Re: How do people usually solve this?

For those curious enough to venture out of the SQL realm - PICK will offer exactly what you described... Check out last month's issue of _DBMS MAGAZINE_ there's a good interview with Dick Pick.

Cheers,
Howie  

In article <CJ9Iux.ILz_at_watserv1.uwaterloo.ca>, Bob Truman (truman_at_provost-admin.uwaterloo.ca) writes:
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>The following discussion/question is very interesting. Has anyone considered
>and/or solved a similar issue -- date stamping in tables... For example,
>the name issue could be one of change_on_marriage. If there were some simple
>way to show that the unmarried name was effective from X to Y then a new name
>effective from Y+1 to ??, then the multiple name problem is solved. The issue
>of date stamping can be general. Consider a department code - dept name table,
>for the first n years, the department name is X, then it changes to Y. Reports
>may be required that use the correct name during the appropriate time period.
>
>Any general solutions? Advice?
>
>Bob Truman
>Director, Operations Analysis
>University of Waterloo.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>In article <2ghgba$cqm_at_meaddata.meaddata.com>,
>Lonnie Barnett <lonnie_at_meaddata.com> wrote:
>>In article <2gg40m$i7e_at_canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca>, umyin_at_cc.umanitoba.ca (Qing Yin) writes:
>>|> I'm comparing several solutions of a common problem. Could netters kindly
>>|> contribute some comments, or let us know how your database deals with this
>>|> problem?
>>|>
>>|> We need to store a person's name, date of birth, etc. A person may have
>>|> multiple names (e.g., current name, maiden name, preferred name.)
>>|> Some possible designs are:
>>|>
>>|>
>>|> 2. create table person_table
>>|> ( person_id int, /* primary key */
>>|> birth_date datetime
>>|> )
>>|>
>>|> create table person_name
>>|> ( /* compound primary key: person_id + name_type */
>>|> person_id int, /* foreign key */
>>|> name_type char(10),
>>|> name varchar(30)
>>|> )
>>|>
>>|> ADVANTAGE:
>>|> A normalized design. Great for classroom teaching.
>>|> DISADVANTAGE:
>>|> Not guaranteed that every person in person_table has a name in
>>|> person_name table. We don't want that to happen.
>>|>
>>
>>How about explicitly declaring name NOT NULL. Using the example above this would yeild:
>>
>> create table person_name
>> ( /* compound primary key: person_id + name_type */
>> person_id int NOT NULL, /* foreign key */
>> name_type char(10) NOT NULL,
>> name varchar(30) NOT NULL
>> )
>>
>>This would eliminate the disadvantage since Sybase would require an entry for name (in addition
>>to person_id and name-type)
>>
>>--
>>Lonnie Barnett
>>Mead Data Central (513) 865-1038
>>P. O. Box 933 lonnie_at_meaddata.com
>>Dayton, Ohio 45401 ...!uunet!meaddata!lonnie
>
>
>
Received on Sat Jan 08 1994 - 02:26:22 CET