Users Billing & Shipping Addresses

Q1. I am using: MySQL, InnoDB engine, UPS shipping, with local payment processing. In example tables that I have looked at, the User tbl contains only Billing Address fields. Before I create the eCart dynamic shopping cart, should I create a separate table for User_Addresses with a second Address_Type table to indicate Billing or Shipping? This would allow a user to have both Billing and Shipping addresses stored as separate records in the User_Address table. Or am I missing a piece of the puzzle? I collect the users shipping address upon signup in my case. Other posts indicate that both are accessed and recorded/inserted during the creation of the eCart process.

Q2. When setting up a drop down list for States, how do I allow a user to input a value appropriate to their country (ex. UK-Wiltshire) if it is not in my db table? I think that you can do that in DW but I have not found an answer to this common/potential scenario.

The shipping information is stored in the Orders table with each order. You can join in that table using the userID to get all shipping addresses used for any orders associated with that user.

We don't use a DB table for the list of states I don't think. You could just update the list to have the values you want to use in DW. If it does come from the DB you could just add it to the DB.

Ok, I think that I have the logic. That would allow: 1) user to ship to multiple addresses, 2) each order would have a record of the actual shippin address related to that individual order. I will add those fields to the Orders table.

Then the BillingAddress fields go in the Users table?

Yes. Billing information is generally stored in the users table, but can also be stored in the orders table in case it is updated and you want to record the information at the time of the purchase.

Thanks Ray.