1.7. Multiple Shopping Carts

Interchange allows you to define and maintain multiple shopping carts. One shopping cart -- main, by name -- is defined when the user session starts. If the user orders item M1212 with the following tag:

    [order code=M1212 cart=layaway] Order this item! </a>

the order will be placed in the cart named layaway. However, by default you won't see the just-ordered item on the basket page. That is because the default shopping basket displays the contents of the 'main' cart only. So copy the default basket page (pages/ord/basket.html in the demo) to a new file, insert a [cart layaway] tag, and specify it as the target page in your [order] tag:

    [order code=M1212 cart=layaway page=ord/lay_basket] Order this item! </a>

Now the contents of the layaway cart will be displayed. Most of the ITL tags that are fundamental to cart display accept a 'cartname' option, allowing you to specify which cart to be used:

[cart cartname]

[item-list cartname]...[/item-list]

[nitems cartname]

[subtotal cartname]

[shipping cartname], [handling cartname], [salestax cartname], [total-cost cartname]

You can also order items from a form, using the mv_order_item, mv_cartname, and optional mv_order_quantity variables.

 <FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="[process]">
 <input type=checkbox name="mv_order_item" value="M3243"> Item M3243
 <input name="mv_order_quantity" value="1"> Quantity
 <input type=hidden name="mv_cartname" value="layaway">
 <input type=hidden name="mv_doit" value="refresh">
 <input type=submit name="mv_junk" value="Place on Layaway Now!">
 </FORM>

If you need to utilize an alternative item price in conjunction with the use of a custom cart, see the section on PRODUCT PRICING for pricing methods and strategies.