I know it's not the best policy where anything is concerned, but I tend to go through my design cycle in the middle of class. The fifteenth time I hear the concept of z-scoring explained, suddenly writing down what my program WILL do looks exciting and fresh.
Anyway, I got a big chunk done and drawn and ready.
"Hey...what if all those prep tools were one program?"
That is, instead of processing the inventory file and the price file together to make a stock file, why not stick all of it in one larger program (still not huge - under 150 lines with documentation) and that program would take in the inventory file, the current stock file, the Cl**ster pricelist and the new inventory (if there is any) and combine them all properly to make the new stock file.
There's just this problem.
The client wants to be able to set some prices for some cards at certain numbers. This was set up in the inventory file. There isn't going to BE an inventory file anymore, because the new processor will just rip all the data to shreds and stick it all back together where it's supposed to be, in the stock file and not the inventory file.
Anyway, the solution is fairly simple; open another file, a controls file. It's formatted like so:
name=shown=defaultcost=high=low
If the current inventory addition's name is in this file, these things get applied to its price. If they aren't, the price is calculated normally as the Cl**ster price, straight from the file.
Now, this file reads four files in:
and spits a single file out after deleting the new inventory file:
Much, much simpler, even though it's not simple.
The CGI and the rest of it won't be affected. The CGI isn't going to have to display anything new, or work with anything new at all - the stock file will look exactly the same to it, so there won't be any changes.
I need to build the invoicer, the part that actually sets up your order for you.
I've also created a cost estimate of what the client needs to have purchased in order to get this thing going. It's not something worth going into here, except to point out that I don't believe he realizes yet that CCs require verification.
Oh, and it's also worth noting to myself that I don't have the faintest clue how to deal with Billpoint or Paypal, and he said he might want BOTH. So some research is in order, I think.
Hopefully tonight my father will decide to grace my gastronomy with another meal, and hopefully it will be at Paul's again. I love that place to death; the only thing they make that I wouldn't eat is coleslaw, and you couldn't make me eat coleslaw if you were holding Earth hostage.
