Home -> Usenet -> comp.databases.theory -> Lookup Tables, the right way?

Lookup Tables, the right way?

From: Jason Williams <jason_at_monitorsoft.com>
Date: 10 Mar 2006 08:52:13 -0800
Message-ID: <1142009533.207830.114040_at_p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com> 





We are currently debating what the best way to implement lookup tables
in our databases, and we there are two opposing  optinions.



    
  
  1.   If you are defining a database table that requires a lookup table,
then the foreign key between the tow tables should be an integer, and
the lookup table should contain two columns, a sequence number that is
used for the foreign keys, and the actual value. For example :







        Table Cars




        Description     ColorID(fk)



        Ford Escort     1
        Mini Metro      2


        Table Color


        ColorID(fk)     Color


        1       Red
        2       Green






2. If you are defining a database table that requires a lookup table,
then the foreign key between the two tables should be a character
field, and the lookup table should consist of a character field of the
same length.  For example:




        Description     Color(fk)



        Ford Escort     Red
        Mini Metro      Green


        Table Color


        Color(fk)


        Red     
        Green 






I would appreciate your opinions.
Received on Fri Mar 10 2006 - 17:52:13 CET












Original text of this message