Re: how the heck do I model this?

Alan -- By "runtime" I mean the time when some application will query this table, providing a source_id value and n key/value pairs, and needing to get back a site_datatype_id and interval. '

I see your point about the PK possibly not being defined correctly... I think that, in the table I presented above, the PK is actually correct (source id, site_datatype_id, interval and key are the columns), but the problem is the way the information must be used. As I said, at times it will be necessary to get a key value based on source id, site_datatype_id, interval and key -- the relationship works fine in that direction. But it is problematic to go in the other direction: from a source ID and n key/value pairs to a site_datatype_id and interval.

Maybe what this comes down to is something that needs to be handled cleverly in application code -- it may not really be solvable within the data model. If you have any ideas to the contrary, please let me know!

Thanks,
Carol Received on Mon Dec 13 2004 - 14:50:25 CST