Update SQL Server 2005 database from javascript

[lianaent]

I'm pretty new to javascript, but I've got a client-side shopping cart that I've copied from a website and modified for my own use. I'm working in asp.net 2.0. When I add an item to my shopping cart I'm updating my SQL Server 2005 database with a flag that indicates that the item is pending a sale and currently not available.

However, when I delete an item from the shopping cart (handled totally in javascript) I want to update my database and reset the flag to available. I haven't got a clue how to update my database from javascript.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
TIA,
Larry

 

[lianaent]

(Yes, I know javascript is client-side. But once the user is in the cart, there's no way for server-side code to know what they've clicked, or even which asp.net form they used to open the cart. If there was only one asp.net form that opened the cart, then I could update a field in that form from javascript. Even then though, the form wouldn't know when a field was updated and so would have to constantly scan for changes.)

What do other people do in this situation?

Thanks for reading and pondering this!
Larry

 

[lianaent]

I found one not-so-clean way to do this:

In the delete item javascript function I added a window.open back to my ordering page, but with a "Cancel" in the querystring. In the asp.net ordering page, if the querystring has the "Cancel" in it, then I set the flag back to available.

While this works, it's not so pretty. Every time an item is deleted a new page opens up. Also, I haven't figured out what to do yet if they hit "Clear Cart.

 

[lianaent]

Okay, figured out, nevermind.

When I open the order page back up with the "Cancel", after setting the flag back to available, I'm closing the page with:

Response.Write("<script language='javascript'> { self.close() }</script>")

To the user, all they see is a flicker.