I would use the two digit state code as the primary key field on the state
table, and store it in the state field in the friends table. No point in
using an aribitrary number for the id in a table where you already have
short unique identifier.
At 01:25 PM 7/20/01 -0500, you wrote:
>hi all, it's me again, hehehe :). well, i've come across many moments where
>i wonder whether i should use an ID, or the actual information. here's an
>example. I have two tables, one called STATELIST, and one called Friends.
>The statelist table contains the state abbreviations along with an autoid.
>The friends table just contain a name field, and (this is where i dunno what
>to do) a state_id field.
>
>in the front end, a friend enters his name, and selects the states he lives
>in from a droplist (populated from the statlist table). What I am wondering
>is, should i use the state's id, instead of actual text? when do i use it,
>and when dont i use it? my initial reason of using an id was that it would
>search faster since it is an integer and not regular text. but i do come
>across times like these and dont know whether to use text or id. i mean what
>if one state secedes?? i will have to delete the state from the table, and
>the state ids that my friend have would have no state to reference to. But,
>if i use text instead, the information is still there.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at
http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
