Perlshop 4 - The ITEM_DATA Tag

Overview

The ITEM_DATA tag became available with Perlshop v4.3.

This single tag is intended for use as a replacement for the following traditional Perlshop catalog data description tags:

ITEM_ID, ITEM_NAME, ITEM_PRICE, ITEM_WEIGHT, ITEM_SHIPTYPE, ITEM_TAXTYPE, ITEM_OPTION1, ITEM_OPTION2, ITEM_OPTION3, QTY_MIN, QTY_MAX

Use

This following product definition tags show how a catalog item is typically defined for a Perlshop catalog page:

<input type=hidden name="item_id" value="pn324">
<input type=hidden name="item_name" value="Basic Widget">
<input type=hidden name="item_price" value="12.50">
<input type=hidden name="item_weight" value="3.5">
<input type=text   name="qty" value="1" size=4 maxlength=4>
<input type=submit name="action" value="Order">

Using the item_data tag, this example can be reduced as follows:

<input type=hidden name="item_data" value="id:pn324|name:Basic Widget|price:12.50|weight:3.5">
<input type=text   name="qty" value="1" size=4 maxlength=4>
<input type=submit name="action" value="Order">

Detailed Information

The value of the item_data tag is composed of a group of value specifications. These value specifications are separated by the vertical bar character '|'. Each value specification is a name/value pair, with the name and value being separated by a colon. The item data tag may contain any number of name/value pairs.

Every one of the traditional Perlshop item description tags has an equivalent item_data tag value specification. In the example above, the 'id' value replaces the item_id tag, the 'name' value replaces the item_name tag, the 'price' value replaces the item_price tag, and the 'weight' value replaces the item_weight tag.

Every one of the traditional Perlshop item description tags can be replaced by an equivalent item_data value. The names of these item_data values are the same as the traditional tag names, with each of these names also have an abbreviated form. The following table lists each traditional Perlshop tag, the item_data name equivalent, and the abbreviated form of that name.

Item_Data Keyword equivalents

Traditional Perlshop Tag	ITEM_DATA Keyword	ITEM_DATA Abbreviation
item_id	id	i
item_name	name	n
item_option1	option1	o1
item_option2	option2	o2
item_option3	option3	o3
item_price	price	p
item_shiptype	shiptype	s
item_taxtype	taxtype	t
item_weight	weight	w
qty	qty	q
qty_min	qtymin	qn
qty_max	qtymax	qx

Example

Here is another example of a product defined using traditional Perlshop data tags:

<input type=hidden name="item_id" value="pn324">
<input type=hidden name="item_name" value="Basic Widget">
<input type=hidden name="item_price" value="12.50">
<input type=hidden name="item_shiptype" value="free">
<input type=hidden name="item_weight" value="3.5">
<input type=text   name="qty" value="1" size=4 maxlength=4>
<input type=submit name="action" value="Order">

Using an item_data tag, this example can be reduced as follows:

<input type=hidden name="item_data" value="id:pn324|name:Basic Widget|price:12.50|shiptype:free|weight:3.5">
<input type=text   name="qty" value="1" size=4 maxlength=4>
<input type=submit name="action" value="Order">

Using the abbreviated forms of the item_data field names, this example can be reduced even further:

<input type=hidden name="item_data" value="i:pn324|n:Basic Widget|p:12.50|s:free|w:3.5">
<input type=text   name="qty" value="1" size=4 maxlength=4>
<input type=submit name="action" value="Order">