Arthur Fuller
artful at rogers.com
Fri Dec 24 23:12:02 CST 2004
Exactly right, Andy, and I'm puzzled about the best way to do this. Maybe I don't need timers at all but only rows in a "Reserved" table with a timestamp column and a sproc that executes every minute or so. Maybe that's the way to go. And if the "Reserved" table contains no rows terminate the sproc at once. Just a conjecture. Thanks to you all for helping me think this through. Andy Lacey wrote: >It's the definition of 'long enough'. Many sites say something like "You >have 5 minutes to complete this transaction" or words to that effect". I >would suggest Arthur's routine would need to take this into account. So the >records on the pending table need time-stamping when they're added and >thesweep to take records off the 'pending' table can only remove records >older than x minutes. > >Oh, and Arthur (I believe) is talking about tickets for gigs. >-- >Andy Lacey >http://www.minstersystems.co.uk > > > >--------- Original Message -------- >From: dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com >To: dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com <dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com> >Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] TicketMaster-like Timer >Date: 20/12/04 13:29 > > > >>Hello Andy, >> >>I hear what you are saying but.... >> >>1) If you delay long enough on an Airline site, do you believe that >>you will retain the seat >>2) If you delay long enough on a Dell site, do you really think that >>the PC is being 'held' for you. >> >>The reality is that you either disappoint many customers by having the >>stock all tied up with enquiries or people that do not have the >>ability to pay for it, versus, once in a blue moon, you have to >>display a message that "this product has just gone out of stock, but >>we would now like to offer you this as an alternative", depending on >>the scenario, you could even offer it as a free upgrade. >> >>I accept we are only talking in general terms here, we do not know >>whether Authur is talking about Blood donations or Candy bars in a >>store. But my point is just to consider the implications of tying up >>stock with mere prospects rather than customers. >> >>I did not get as far as suggesting, but Authur could also consider >>more sophisticated means of pooling the enquiries and limiting them to >>10-20% of the stock, so that all enquiries are seeing the same pool. >> >>All this is difficult without knowing the business in detail (which is >>not the intention here), but I still say that it is be be considered. >> >>Perhaps it is a B2B model within one company and in that case, it is >>OK to hold the stock in advance. >> >>Cheers and have a good Christmas, >> >>Mark >> >> >> >> >> >>On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 11:26:26 +0100, Andy Lacey >><andy at minstersystems.co.uk> wrote: >>> As a customer of these kind of sites (and I am) I'd soon stop using >> >> >it if it > > >>> told me there were tickets, I said I'll take 1, went to the trouble >> >> >of > > >>> putting in my details, then my cc details, then it told me my tickets >> >> >had > > >>> been sold to someone else. It may sound like business sense not to >> >> >hold that > > >>> stock, but the longer term good business is not to aggravate your >> >> >customers. > > >>> >>> -- >>> Andy Lacey >>> http://www.minstersystems.co.uk >>> >>> >>_______________________________________________ >>dba-SQLServer mailing list >>dba-SQLServer at databaseadvisors.com >>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-sqlserver >>http://www.databaseadvisors.com >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > >________________________________________________ >Message sent using UebiMiau 2.7.2 > >_______________________________________________ >dba-SQLServer mailing list >dba-SQLServer at databaseadvisors.com >http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-sqlserver >http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.4 - Release Date: 12/22/2004