Database table "triangle"... allowed or not

From: Trooper <andrew_zx5_at_NOSPAMyahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 01:51:04 GMT
Message-ID: <cKLja.649978$Yo4.49819484@news1.calgary.shaw.ca>

Hello group,

I'm setting up a little database to allow multiple users to track their online auctions.

One of my requirements is that each user be able to create their own "groups" to classify their auctions.

My problem is that one way of planning this creates a "triangle". Here are the tables (in brief) as an example so you can see the relations

user
===

user_id PK
email

auction

---

auction_id PK
user_id FK
auction_group_id

auction_group

---

auction_group_id PK

user_id                 FK

description

What you can see is that both auction tables are related to the user table, and the two auction tables are related.

This seems somehow wrong, but I am unclear as to how I go about fixing this. Actually I do have an idea... perhaps the right idea so what do you think about this:

user
===

user_id PK
email

auction_group

---

auction_group_id PK

user_id                 FK
auction_id            FK

description

auction

---

auction_id PK
auction_group_id

In this way, I can relate the auction to the user through the auction_group. Seems reasonable...

Well, I'd appreciate any comments on this. Thanks,
Trooper

05-April-2003

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Received on Sat Apr 05 2003 - 19:51:04 CST