Re: Lots of tables in O7

In article <1994May31.075031.190_at_chuck.sycraft.com> scott_at_chuck.sycraft.com writes:
>My group is building a critical application. One option is to use many tables
>for lookup info (carriers, types of things, etc.) all data driven. This is
>best for the tools we use. Result would be 60+ tables of which 20 would have
>fewer than 20 rows (lookup stuff). Option two would be to put all of that
>lookup stuff in one table.
>
>Which is better for Oracle? Any actual experience?
>

I have done both. Oracle does not really care which you do. It will handle both. The real consideration are based on you application tool.

1. If you combine them into a single table, you would do well to create Oracle views which present the base object as separate objects.
2. I would steer clear of combining different data types in one table. For example do not mix dates, character strings and numbers. I would also be concerned, but not as much as differences in length.
3. If you have a single table you may be able to have a single application manage the table; however, if you have someone other than a sophisticated administrator maintaining the values, you will probably need to include validation rules which would most likely be different for each domain and would therefore be a major headache.
4. If you are maintaining the table with batch processes or they are virtually static, #3 may be a non-issue.
5. If you do go with a single table, you will also want a table the contains meta-data about the organization of the lookup table.

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Michael Sallwasser  | Down one path is utter dispair and hopelessness. Down 
Long Beach CA       | the other is total destruction. Let us choose wisely.
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