Inspired by another question I saw recently on SO, I wanted to see if anyone could explain the difference between a Quote Item (Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Item) and a Quote Address Item (Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Address_Item)?
I think I understand the concept of a Quote Item (Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Item – mapped to sales_flat_quote_item db table) – basically a line item in the customer’s cart which includes the name/sku of the product, quantity, and any special options. What I don’t understand is what the Quote Address Item Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Address_Item – mapped to sales_flat_quote_address_item db table) is for. I see that it has an address associated to it, but what the heck is that for? I can imagine that it might have something to do with multi-address shipping (which I have never used) but that is a wild guess.
As a secondary question (actually the whole reason for this question :/), are there any cases where a custom module dealing with Quote Items could safely ignore the Quote Address Item?
Its related to “ship to multiple addresses” as each item needs to be mapped to separate address