[FX.php List] Shopping Carts - Keep in SessionVars or Add Records right away?

[Tim 'Webko' Booth]

On 29/07/2009, at 9:11 AM, Joel Shapiro wrote:

> Hi all
>
> Anybody have any thoughts on *when* in shopping cart functionality  
> it's best to add items as records to the database?
>
> My initial thinking is that it would make more sense to just keep  
> items in Session Variable arrays and only add anything to the  
> database at the time of Checkout -- to keep the DB from bulking up  
> with unpurchased items left in the cart.  But searching online, it  
> seems that carts often add records to the database as soon as they  
> go into the cart.  (Might that be different when using MySQL as  
> opposed to FMP?)
>
> FWIW - Users on this site will average 1-4 items per order.

I tend to add them immediately - allows me to also re-show previous  
not actually purchased items on request further down the track...

Cheers

Webko