Shopping basket issues

[Jenny]

Lisa,

I'm not too adept at computers; I also live somewhere where our power tends to be erratic and I also have poor memory. It's therefore very frustrating when I start putting together an order and get cut off/distracted etc. and lose my shopping basket!!

I'm sure there must be some way of retaining my shopping basket to come up when I can get back on the site, but haven't mastered this yet - advice please?:confused:

[Chris]

Unfortunately it isn't possible to "resurrect" a basket once it has expired. The contents of your basket are stored in something known as a session variable which means they only exist so long as you're active on the site.

Closing your browser (Internet Explorer for example) or an extended period of inactivity (about 10 minutes) will end your session losing the contents of the basket.

There are ways I could make the site extend the duration of the session beyond one single visit but there are other problems associated with doing this; one could be the basket contents never being remembered (making it impossible to complete an order) or it could be that the basket contents are never deleted which leads to several other problems.

I hope this explains why the basket behaves as it does; eventually the site will be totally reworked and the session management system can be rethought to be more flexible.

Chris