Re: Why not many2one with pk array type

> Why do that? Automated mapping of GUI components to
> schema is easier when the schema is tree-like....where
> a program can start at the top of a structure and follow
> downward links to all the related data.

• Object-Relational impedance mismatch. Which is mostly about the defects of current products and technologies rather than theoretical constraints.

I disagree. Relational design is inescapably subjective. Normalization rules are not rules, they are guidelines. No two programmers model the same complex data problem the same way. Powerbuilder has been trying to automate the bindings between GUI and relational schema for thousands of programmer years. To automate more than they have already is impossible.

Hierarchical databases have other problems, but GUI mapping is not among them. A program can read a hierarchy and then generate a matching data entry form that works, without intervention by a programmer. Same for data query.

That is now and never will be possible with relational systems. That's not product constraint, it's a theoretical one, due to the unpredictable
and subject nature of relational design. Received on Sun Jan 29 2006 - 22:14:23 CET