flexi cart - A comprehensive shopping cart library for CodeIgniter

[eluser]koichirose[/eluser]
Thank you very much, I'll look into that as soon as possible.

Right now we're trying to get it to work. We managed to use 7 as 'disc_method_fk' (Summary Item Total - Percentage Based). This works as expected.

I'd like to try the item/group item based ones.
So I put 1 as 'disc_method_fk'. The documentation about 'disc_item_fk' says "The value CAN be used to act as a foreign key relating the table to the primary key of a custom item (product) table, although this is not joined by default."

I think I'm missing something from the documentation, I can't find where to join tables and what value to put as 'disc_item_fk'. Being a FK, I suppose I'd have one id per item.
Does it mean that if I want to create a discount for 15 different products I'd have 15 identical rows (except, of course, for 'disc_item_fk') ?

What if I want discount codes for an entire product category?

Finally (for now ), I see that 'disc_usage_limit' is NOT NULL and the query checks for it being > 0.
Can I just set that to no limit, meaning a code doesn't have a usage limit, but only an expiration date?

Thank you again


EDIT: I'm trying to use 'update_discount_codes()' instead of 'set_discount_codes()' as I only want one code at a time, but it doesn't seem to work.

Code:

var_dump($this->flexi_cart->discount_codes());
//output:
array
  'TEST' =>
    array
      'id' => string '1' (length=1)
      'code' => string 'TEST' (length=4)
      'description' => string 'Test description' (length=16)

I then try to use update_discount_code('TEST_20'); and I get two discount codes (TEST and TEST_20).
It seems it's not entering in this if:

Code:

if (! empty($this->CI->flexi->cart_contents['settings']['discounts']['codes']))

It's in flexi_cart_model:3342 .

[eluser]Valcsi[/eluser]
Hi haseydesign,

Over the weekend I finally had the time to give flexi cart a try. I’ve managed to put it all together, and everything seems to work apart from displaying the email address from the saved database entry. I can see the order number, and the query that uses it to retrieve the email address, but it returns an empty array. Strange. (as a side note, if order confirmations are displayed like 0000001,0000002 it is really easy for anybody to find email addresses from the database - I know you would have a payment gateway, and you can use a random number....)

Another thing that I’m trying to figure out is how to split items into separate carts. For example: blue items would go into one cart, green items would go into a second cart, and red items would go into a third cart. The user would check out each cart separately. Is it something flexi cart would be able to handle?

Thanks

[eluser]haseydesign[/eluser]
@koichirose

Lots of questions there koichirose, let me try and address them individually.

Item Group Discounts
The 'disc_item_fk' column is only used to define a discount for a specific item.
If you would like to apply a discount to a group of items, you would use the 'disc_group_fk' column.

This column would then link to the 'disc_group_id' column within the 'discount_groups' table. Each row within this table is the wrapping group for items to be inserted into.

Then the ids of the items you want to group discount are added to the 'disc_group_item_id' column within the 'discount_group_items' table.

When you then add an item to the cart, it will automatically check through the foreign key relationship between the 3 tables and check whether the item id exists within the 'discount_group_items' table. If the discount conditions are valid, the discount will be applied for the item.

I will also point out that the library also includes functions to help you manage discount item groups.
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g...ount_group
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g...group_item

A demo of adding items to a discount group using a custom SQL WHERE builder can be found at:
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/admin_...up_items/1
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g..._sql_where


Defining an Infinite Discount Limit
This is not possible with the current design of the library, instead you will just need to put a large value into the 'disc_usage_limit' column.
If the quantity is 0 or null, the library will detect the discount offer as no longer being available.


Allowing Only 1 Discount Code
Thanks for pointing out this bug. I've updated the Github repo with a fix to solve this problem.
Only the /models/flexi_cart_model.php file needs to be updated.

[eluser]haseydesign[/eluser]
@Valcsi

There are a few points that I need to confirm you are aware of.

You say that if order numbers are incremental, that other users would be able to simply enter an order number into the url to get specific details of an order - including email addresses.

You need to ensure that these pages are not accessible to unauthorised users. Only users that have logged in as an admin should be able to see all orders, and customers should only be able to see order details for their own orders.

If an unauthorised user should enter a valid url to view someone else's order, they should not be shown the order details. This functionality needs to be provided by your user authentication library - may I plug my own flexi auth library if you're interested.

The security of the order details is not compromised by having incremental order numbers provided you follow the steps outlined above. However, it is also possible to generate random order number or to even define you own.

Define the flexi cart to generate random order numbers by setting the following config setting via the flexi cart config file.

Code:

$config['defaults']['configuration']['increment_order_number'] = false;

You can alternatively define this via the 'cart_config' database table and 'increment_order_number' column.

To define your own order number, you can define it when saving the rest of the order via the 'order_number' argument on the 'save_order()' function.
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g...save_order

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Regarding not being able to retrieve the email address within an order details, first ensure that the data is being saved to the database in the 'order_summary' table.

If the data isn't being saved, review the code within the demo for the 'demo_save_order()' method within the 'model/demo_cart_model.php' file for saving custom order data.

If the data just isn't being returned, review the code within the demo for the 'order_details()' method within the 'controller/admin_library.php' file for getting saved order data.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally regarding saving items into multiple different carts, I can't say I've ever come across a need to do this. However, I guess you could probably use the libraries load/save cart feature to achieve something like what you're after.

You can see a demo of this at http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/standa..._cart_data

Hope that all helps

[eluser]koichirose[/eluser]
Hi,

Thank you for your answer.

I'm leaving the discount codes aside for a moment, as updating the model brought up a new bug about shipping tax rates (I see there's a commit in May about this), either on your or my side.

Here's what I'm doing:

Code:

$total_shipping = $this->m_mkt_cart->calculate_shipping($cart_items);
$shipping_data = array(
'value' => $total_shipping['shipping'] //value has no tax here
);

//get tax rate based on current country
$tax_data = $this->m_mkt_misc->get_tax_rate_by_country_id($this->settings->mkt_country_id);
/* tax data is:
array
  'rate' => int 21
  'name' => string 'VAT' (length=3)
*/
$this->flexi_cart->set_tax($tax_data);
$this->flexi_cart->set_shipping($shipping_data);
var_dump($this->flexi_cart->cart_summary());
/* output:
array
  'item_summary_total' => string '€ 82.64' (length=9)
  'item_summary_savings_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
  'shipping_total' => string '€ 14.74' (length=9)
  'item_shipping_total' => string '€ 97.38' (length=9)
  'summary_savings_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
  'savings_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
  'reward_voucher_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
  'surcharge_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
  'tax_total' => string '€ 17.35' (length=9)
  'total' => string '€ 114.73' (length=10)
  'total_rows' => string '1' (length=1)
  'total_items' => string '1' (length=1)
  'total_weight' => string '0g' (length=2)
  'total_reward_points' => string '826' (length=3)
*/

As you can see, 'total' is (item_summary_total + tax) + shipping. No tax is applied to shipping.

According to the documentation of the 'set_shipping()' function, it should apply the cart tax rate:

'tax_rate' - Tax rate applied to the shipping rate, the carts tax value is used if no value is submitted. Submitted values must be numeric.

I could fairly easily add a 'tax_rate' field to the $shipping_data array, but I wanted to point out a possible bug.

Could you verify this?

Thanks again

p.s. anchors on the doc site still don't work on firefox (verified both on osx and windows). they are fine on chrome. I guess you can't do anything about it


EDIT: I see I have this in my config file:

Code:

$config['defaults']['shipping']['tax_rate'] = 0;

I guess this is the value it uses, instead of the cart one. Is this by design?

EDIT2: it doesn't use that. I solved for now by manually setting a 'tax_rate' value for $shipping_data.

[eluser]haseydesign[/eluser]
@koichirose,

From the code you have posted, you look like you worked it out that it is the config setting

Code:

$config['defaults']['shipping']['tax_rate']

that defines the tax rate for manual shipping options (Database shipping option tax are defined via the table).

However, by default, that config setting is defined as FALSE (Not '0' as you have), which means that the default cart tax rate is used.
If '0' is set, then it defines that no tax should be applied to the shipping rate.

I see that you dismissed this with your EDIT2 comment, but that is how it is intended to work, and from my testing within the available demo example, it proves to work as expected.


One note that I must warn that always throws me off, is that internally, the cart calculates all pricing excluding tax.
The all important config setting to understanding this is:

Code:

$config['defaults']['configuration']['price_inc_tax']

If set to TRUE and a $10.00 shipping option is added including 10% tax, the cart will calculate the shipping rate excluding tax as $9.09 ($10 / 10%) and $10.00 including tax.
If the config setting was FALSE, the the shipping option excluding tax would be $10.00 and including tax would be $11.00 ($10 x 10%).

To further complicate matters, remember that you can then further manually define whether to display pricing inc/excluding tax.

[eluser]koichirose[/eluser]
Thank you for the clarification.

Anyway, I seem to remember that I tried setting 21 as $config['defaults']['shipping']['tax_rate'] and it did not work as expected.

I'm setting it to false now, so it should use the cart tax value, plus I'm manually setting 'tax_rate' when calling set_shipping, too.

Here goes about orders:

Note that discount_methods, types and tax_methods are default.

I added a new 10% code:
INSERT  INTO `flexi_discounts`(`disc_id`,`disc_type_fk`,`disc_method_fk`,`disc_tax_method_fk`,`disc_user_acc_fk`,`disc_item_fk`,`disc_group_fk`,`disc_location_fk`,`disc_zone_fk`,`disc_code`,
`disc_description`,`disc_quantity_required`,`disc_quantity_discounted`,`disc_value_required`,`disc_value_discounted`,`disc_recursive`,`disc_non_combinable_discount`,`disc_void_reward_points`,
`disc_force_ship_discount`,`disc_custom_status_1`,`disc_custom_status_2`,`disc_custom_status_3`,`disc_usage_limit`,`disc_valid_date`,`disc_expire_date`,`disc_status`,`disc_order_by`)
VALUES (1,2,7,1,0,0,0,0,0,'TEST','Test description',0,0,0.00,10.00,0,0,0,0,'0','0','0',5,'2012-11-12 14:50:20','2012-11-22 14:51:55',1,100);

disc_type_fk = 2, Summary Discount
disc_method_fk = 7, Summary Item Total - Percentage Based
disc_tax_method_fk = 1, Apply Tax Before Discount

Code:

var_dump($this->flexi_cart->cart_contents());
output:
array
  'items' =>
    array
      'c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b' =>
        array
          'row_id' => string 'c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b' (length=32)
          'id' => string '1' (length=1)
          'name' => string 'Pochette' (length=8)
          'price' => string '€ 82.64' (length=9)
          'quantity' => string '1' (length=1)
          'stock_quantity' => string '3' (length=1)
          'internal_price' => float 82.64
          'weight' => string '0g' (length=2)
          'tax_rate' => string '21%' (length=3)
          'shipping_rate' => boolean false
          'separate_shipping' => boolean false
          'reward_points' => string '826' (length=3)
          'status_message' =>
            array
              empty
          'tax' => string '€ 17.35' (length=9)
          'non_discount_quantity' => string '1' (length=1)
          'discount_quantity' => string '0' (length=1)
          'price_total' => string '€ 82.64' (length=9)
          'discount_price' => string '€ 82.64' (length=9)
          'discount_price_total' => string '€ 82.64' (length=9)
          'discount_description' => boolean false
          'tax_total' => string '€ 17.35' (length=9)
          'weight_total' => string '0g' (length=2)
          'reward_points_total' => string '826' (length=3)
  'summary' =>
    array
      'item_summary_total' => string '€ 82.64' (length=9)
      'item_summary_savings_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
      'shipping_total' => string '€ 14.74' (length=9)
      'item_shipping_total' => string '€ 97.38' (length=9)
      'summary_savings_total' => string '€ 25.61' (length=9)
      'savings_total' => string '€ 25.61' (length=9)
      'reward_voucher_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
      'surcharge_total' => string '€ 0.00' (length=8)
      'tax_total' => string '€ 20.45' (length=9)
      'total' => string '€ 117.83' (length=10)
      'total_rows' => string '1' (length=1)
      'total_items' => string '1' (length=1)
      'total_weight' => string '0g' (length=2)
      'total_reward_points' => string '826' (length=3)


echo $this->flexi_cart->total(); //107.83

The order total (last line) is correct, as it is (99.99 + 17.83 - (99.99*0.10)).
I don't understand where that €25.61 in savings is coming from.

About custom statuses: I understood how they work, but they directly relate to the current user session and not to the cart contents.
For example, I'd like to be able to set a discount for a specific brand, for a specific category of products, for a group of users based on some filters (i.e. users that didn't buy anything in the last 30 days), etc.
I think the best way to achieve this would be to add custom fields to the 'discounts' table (or a new table with a fk), then manually check cart contents and querying the db for a discount that matches these filters.
Do you think it would be a viable solution?

About enabling joins: let's say I want to offer free shipping to users in the UK. I see you do that in the examples.
I disabled the 'flexi_locations' table since I'm using one of my own (not used by flexi anyway, as I use my own calculate_shipping() method).
How do I setup a join for my own locations table?

Sorry about the length of this post (and this discussion), I hope it will be useful for everyone

[eluser]haseydesign[/eluser]
@koichirose

Its getting late night here now so I'll leave the number calculations answer for another night.

However, regarding setting discounts per item brand, category and user group, you can do this with the current setup by using the previously mentioned 'disc_group_fk' column for items and the 'custom_status_x' column for the user group.

I know when you first think that if you create item groups, you will then need to add each item one by one to the table where the item brand = 'xyz'.
However, by using the also mentioned 'custom_sql_admin()' function, you can easily create SQL queries that would add all items where the brand = 'xyz' AND the category = 'Category C'.
Then combining this generated SQL WHERE query with the 'insert_db_discount_group_item()' function, you can very easily add as many items as you require to your item groups.

Checkout the quoted links below if you want further info.

http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g...ount_group
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g...group_item

A demo of adding items to a discount group using a custom SQL WHERE builder can be found at:
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/admin_...up_items/1
http://haseydesign.com/flexi-cart/user_g..._sql_where

You could try the method of adding you own custom columns (Or by just using the 3 'custom_column_X'), but I really don't see the need as the functionality is there, just not quite as simply as you want/expect it to be.

Its designed this way specifically to try to offer a flexible enough solution that whilst not being the ideal layout, it can be used by users with many different cart database schemas.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding the location table, I would need to think it over a bit more about how you could join your 3rd party table. However, the location tables really are quite core to the functionality of many features within the cart (Shipping, tax, item shipping rates, item tax rates, discounts etc.), so I don't fancy you chances of a quick fix.

[eluser]koichirose[/eluser]
Thank you for your answer, as always.

I think I'll go with your builtin solution, putting products in groups and referencing the group id within the discounts table.

Could you check the calculation problem I mentioned in my previous message?

I'll run some more tests in the meantime.

Thank you.

[eluser]haseydesign[/eluser]
@koichirose

I've been looking into the calculation problem you've been having and I have been able to replicate the incorrect savings value when the 'price_inc_tax' config setting is defined as FALSE. It seems that from my testing, if its defined as TRUE, that the calculations are correct.

In anycase, this will need some dedicated time to look into so I might not have a fix until next week.
I'll keep you posted.