Path: news.easynews.com!core-easynews!newsfeed1.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!cyclone1.gnilink.net!canoe.uoregon.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: sans11@hotmail.com (san) Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory Subject: Re: Design question Date: 4 May 2003 22:01:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 28 Message-ID: <8e29a54a.0305042101.37d0583e@posting.google.com> References: <8e29a54a.0305032237.8747d64@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 155.69.5.223 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1052110883 12206 127.0.0.1 (5 May 2003 05:01:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 5 May 2003 05:01:23 GMT Xref: core-easynews comp.databases.theory:26166 X-Received-Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 22:00:53 MST (news.easynews.com) 71062.1056@compuserve.com (--CELKO--) wrote in message news:... > >> Is there a better way? Keep in mind that I am required to use an > RDBMS. << > > Given that requirement, you are dead. A better way to handle > documents is to use a textbase or document retrieval product. > > The basic idea of a relational DBMS is that you know all the > attributes of the data model before you load the data into the schema. > You do not "make it up" as you go along. You can kludge something > together, but it will perform so poorily and be so large that it will > be useless in a year. > The thing is that the number of attributes in not very large (unlike a text database where there are several words that need to be indexed - we are not looking for full-text search). And, the system has transactional aspects to it. Regards, Sandeep > Many years ago, I had a consulting job with Southern California > Edison. They were trying to put their Labor Law library on a database > and had originally wanted to use DB2. The law library was contracts, > laws, court decisions, etc. -- all documents, no records. I suggested > a textbase that looked like Lexis or WestLaw on the front end so their > lawyers could use it immediately. I estimated that it saved them > $150,000 the *first* year and at least $50,000 every year thereafter. > Get the right tool for the job.