# How do I allow multiple shopping carts per user? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 14, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-i-allow-multiple-shopping-carts-per-user/92026 "2007-04-14T20:38:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jakedh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-i-allow-multiple-shopping-carts-per-user/92026/1 "2007-04-14T20:38:49Z")
I’m creating an order entry application based on the depot application in Dave T.'s book “Agile Web D. with Rails”, except one major difference is that I want the user to be allowed to have any number of orders open at a time. The idea is that a sales representative will, in the process of creating an order, drag and drop any number of line\_items onto the order and using AJAX the items on the order will be updated. At this point, the order has not yet been saved so I’m storing the line\_items in a session variable. However, when I have two orders open at the same time the session variable gets applied to both orders, and any items added to one order are also added to the other. That said, I need to find an alternative solution and I’m wondering what would be the best way to do this? I’m hoping there’s a more elegant solution than updating a hidden input in the form. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Jake PS The AJAX code was taken from the shopping cart demo on [script.aculo.us](http://script.aculo.us) ---
**Author:** ![jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jakedh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-i-allow-multiple-shopping-carts-per-user/92026/2 "2007-04-14T21:05:50Z")
If you want to keep cart and item info in the session as you currently have it, you can just change the cart item in the session hash to an array, so you could have an array of carts, each with its own set of items. – Building an e-commerce site with Rails? [http://agilewebdevelopment.com/rails-ecommerce](http://agilewebdevelopment.com/rails-ecommerce) Meet up at RailsConf: [http://railsconf2007.conferencemeetup.com/](http://railsconf2007.conferencemeetup.com/) ---
**Author:** ![jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jakedh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-i-allow-multiple-shopping-carts-per-user/92026/3 "2007-04-14T22:02:53Z")
Ben, thanks for your quick response. But how do I tell the carts apart? How would I make sure the correct cart ends up with the correct order since the orders don’t have any unique ID yet? I’m not set on storing the item info in the session if there’s a good alternative. It sounds like maybe I need to give each order a unique identifier before the user adds any items or saves the order, and that way I can use your suggestion and create a hash of carts with the order id as the key. So would you recommend that I have a value stored in the database that increments every time an order is started but before it’s saved or and lines are added to it? I could store that id in a hidden input and then use the value when I create the order. And if I do this, how would I change the “drop\_receiving\_element” to pass the ID along with the product\_id? Am I going to need to add a hidden input containing the order\_id to each of my Draggables? Thanks in advance for the help. I’m just beginning to learn Ruby and Rails, but I’m sure enjoying it! ---
**Author:** ![jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jakedh)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-i-allow-multiple-shopping-carts-per-user/92026/4 "2007-04-15T04:38:18Z")
You could store the carts as a hash, keyed by a token or GUID. I personally put carts in the database so I get full ActiveRecord richness for them (and then convert them to a sale and then a shipment later), but some people prefer not to have that kind of transient data in the database. – Building an e-commerce site with Rails? [http://agilewebdevelopment.com/rails-ecommerce](http://agilewebdevelopment.com/rails-ecommerce) Meet up at RailsConf: [http://railsconf2007.conferencemeetup.com/](http://railsconf2007.conferencemeetup.com/) ---
**Author:** ![jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jakedh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jakedh)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 5:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-i-allow-multiple-shopping-carts-per-user/92026/5 "2007-04-15T05:33:26Z")
Hmm, I would recommend creating a new model/class (not AR model) to handle your multiple shopping carts. That way, as your website expands, you have flexibility with the model and can add things as they arise. You then, would of course, put this model into the session. It is much cleaner than just keeping a hash in the session, especially if shopping carts is an integral part of your website. You want to do it right. Aryk