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tomschwanland

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Posts posted by tomschwanland

  1. Hi,

    Essentially I know the theory for working in PHP, SQL, HTML, Sessions, etc. However, what I am missing is connecting the dots most efficiently.

    I am trying to build a very simple online car configurator. The flow is:

    • user picks a brand
    • depending on the previous choice, user is presented with models, user picks one
    • depending on the previous choice, user is presented with model lines, user picks one
    • depending on the previous choice, user is presented with engines, user picks one
    • depending on the previous choice, user is presented with options, user picks 0-n options
    • user can submit a form that generates an email with all of the previously chosen options.

    My current "design" works. But it is very nasty to maintain and I am sure there are better ways of going about it.

    • I have a single, monolithic PHP file where everything happens. I don't use any classes or functions. I don't use AJAX.
    • Data and GUI layer is all mixed up in the same file
    • I have one SQL data base with several tables. One for the models, one for the brands, etc.
    • Roughly the steps are as follows:
    1. Start session, check the phase the user is in by looking at what has been set already in the session E.g. if user has already selected a brand, models must be shown etc.
    2. SQL statement depending on phase, is executed to show all relevant items for that phase within the same PHP file.
    3. When a user clicks on any item, they simply call the same PHP page via GET (e.g. ?BrandID=2).
    4. That value is then stored into the same session.
    5. got to 1. for the other items.
    • My session variables are very simple and unstructured: $_SESSION['BrandID'], $_SESSION['ModelID'], etc.

    I know this is a weird and sort of generic question. But I would love to know what the best practices are of how to structure this whole thing. How would you structure it?

    • should I use classes for the sessions, SQL queries, etc.?
    • Is there a better way than to use GET?
    • Should I have the SQL queries and or session logic defined in a separate file/function/class?
    • Separating GUI from data layer? How can this be achieved?

    Input is greatly appreciated. Cheers!

    Best regards,
    Hans

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