RE: [Websyntax-core] Database structure query

[Hans L. <ha...@ve...>]

Hi Adrian,

The decision of how to setup your database really depends on the kinds =
of
questions (queries) that you plan to ask.  I would lean toward a more
generic approach -- i.e. Person, Organization, Place -- because you can
always add attributes to set apart one type of person (or org, place) =
from
another.  Having generic datatypes makes it very easy to answer very =
broad
questions like "how many people are associated with a particular place?"
instead of having to ask several question ("how many DJs?", "How many
Producers?", etc.) and then adding up the answers.

And, of course, even if these are all the same datatype, the filtering =
stuff
in Syntax makes it very easy to write queries that will only return the =
DJs
in the db.

This is assuming, though, that all types of Person object share roughly =
the
same fields.  If a DJ record looks completely different from a Producer
record, then you may want to make these separate datatypes.

Another way to attack the problem is to think about how your =
relationships
will be structured.  Does it make sense to think of your Person<->Org
relationship at a high level (i.e. could any type of person be related =
to
any type of organization)?  If so, then you probably want to keep these
datatypes generic.  If not -- i.e. if only DJs can be related to Pubs --
then you may want more specific datatypes (so that, for example, only =
DJs
would be displayed in the picklist relating people and pubs).

Hope that helps a bit.  Someone else may have some more up-to-date
suggestions on Syntax use, as it's been awhile since I've worked in that
paradigm.

Cheers,
Hans


|=20
| -----Original Message-----
| From: web...@li...=20
| [mailto:web...@li...] On Behalf=20
| Of Adrian Columb
| Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 1:46 PM
| To: web...@li...
|=20
| Hi Syntax team,
|=20
| I am still unsure about how to set up datatypes for our=20
| Syntax site and would appreciate some assistance -
|=20
| Should I create generic datatypes like 'Person',=20
| 'Organisation', and 'Place', and then categorise individual=20
| records under 'Person Types', 'Organisation Types', and=20
| 'Place Types' picklists?
|=20
| Or should I create more specific datatypes such as 'DJ',=20
| 'Producer', 'Remixer' (types of People), 'Promotion Company',=20
| 'Record Label', 'Talent Agency' (types of Organisations), and=20
| 'Nightclub Venue', 'Bar/Pub', 'Outdoor Venue' (types of Places)?
|=20
| Hope someone can help clarify this for me.
|=20
| Regards,
|=20
| Adrian
|=20
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