More questions

Okay...here we go.

I am new with all extensions, so I got some questions, especially with Data Assist.

I have a customer who wants a online store, so I am using all the extensions to make a website for him. He has about 400-500 products to sell. There are five (5) categories of the types of products. In each of those categories, it is further broken down into more categories (range of five (5) to fifteen (15) types), depending on the product. The free database table doesn't seem to cut it (using it due to lack of mysql experience). I want to use the product table for sure (with some changes). The product category table would work for the five (5) main categories. I assume I need to make another table for the sub-categories. If so, do I need to make a column (or row) in the product table to show the sub-categories table with a link to it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The category table would not need a link to the subcategory table. There may be multiple subcategories in one main category, so you would just need a reference to the category table from the subcategory table. So in the subcategory table you would want to make a column that references which category it is a subcategory of.

With the .zip file that I included (hope it turns out okay), I am trying to show what I am trying to do. I have a table set up for the products (which includes all the details). As the document shows, each product will fall into a main category, which further falls into a subcategory.

I have very little (almost none) experience with mySQL and myPHPAdmin (I am learing). Here is my understanding: I should set up a table for products and table for the main categories. Then I need to set up a table for the subcategories (a table for each main category). I should include the category and subcategory as columns in the products table.

Now how to link them? Each of the tables (category and subcategory) should have a ID column and the type column (gps, avionics, etc.). The ID column should be linked to product table as a foreign key. How to do set up the linkage and does mySQL save it automatically? I tried several times and it doesn't seem to save.

Am I going in the right direction? I want the site visitor to be able to search for products by the following way. From a drop down menu, choose a category (such as GPS), then choose a subcategory (such as Panel-mounted) from another drop down menu. Depending on what main category is chosen, the correct subcategory would be appropiated. Is this possible with Data Assist?

I know that this is a lot, but I am learning. You guys thus far have been very helpful. My knowledge in mySQL and myPHPadmin is very weak. Again, thanks for your help.

Usually the way this is done is to have one table that lists out all the main categories and the information about them including the ID. Then there is a table that lists out all the subcategories. Each of the subcategories would have an ID and also store the main category ID in a different column. That way there's only 2 tables rather than a table for each main category.

You would then have a Product table that would list which category or subcategory that the product was part of. So in the Product table, you'd have an ID column and a categoryID column.

The drop downs being dynamically populated would be done with the Dynamic Dropdowns product that we have:
dynamic-dropdowns/