can't resolve 'add to cart' / database issue

I'm coming across this problem for a 3rd time....but slightly different. (I must reiterate that I am not a programmer but dabble in it in order to get some work done, thus the reason for having Webassist plugins).

In the first case I have a database in which one ID has 2 options....a CD or a DVD. The problem with this is that you could only select one because if you then selected a 2nd item it would simply add the first item for a 2nd time. The problem is that it's using one ID so it thinks it's the same item. I had solved this same problem on a small database by giving the CD and DVD a different ID and two different add to cart buttons. This case was solved by my friend who duplicated all the items for the DVDs thus giving them different ID.

In the new case I have 11,000 records for booking a date and 4 different time slots. When I pick a different time slot of the same date, it, of course thinks it's the same time slot that is being added to the cart. A young developer (kid just finishing H.S.) said to me that duplicating the items for each time slot seemed to be the solution without me having mentioned anything about my previous cases. I don't think duplicating all these records is the way to go and I definitely don't wish to do that. Can someone at Webassist give me another suggestion / solution? I thought of adding 4 different IDs but the selection for the times is a dropdown menu, so I wouldn't know what to do with the code from there on.

Thank you.

What you should do is have a second table with the 4 time slots, and a field in your orders table to store the chosen time slot with the booking .

This principle is the same as using options for T shirts, such as colour and size.

there is another thread here, showthread.php?t=21546&highlight=product+options which goes through a similar, (though slightly more complicated) process

so in both cases the issue is that adding the same product with different options is adding the initial product again, is that correct?

when using options for your products, make sure to set the option column of the cart object to be unique.

In the Cart object editor, go to the column tab, select your option column, and check the unique option.

Amazing how a little lack of knowledge and some sense can waste your life away. Jasons's answer took care of the problem. However, I liked CraigR's suggestion as well. I should've and will do it that way next time for the different options.

Thanks both for your answers and the solution.

Craig's answer is the correct way to handle product options, but you would still have the same issue of the items being added to the same line item.

for the option to trigger a unique line item, you need to set the Unique attribute for the option column.