Multi-dimensional arrays :-) You could store the description and the return value
There are several drawbacks 1. All clients reading in would have to be able to work with DOM objects 2. Overhead, converting a comma-separated list to an array is much faster Ben Johansen - http://www.pcforge.com Authorized Witango & MDaemon Reseller Available for Witango Developement -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Lockwood [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 8:00 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Witango-Talk: Dom object stored in DB column > 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 ________________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf
