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interactions/clicks in a dynamically generated virtual shelf

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:22 am
by bobba
Hello,

As background, I had been doing some application development in Flash Builder/Flex -- and had developed a simulated store "shelf" for market research - where a repondent could be directed to the site to shop virtually. I had loaded the shelf dynamically using a GET ALL command from the MySQL database, and had also programmed the shelf so that user interactions could be tracked and recorded -- to be pushed into a second database that recorded the results of the market research event. So, for example, I could record how many times a respondent clicked on an item to learn more about it, and which items they added to their cart. I did all this from the dynamically-generated shelf using classes and using commands like "this.selected item" so that the item which was selected from the dynamically-generated shelf could be identified, recorded (via it's ID) and all interactions with it (like clicks and purchases) tracjed and recorded.

I am now trying to replicate this approach in php. Using Dreamweaver tools, I have been able to generate a shelf of products dynamically from a database and also to program in an event (using DW recordsets, master-detail pages and session variables) that takes the respondent from the main shelf to a detail page when they click on a product. However, I am not having any luck tracking the user interactions like clicks and purchases.

So here is my question - I am still a relative php novice - so what is the easiest way for me to build the app in php to follow and track the clicks on a dynamically generated "product" (JPEG) on the shelf. It would seem that I should use the dynamic information that already exists in the master-detail page "click" that moves users from the master page to the detail page when they click. This information is already available to the product page, because it is used to decide which product gets displayed on the detail page, etc -- but for some reason I can't figure out how to pull this information and store it so that it can be used to keep track of interactions. Here is an example - say the user clicks on product1 five times and also decides to put product one in their virtaul basket. I can't seem to define a variable that will keep track of the 5 clicks once they leave the detail page top return to the master page (the main shelf). It would seem like session variables should be able to take care of this but I haven't been able to do that yet.

Any ideas on what I should consider? Am I taking the right aopproach for my goals? Are there any resources that you could direct me toward?

Thank you very much