Re: Table Design

Depends. If you are going to be process-intensive then you might be better to simplify the active bit at the cost of making the tables more complex. Say by making one table including all the various data items you need for everything and a data-type item.

There really is no simple answer to this one - it depends on your specific situation.

On Thu, 13 Apr 2000 20:02:15 -1000, "ciari" <ciari_at_hotmail.com> wrote:

>Aloha,
>
>We're redesigning our store database and have hit a snag. We wanted to
>capture our process of buying things, but we buy different 'types' of items:
>books, food, music. We would like to capture specific information based on
>each type: number of pages in a book, volume of food, or lenght of playing
>time on CD. However, we couldn't(or shouldn't?) capture that on one table.
>Would it be better to define a table for each type?
>
>Buy(TransNo,BuyID, VendorID, Date, Qty, Cost, AccountNo)
>
>Book(BuyID, Title, Author, DatePublished)
>
>Food(BuyID, Name, FoodType, Volume)
>
>Music(BuyID, Title, Musician, Minutes, Copyright)
>
>I'd have to pull 3 queries to find each type bought under a certain TransNo.
>Is this right?
>
>Appreciate any professional help. Already have homemade Prozac.
>
>Thanks,
>Ciari
>
>
>
 

-- 
Mark A Preston BSc, FIAP
The Magpie's Nest
mark_at_mpreston.demon.co.uk