Structuring attributed data-fields

Hi there,

I'm working on the database design behind a system that renders the data across many display types and formats and audiences. In an airport, actually.

What we have is a table of flight-related info. Each and (almost) every field of every record, as well as having a datum in it, also has attributes that are specific to that particular field of the record: the audience of the datum (Ops, staff, public), the time the datum was last changed (so that newly-updated data can be rendered in a highlighted style), and maybe others (yet to be identified).

How to structure this data, then? One approach is to double the width of the table by adding an attributes field for every data field. Seems kinda clumsy, though: every such field is identical, and adding a new data field means adding a new attribute field. Another approach is to add an attributes table that is keyed on flight-record id and data-field name. The Boss is wary of mixing data with metadata, though, given that the latter approach uses field names as data in the attributes table. More complex programming, too.

I'd like to know what people think about this. I'd like to know, too, if there are any other approaches that we've missed - maybe even we're misusing the database? Not sure!

Thanks in advance.

Angus Monro. Received on Wed Dec 13 2000 - 23:55:02 CET