Re: Storing properties in a logical way.

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 19:51:44 +0200, Pierre-Frédéric Caillaud
<lists(at)boutiquenumerique(dot)com> wrote:

>> But after looking closely at the list of a possible properties, i found
>> out that some of them depend on others. For example, if item is a
>> PDF document, it can have an index. But a document can also have an
>> index with links. Logically, a properties like 'index with links'
>> don't belong to the verification table - they look like a kind of
>> a composite field - 'index with links' is not a stand-alone property,
>> but it also implies that an item also has an 'index' property.
>> On the other hand, it is impossible to decouple 'index' from
>> 'with links', because the second part won't have any meaning without
>> the first part.
>
> You mean your properties would be better organized as a tree ?
> Or is it even more complicated than that ?

I never thought about that possibility - it is an interesting idea,
and it solves the logical problem (though there is still a need to
ensure that if child property is set, that the user won't be able
to also set a parent property - which is probably implementable by
using triggers).

Though I would prefer, if it is possible, something much simpler,
because there are only about 10 properties and 2 'composite'
properties - it would probably be an overkill to create a tree for
such a small table if a simpler solution exists.

Daniel.