> As I remember he had a system with questions which had > any number of anwers - since it was unpredictable the > number of possible answers to a question storing the > DOM in a database meant that he didn't need n number > of columns in a table (for each answer)
Although all replies so far have been very thoughtful and meaningful, thank you very much, the above comes closest to dealing with my specific question. I currently accomplish the same result by storing an array in a text column. Like this: "std,sen,,,inc,pre;". I can retrieve the records I want by using "where columnName contains 'inc'" and then convert the value to an array for further manipulation. Is there a benefit to using a DOM for this purpose instead? Chuck Lockwood ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LockData Technologies, Inc. 309 Main Avenue, Hawley, Pa 18428 570-226-7340 ~ Fax: 570-226-7341 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~ www.lockdata.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > -----Original Message----- > From: witango man [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 7:07 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Witango-Talk: Dom object stored in DB column > > > It was Fergal (and maybe Scott too) who demonstrated > this at the conference..... > > As I remember he had a system with questions which had > any number of anwers - since it was unpredictable the > number of possible answers to a question storing the > DOM in a database meant that he didn't need n number > of columns in a table (for each answer) > > - storing it as a DOM - meant the way the data was > stored was very flexible - as in more/less records > more/less attributes for records - this is the biggest > advantage for me... > > he helped me through doing this stuff a few months ago > and now I use it all the time.... > > --- Chuck Lockwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > At the conference, someone demonstrated using a Dom > > stored in a column and > > did a search for records based on an element value. > > What is the > > advantages/disadvantages to using this technique? > > > > Opinions? > > > > Chuck Lockwood > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > LockData Technologies, Inc. > > 309 Main Avenue, Hawley, Pa 18428 > > 570-226-7340 ~ Fax: 570-226-7341 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~ www.lockdata.com > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to > http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search > http://shopping.yahoo.com > ________________________________________________________________________ > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf > ________________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf
