Thanks all for your suggestions. I'm definitely scrapping my method
for now.
I liked the following idea most but I'll probably go with the db
method because it's probably easiest to manage. ;)
........
<?php
$_SESSION['path'] = array('Products ', 'Electronics', 'Computers',
'Laptops', 'Accessories', 'Mouse');
?>
Of course it would have to be changed everytime the user moves around
your site. Then just output it at the checkout page:
<?php
echo implode(' > ', $_SESSION['path']);
?>
..........
"zorro" <myahact@yahoo. ca> wrote in message
news:1baa8f0d.0 501031833.45073 247@posting.goo gle.com...[color=blue]
> Hello,
>
> I'm programming an Amazon type web site and find myself "wasting" a
> lot of time writing code that gets information from include files
> rather than from the database because I have this notion that it will
> avoid clogging the db when many users come to the site. My main goal
> anyway is to have the user wait as little as possible because that's
> good for business apparently.
>
> Here's an example:
>
> When the user will be checking out a certain product I'll have to
> display at the top of the page the product category path. For instance
>
> Products > Electronics > Computers > Laptops > Accessories > Mouse
>
> If I wanted to code quickly I could write a function that builds this
> path by querying the database and run the function every time someone
> accesses a page. Instead I have a folder "Paths" containing an include
> file for every category possible. For example: "path_category_ 32.inc".
> In my web page I do something like
>
> include("path_c ategory_".$_GET['cat_id'].".inc");
>
> and the file contains:
> echo "Products > Electronics > Computers > Laptops > Accessories >
> Mouse";
>
> I have code that generates these include files and I only have to run
> it when a category is added, removed or renamed - which will be rare.
> Is this not a lot better than querying the database 1000 times a day
> just to get information that is static? Now this was one example but
> there are many other elements I could apply this method to. The
> problem is that it takes a lot longer time to code and I also have a
> delivery date to meet, yet I don't want to deliver something that is
> not efficient because it queries the db all the time.
>
> Any advice?[/color]
for now.
I liked the following idea most but I'll probably go with the db
method because it's probably easiest to manage. ;)
........
<?php
$_SESSION['path'] = array('Products ', 'Electronics', 'Computers',
'Laptops', 'Accessories', 'Mouse');
?>
Of course it would have to be changed everytime the user moves around
your site. Then just output it at the checkout page:
<?php
echo implode(' > ', $_SESSION['path']);
?>
..........
"zorro" <myahact@yahoo. ca> wrote in message
news:1baa8f0d.0 501031833.45073 247@posting.goo gle.com...[color=blue]
> Hello,
>
> I'm programming an Amazon type web site and find myself "wasting" a
> lot of time writing code that gets information from include files
> rather than from the database because I have this notion that it will
> avoid clogging the db when many users come to the site. My main goal
> anyway is to have the user wait as little as possible because that's
> good for business apparently.
>
> Here's an example:
>
> When the user will be checking out a certain product I'll have to
> display at the top of the page the product category path. For instance
>
> Products > Electronics > Computers > Laptops > Accessories > Mouse
>
> If I wanted to code quickly I could write a function that builds this
> path by querying the database and run the function every time someone
> accesses a page. Instead I have a folder "Paths" containing an include
> file for every category possible. For example: "path_category_ 32.inc".
> In my web page I do something like
>
> include("path_c ategory_".$_GET['cat_id'].".inc");
>
> and the file contains:
> echo "Products > Electronics > Computers > Laptops > Accessories >
> Mouse";
>
> I have code that generates these include files and I only have to run
> it when a category is added, removed or renamed - which will be rare.
> Is this not a lot better than querying the database 1000 times a day
> just to get information that is static? Now this was one example but
> there are many other elements I could apply this method to. The
> problem is that it takes a lot longer time to code and I also have a
> delivery date to meet, yet I don't want to deliver something that is
> not efficient because it queries the db all the time.
>
> Any advice?[/color]