Re: File System Data Model

From: Tim X <timx_at_spamto.devnul.com>
Date: 25 Mar 2003 18:45:55 +1100
Message-ID: <871y0v7uto.fsf_at_tiger.rapttech.com.au>

>>>>> "Peter" == Peter <junk_at_wendler.org> writes:

 Peter> I am attempting to create a db schema which would allow me to
 Peter> replicate a file system, i.e., locations of files within
 Peter> folders and folders within other folders. If anyone has an
 Peter> elegant solution, or can point me to a whitepaper on the
 Peter> subject, I would be very grateful.

 Peter> One of the areas with which I am having some difficulty is the
 Peter> creation of a complete path for a file which includes all of
 Peter> its parent folders back to the root share point or drive
 Peter> letter. Since there are n number of folders between the root
 Peter> and the file, it would seem that some kind of recursion would
 Peter> be needed to assemble the path.  An alternative would be to
 Peter> de-normalize the data by maintaining a many-to-many
 Peter> relatoinship between each file or folder and all of its
 Peter> parents. This obviously creates some problems maintaining

 Peter> integrity, as after any folder is moved, all of its children  Peter> and children's children must be updated.

 Peter> Thanks in advance for any help.

Have a search around Oracle's web sites and google for IFS. From Oracle 8i onwards, they have been shipping a product which they call Internet file System, which essentially does what you are talking about. In essence, you can map the database as another drive and create files on that drive when in reality they are being managed/stored in a database.

I've not looked at it closely and don't know about how it handles sub directories etc. Oracle often rleases white papers etc on this sort of stuff, so you might be lucky.

Tim

-- 
Tim Cross
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Received on Tue Mar 25 2003 - 08:45:55 CET