Re: Help me design a table

From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter_at_googlemail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:30:46 +0100
Message-ID: <5638goF25bjdjU2@mid.individual.net>

On 17.03.2007 16:03, Anoop wrote:

> On Mar 17, 2:49 am, sybra..._at_gmail.com wrote:

>> On 16 Mar 2007 18:32:47 -0700, "Anoop" <anoopkum..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I need to design a table with the following columns. It is a table
>>> that will be read by a 3rd party product which allows little
>>> customization. The columns would be something like these:
>>> id - primary key
>>> bank - non null (varchar(100))
>>> access - non null (varchar(100))
>>> The requirement is that every "id" can have multiple "bank"'s
>>> associated with it and each of those banks can have an (a single)
>>> "access" associated with it.
>>> In order to satisfy this requirement, I suggested that we have have
>>> the "bank" column contain a comma separated list - and similarly - the
>>> "access" column will have comma separated values. And example of a row
>>> is like this:
>> Do you call this 'design'? It is just a MESS, because it is fully
>> denormalized. Consequently it can't be updated properly.
>> I would recommed you go to school and ask your money back.
>>
>> Next time, please do your homework before posting, and don't ask such
>> ridiculous questions.
>>
>> --
>> Sybrand Bakker
>> Senior Oracle DBA

> 
> Oh no this is not homework...It is my work. It is ridiculous I agree.
> 
> I know how to normalize tables and have done a lot of normalization.
> The problem here is that I cannot attempt normalization as the product
> I am using offers an interface that needs a single table with a
> primary key. Had it been a simple normalization of data it would have
> been a lot easier and I would not have had to post this question
> here....

Actually I do not understand your question: since you mention that you modify values from within Java by doing various conversions to column data why can't you ensure proper "constraints" in your Java code? Or is there any other piece that changes the data? What exactly is your legacy application doing with the data? Tons of open questions...

        robert Received on Sat Mar 17 2007 - 17:30:46 CDT