[ic] newbie question: how to build a hierarchical catalog?

[Ryan Hertz]

At 11:00 PM 3/7/01 , you wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
>I am currently evaluating Interchange as a possible replacement for the
>existing E-Commerce site we have built at: http://www.transquip.com.au
>
>The current implementation is based on an hierarchical catalog where
>products exist within the following structure;
>
>Top Level Category    eg, SOCKET SETS
>   Manufacturer        eg,   AOK zTECH
>     Product Line      eg,     3/4 inch SOCKET SETS
>       Product         eg,       AZ19340 "AOK zTECH 21 PIECE 3/4 inch DRIVE
>SOCKET SET MET"

You're heading in the right direction since you already visualize the 
structure.  I would add new fields to your products database so that you 
end up with each item having this structure:

code    category        manu    line
AZ19340 socketsets      AOKzTECH        34inch

Then, scanning 
sf=category/se=socketsets/sf=manu/se=AOKzTECH/sf=line/se=34inch would 
return all the "AOK zTECH 21 PIECE 3/4 inch DRIVESOCKET SET MET"



Ryan Hertz                                              tel  800-645-BAIT
Webmaster                                               fax  520-645-2588
Advertising Director                                 http://www.baits.com
Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Inc.                  mailto:rhertz@baits.com