ASP.NET 3.5 For Dummies®

Chapter 18. Creating a Shopping Cart with Profiles

In This Chapter

• Using anonymous profiles

• Creating a shopping cart

• Creating classes in VB

• Using inheritance and overloads

• Binding to an ObjectDataSource

People love window-shopping even though it can be a pane when your eyes glaze over. (My apologies for the bad puns. I just wanted to challenge this book's translators.) I do a lot of pseudo shopping. I wander through the Canadian Tire store in North Bay, picking up interesting tools and gadgets and dropping them into a shopping cart. After pushing these impulse-driven items around in the cart for a while, a nagging inner voice questions whether I have the time or ability to use the tools. More often than not, I sigh and then retrace my steps, putting the tools back on the shelves. I check out with whatever I came for — or sometimes leave without buying anything.

This chapter attempts to bring an enhanced browsing-but-not-shopping experience to a Web site. You're not required to register or log in but can select items anonymously. Your virtual shopping cart remains intact from one visit to the next. And, unlike the bricks and mortar store, there's no social pressure to put your non-purchases back where you found them.