I am pretty new to php and mysql, but have made a few succesful programs. My new project is creating an order tracking system for my company (retail software/hardware dealer), that tracks the order from when its placed, until its completely filled(hardware and software are ready for shipping).
We need a form that will include every peice of hardware & software that was sold to the client, in a list(this i will import from a csv generated by the quote software). Now for each peice of hardware, I need a status radio button (ordered, recieved, reaady) and for each radio button, I need an initials box below each status radio so that we know who changed the status. My problem is how Im going to get this info into an efficient mysql table. As far as I can see, I need to make a column for each peice of merchandise: a varchar(2) for the status(or, rc, rd for ordered recieved and ready) and a separate initials column (varchar(3)) for every merchandise and status combination. Since we have over 30 peices of hardware and software were currently selling, this means a lot of(approx. 120) columns. Can anyone think of a more efficient way of doing this? Is that many columns reasonable?
We need a form that will include every peice of hardware & software that was sold to the client, in a list(this i will import from a csv generated by the quote software). Now for each peice of hardware, I need a status radio button (ordered, recieved, reaady) and for each radio button, I need an initials box below each status radio so that we know who changed the status. My problem is how Im going to get this info into an efficient mysql table. As far as I can see, I need to make a column for each peice of merchandise: a varchar(2) for the status(or, rc, rd for ordered recieved and ready) and a separate initials column (varchar(3)) for every merchandise and status combination. Since we have over 30 peices of hardware and software were currently selling, this means a lot of(approx. 120) columns. Can anyone think of a more efficient way of doing this? Is that many columns reasonable?