From: Tim Uckun <timuckun@...>
Date: 2006-06-07T10:13:30+09:00
Subject: Two questions about data structures.

I am building an application and would like the groups advice on the
following two scenarios.

1) I have a table about an entity and there are a LOT of options about
this entitiy. For example isLeftHanded? isRedHaired? doesLikeRedRoses?
doesHatePolenta? etc.  What is the best way to keep these kinds of
binary information about an entity? Is there any harm in just adding
binary fields? Should I use a large number field and OR all the time
(does limit the number of options per field and makes for messy SQL
though). Should I have a text field with delimited data in it? Should
I join a separate table?

2) related to above: I need to keep other types of prefs that don't
apply to all entitities of a type. For example:
preferedInvoiceFormat, clientURL etc.  The tricky thing is that it
would be nice to have some defaults so that if a preference was not
specified for a client then a global one could be used. It gets even
more tricky when you have something like this.  product, location,
package, client, price.  The idea is that a product will cost
different amounts depending on who is ordering it, where and as a part
of which package.  Again there should be a way to specify defaults
like so  widget, *, *, *,10.00   or *,alabama,*,*,20.00. I the first
example unless otherwise specified all widgets cost 10 dollars. In the
second example unless otherwise specified all products in alabama cost
20 dollars.

Has anybody dealt with data like this and if so how.