Re: Generalised approach to storing address details

> > I'd say that any data
> > model besides the well-described relational one (not that I'm suggesting
> > another one) would be right to follow the IP, otherwise it is hiding
> > information which seems crazy to me.

IP simply states that a relational db expresses it's content via relationA's tupleB's attributeC's valueD. Thus it would be ideal if db users would utilize only this system to encode all his information. In reality, db users routinely violate this system as in the T_Hierarchy and T_Person examples above. In some cases, db users knowingly violate this system in order to achieve desired goal (ie extreme flexibility to handle known and unknown data structures with minimal impact on schema/code) that is otherwise unachievable with RMDBs. What this points out is that RM's scope, while large, is not unlimited. Once application requirements fall outside its scope, one has to resort to unsystematic methods (ie EAV) to achieve them. If you have a non-EAV solution that meets the OP's requirements, I would like to see it. Received on Sun Dec 10 2006 - 21:10:19 CET