Saving product overloads PHP max_input_vars

[fireproofsocks]

Getting some errors in the PHP logs like this:

2014/10/28 20:41:42 [error] 11812#0: *1721 FastCGI sent in stderr: "PHP message: PHP Warning:  
Unknown: Input variables exceeded 1000. To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini. in 
Unknown on line 0" while reading response header from upstream, client: 123.123.123.123, server: 
somesite.com, request: "POST /manager/?a=2&class=product&method=edit HTTP/1.1", upstream: 
"fastcgi://unix:/tmp/somesite.com.sock:", host: "somesite.com", referrer: 
"http://somesite.com/manager/?a=2&class=page&method=productedit&product_id=8"

PHP 5.4.33
NGINX

Within the MODX controllers, the GET/POST/COOKIE data gets merged into $scriptProperties

[fireproofsocks]

The standard response is to edit the setting in the php.ini, e.g. to

max_input_vars = 2000

(up from the default 1000).

The culprit is the product edit form: it puts all its eggs into one basket, so to speak: it doesn't fire off (many) Ajax requests, it just submits the single form with all its goods. But when you've got a lot of assets, taxonomies, and options, you create a LOT of variables. Their numbers increase exponentially when new options are added. Each spot in the arrays counts as a variable against the max_input_vars setting. It's like trying to shove too many marbles into too small of a jar.

To refactor this, the first priority would be to refactor the "Options" tab because that's where the biggest use of input vars is. E.g. modal windows with separate post-submits for each option, but even that could run out of input_vars... sigh. No easy fix here.