifying quantities without any concern for who is purchasing them. If the user decided to purchase the items added to the cart, how would the application—or you the merchant—know to whom to send the final merchandise? Retrieving and setting that information in the checkout page allows us to process that information and eventually create an entry for that customer within the Orders table. Before we jump ahead of ourselves, let's look at how to retrieve the user's information into the checkout page: 1. Before we create the recordset that will retrieve the data from the database based on the session variable, let's create a new query in our database (Access/MySQL). (If you're using SQL Server, you can create a new view.) To do this, open the vectacorp.mdb file located in the Database folder and immediately switch to the Queries category. If you're using MySQL, you'd open MySQL Query Browser. Alternatively, if you're using SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, you'd open Management Studio Express Edition to create a new view. 2. Select the Query Design option. The Show Table dialog appears. 3. Select both the CreditCards and the Employees tables and click Add. 4. Choose both the Employees.* and the CreditCards.* options from the field menus as shown in Figure 27.16. Figure 27.16. Select both the Employees.* and the CreditCards.* options from the field menus. [View full size image] 5. Save the query by choosing the Save As option from the File menu and typing EmployeesCreditCards when the Save As dialog appears. Click OK to save the query. 6. Close Access. 7. With the checkout.asp page open, create a new recordset by choosing the Recordset option from the Binding panel's Add (+) menu. The Recordset dialog appears. 8. Name the new Recordset rsEmployee. 9. Select the connVectaCorp option from the Connection menu. 10. Select the EmployeesCreditCards option from the Table menu. This is the query that we just created in Access. 11. Create a new filter for Username and set that equal to the session variable MM_Username. The result is shown in Figure 27.17. The MM_Username session variable is what's created when you log in; more on this in the next chapter. Figure 27.17. Create a new recordset for the customer. Also, add a filter that retrieves the value from the MM_Username session. 12. Click OK to create the new recordset. 13. With the recordset created, drag all the appropriate bindings from the Bindings panel list into their respective fields in the table. The result looks similar to Figure 27.18. Figure 27.18. Drag all the data elements into their respective positions in the table. [View full size image] For simplicity's sake, we'll assume that Vecta Corp has credit card information on file. In a real-world scenario, however, you would most likely add text boxes here and allow the user to enter them manually before checking out. Generating an Order Number The creation of a randomly generated order number is always a good idea. This gives you a unique way of distinguishing the vast number of orders that you will eventually receive. It also provides a way for users to reference their orders if they ever need to contact you with a question or concern. You can create a randomly generated number by inserting some simple ASP code into your page. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Place your cursor inside the cell that will display the order number and switch to Code view. 2. Insert the following code: % Set oTools = Server.CreateObject("MSWC.Tools") intNum1 = Abs(oTools.Random) Mod 9 + 1 intNum2 = Abs(oTools.Random) Mod 10 intNum3 = Abs(oTools.Random) Mod 10 intNum4 = Abs(oTools.Random) Mod 10 intNum5 = Abs(oTools.Random) Mod 10 intNum = (intNum1 & intNum2 & intNum3 & intNum4 & intNum5) Response.Write(intNum) %> The result of the code insertion will resemble Figure 27.19. Figure 27.19. The randomization code programmatically generates a five-digit number that we'll store as an order number. [View full size image] You can test the randomized code by launching the employeestore.asp page in the browser. Find an item and immediately add it to add to your cart. Click Check Out. As you'll see, the randomization code programmatically generates a five-digit number. Every time the user comes to this page, the randomization code kicks in and a new five-digit number is generated on-the-fly. Writing to the Orders Table The last order of business is to save all the information that the Shipping and Receiving department will need into the Orders table. To fully process orders (accept credit card numbers, automatically transfer funds to your bank account, and so on), you would want to integrate some third-party merchant software. For simplicity's sake, however, you are going to write all the order information to the Orders database, allowing the Shipping and Receiving department to extract the data as they see fit and process orders accordingly. A quick review of the Orders table, shown in Figure 27.20, shows the data for which you need to account. Figure 27.20. The Orders table contains an ID from all the necessary tables. A quick glance at the data within the table shows that only numeric values are present within the fields, and not all of the fields contained within the checkout.asp page (name, address, city, state, and so on). The beauty in relationships is that they let you account for the rest of the data items in a given page by using a unique ID. Later, when you want to extract all the information from a given table, you look it up by the ID contained in the Orders table. (This will make more sense toward the end of the section.) For now, let's concentrate on checking out the user and subsequently writing that data to the Orders table. You can do this by following these steps: 1. Review how the information will be written to the Orders table: You will use the Insert Record behavior, but remember that the Insert Record behavior requires form objects with data in them to extract. You can solve this problem by inserting hidden form fields in the checkout.asp page. You will need hidden form fields for the EmployeeID, ItemID, and Quantity fields. Insert new hidden form fields by placing your cursor next to the Checkout button and selecting Insert, Form, Hidden Field. Name the Hidden Form fields hiddenEmployeeID, hiddenItemID, and hiddenQuantity. The result is shown in Figure 27.21. Figure 27.21. Insert hidden form fields for the EmployeeID, ItemID, and Quantity fields. [View full size image] Tip It doesn't really matter where you put the hidden fields as long as they reside within the form tag. 2. Click the lightning bolt icon (binding) for each of the hidden fields in the Property inspector and point them to their respective binding in the cart recordset. This action guarantees that the values are written not only to the table cells, but into the hidden form fields as well. Although the ItemID and Quantity hidden fields will be bound to the ProductID and Quantity bindings in the cart recordset, the EmployeeID hidden field will be bound to the EmployeeID binding in the rsEmployee recordset. 3. Now that the form fields are inserted, you can create your Insert Record behavior. Select Insert Record from the Server Behaviors drop-down menu. The Insert Record dialog appears. 4. Select the connVectaCorp option from the Connection menu. Select the Orders option from the Insert into Table menu. Select the form1 option from the Get values from menu. 5. Finally, notice how only the hidden form fields appear in the Form elements list box. Match up the appropriate form objects with their respective field names in the Orders table, as shown in Figure 27.22. Figure 27.22. Modify the Form elements list box to match up the hidden text fields with the recordset field names. [View full size image] 6. Click OK to close the Insert Record dialog. 7. Save your work. 8. Open the employeestore.asp page and press F12 (Option+F12) to launch the page in the browser. Select an item from the employeestore.asp page. You are redirected to the viewcatalog.asp page, and the item appears in your cart. 9. Click the Check Out hyperlink. You are redirected to the checkout.asp page. Finally, click the Check Out button to process the order. Now check the Orders table in the Access database to see the appropriate information written to the table. If you open the Employees table, you will find that the user was, in fact, the user whose EmployeeID appears in the EmployeeID column. If you open the EmployeeStore table, you will notice that the ItemID selected is the ItemID that appears in the Orders table. Later, if you need to query the tables for products and employees, you can filter the results based on the IDs that appear in the Orders table. In the next chapter, we'll discuss security and authentication. In this chapter, we actually set the MM_Username session variable that we reference throughout the chapter. Doing so enables you to display the checkout.asp page and ultimately process the order for the appropriate logged-in user. Chapter 27. Adding Shopping Cart Functionality IN THIS CHAPTER Creating the Employee Store Shopping Cart Using ASP Creating the Employee Store Shopping Cart Using ASP.NET Welcome to the chapter that covers the heart of all dynamic web applications: the shopping cart. Most dynamic web applications are created for the sole purpose of making money on the web. Let's face it—why go through all the work of creating a dynamic web application if you don't plan to make money through it? Sure, companies employ dynamic intranet sites and granted, there are still some (although very few) free web applications you can use. In the real world, however, dynamic web applications are created in an attempt to make money by selling merchandise on the web. Providing the capability to add items to a virtual shopping cart as you browse through a website is still very much a business that commands good money. Companies such as VeriSign, WebAssist, and LinkPoint charge to provide developers with the capability to add this virtual shopping cart functionality to their own websites. Fortunately for you, Dreamweaver comes through by providing the capability to interact with shopping cart features by using feature-rich extensions you can download right from the Adobe Exchange. This chapter discusses the creation of an online shopping cart for the Vecta Corp application. The topics covered in this chapter include the following: A shopping cart definition An overview of the UltraDev Shopping Cart Installing the UltraDev Shopping Cart Building the Employee Store shopping cart in both ASP and ASP.NET Note This chapter covers adding shopping cart functionality to the Vecta Corp site under only the ASP and ASP.NET server models. In the ASP server model, we'll use the free UltraDev Shopping Cart server behaviors suite, and the ASP.NET model covers building a shopping cart by hand. The UltraDev Shopping Cart server behavior is but one example of a set of server behaviors for adding shopping cart functionality to your web applications. If you're using the ColdFusion or PHP server models, review the process as it's covered in ASP, then browse through the Adobe Exchange and pick out a server behavior suite that outlines the topics covered here in your server model of choice. The goal is not to pick ASP over other server models, but rather to demonstrate the overall functionality using a free set of server behaviors in the UltraDev Shopping Cart that just happens to run only under the ASP model. As you've done with the rest of the chapters in this book, you can work with the examples in this chapter by downloading the files from www.dreamweaverunleashed.com. Remember that you'll want to save the files for Chapter 27 (not the folder) in the C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\VectaCorp<technology> directory, where <technology> represents the server technology (ASP or ASPX) you plan to use. You should also make sure that your site is also properly defined within Dreamweaver, including the appropriate server-side technology you plan to use in the Testing Server category. For your convenience, the free UltraDev Shopping Cart server behavior and patch are available as downloads from the website. Creating the Employee Store Shopping Cart Using ASP This chapter focuses on the UltraDev Shopping Cart server behavior. The next few sections provide you with a brief description of shopping cart technologies, an overview of the Shopping Cart behavior, and finally, how to integrate the Shopping Cart behavior with the Vecta Corp web application. What Is a Shopping Cart? The term shopping cart has been thrown around for quite some time now. But what exactly is a shopping cart? We know a shopping cart to be the physical basket on wheels that you push around at a grocery store. Think about why you use the grocery store shopping cart. You go to your local grocery store, you push around the cart, and you add items from shelves as you see fit. When your shopping cart is full or you decide that you are finished shopping, you push your shopping cart all the way to the front of the store to the checkout counter. At the checkout counter, you provide your debit card, cash, or check to the cashier, finish the transaction, and off you go. Sound familiar? The web is no different; rather than a physical shopping cart, however, you are provided with a virtual shopping cart, which is little more than a client-side cookie, server-side user session, or combination of both. A virtual table, if you will, that takes items you request from the database and stores them in a temporary location (a cookie, a session, or both) until you are ready to check out. If you decide that you want another item or more of the same item, you keep adding to the cart. Similar to the grocery store checkout counters, virtual checkouts enable you to enter your credit card information for purchase. The major difference is that, rather than you physically walking away with the items, the items are conveniently mailed to your doorstep. Most people think of shopping carts in the terms of the preceding example. But the same methodology is used in websites such as Microsoft's Clip Art Gallery, iTunes, Photodisc, and more. These websites use the same idea of a shopping cart, but rather than purchasing the items within your shopping cart, you download them. Think of online shopping carts as a virtual table that stores information the user requests for downloading or purchasing. The UltraDev Shopping Cart The UltraDev Shopping Cart (so named because of its original integration with Dreamweaver UltraDev) is the perfect example of Dreamweaver's flexibility and extensibility in terms of shopping cart integration. Written purely in JavaScript by Rick Crawford, the UltraDev Shopping Cart consists of some powerful behaviors that enable you to create and manipulate merchandise within your web application. Aside from the central UltraDev Shopping Cart server behavior, the UltraDev Shopping Cart server behavior suite consists of the following functionality: Add to Cart Via Form— Enables the user to select a form object within a page to manually insert an item into the shopping cart. Add to Cart Via Link— Enables the user to select a link within a page to manually insert an item into the shopping cart. Repeat Cart Region— Similar to the Repeat Region server behavior, the Repeat Cart Region repeats a table with multiple contents. Update Cart— Updates items within the cart using a form object contained in the shopping cart page. [...]... Shopping Cart and UltraCart Patch for UD4 extensions from www.dreamweaverunleashed.com After you've downloaded the extensions, unzip the MXP files and double-click them one at a time to install them using the Adobe Extension Manager CS3 as shown in Figure 27.1 The UltraDev Shopping Cart and UltraCart Patch for UD4 appear in the Dreamweaver CS3 extensions list when installed successfully Figure 27.1 Install... full size image] Note You'll no doubt receive complaints from Adobe Extension Manager CS3 regarding the install of these extensions that are nearly eight years old Fear not, however; although Adobe Extension Manager CS3 balks at the installation, rest assured that the installation will proceed and the extensions will work flawlessly in Dreamweaver Integrating the Shopping Cart with the Employee Store... the Server Behaviors panel or the Bindings panel The next few sections go over the UltraDev Shopping Cart in more detail as it relates to the Employee Store application in ASP You can begin by opening Dreamweaver if you have not already done so already Select the VectaCorpASP defined site, open any ASP page, and then click the Add (+) button from either the Server Behaviors panel or the Bindings panel... Because DataTables have columns represented by the columns property and rows represented by the rows property, DataTables are a viable alternative when creating an ASP.NET shopping cart from scratch in Dreamweaver We can build the columns just as we would in a database using the columns property of the DataTable and add rows to the DataTable with the rows property With the DataTable built, we can then . receive complaints from Adobe Extension Manager CS3 regarding the install of these extensions that are nearly eight years old. Fear not, however; although Adobe Extension Manager CS3 balks at the installation,. from www.dreamweaverunleashed.com. After you've downloaded the extensions, unzip the MXP files and double-click them one at a time to install them using the Adobe Extension Manager CS3 as shown. Fortunately for you, Dreamweaver comes through by providing the capability to interact with shopping cart features by using feature-rich extensions you can download right from the Adobe Exchange. This