Yes and No... What if in 6 months time the client comes back and says I need extra functionality. If you store everything using a some form of delimiter in one field, you are limiting the prospects of expanding the application if it is needed to be.
Never think small, always look at the fact it might get changed down the track and for those of us who have this happen all the time to us know that it happens more than not. So it's up to you, but I would not be a happy chappy if I came across code like that to modify to expand upon. Senior Coldfusion Developer Aegeon Pty. Ltd. www.aegeon.com.au Phone: +613 8676 4223 Mobile: 0404 998 273 -----Original Message----- From: Claude Schneegans [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, 3 September 2006 1:33 PM To: SQL Subject: Re: Database design question >>Scott simply asked if it was better to store a list of values in a database field or put them in a separate table. So the answer depends on the situation. As I said, if users are allowed to create new options, then the standard approach is to be preferred, but in simple some cases like the example I gave, with fixed options, a list in a field is much easier to manage and much more efficient. The is no "always do" nor "never do" solution, it is a question of good sense. -- _______________________________________ REUSE CODE! Use custom tags; See http://www.contentbox.com/claude/customtags/tagstore.cfm (Please send any spam to this address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Thanks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/SQL/message.cfm/messageid:2563 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/SQL/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.6
