Re: TOP N Query

Harpreet Singh wrote:

>>The proper way would be to design the database and table to meet the
>> end-user requirements.. :-)

I think that we have, with all these new architectures, moved beyond traditional database design. These days you need to take cognisance of how the database is going to be used architecturally, and ensure that the physical design meets those requirements too.

> It's a simple one where the user would not like to see a list of all the
> employees / trainees (etc) but in a group of 10. after that the next 10
> and so on (basically pagination).

In the traditional client-server environment, that is not a problem. That is end-user process and display logic - built into the end-user application.

When dealing with stateless servers, capable of very little other than presenting data, you need IMO to skin the cat a bit differently at times wrt database design and implementation.

On the specific thing of paging through data - that is something I intensely dislike. Be that in an end-user application (C++/Delphi/VB/whatever) or via a web browser.

The reason? The user is paging through _DATA_. That excercise is totally meaningless. I have yet to find anyone that can prove to me that it is not. Users must be presented with _INFORMATION_ and not data.

There is a HUGE difference between display 10,000 rows in 100 web pages and 10,000 rows as a single graph.

Users wanting data have no idea what they want and even less of an idea of how to use data to aid their daily processes and decision making.

I simply refuse to implement these pagination browsing on any of the web server resports I deploy. Sometimes you need to use a lead pipe to make user understand the difference.

--
Billy