Re: Table/Column Definition Question

BEH_at_csd.uwm.edu (Barbara Hiles) wrote:

>Can anyone give me some feel for the best way to define this stuff to Oracle?
>Specifically, I am struggling with the level of detail. For example (1 of
>many) I have a general ledger number of 20. Made up of 8 parts. or 9 if I go
>down to subdept. So do I define one column of 20 char or 8 pieces? What are
>the pros and cons I should be considering to make this decision?
>
>If I use views to 'redefine' the look - then if I use a function in the view
>(to string columns together maybe) then I can't update using the view? Right?

How are existing applications written? Do they expect one field or many? If you're going to be using existing programs for some time then that's ultimately going to end up driving the decision.

Ideally I would break it up into 9 columns. I don't see any benefit to storing it in one. It's going to take up the same amount of storage either way. Either the application has to add a delimiter between columns, or the database adds a length byte internally. Six in one, half dozen in the other. Having separate columns though makes it easier to get at the individual fields.

--
Chuck Hamilton
chuckh_at_dvol.com

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