Your link approach is fine (and I consider it preferable).
Assume you suddenly start selling ties. With the Link_type approach, you simply need
to create a new link type and you're ready to roll. Much simpler than needing to
create a new table/relationship.
Also, suppose you're asked: Show me everything that bob purchased. Easier to do a
single join then to have to join against all the different tables.
Ray
At 1:16 PM -0500 2/21/01, Clarence Kwei wrote:
>I have a relational DB question. I'll preface this and say I've had no
>formal training in DB's only on-the-job knowledge. I've been trying out some
>CASE tools and have discovered the following:
>...
>Is there anything wrong with using this one table instead of four tables to
>implement these relationships? Obviously, if "PANTS" becomes "TROUSERS" I'll
>have to do a replace, but as far as relational DB's go, is there anything
>wrong with have a relationship based on two keys and a char field.
>
>Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.
>
>--
>
>Clarence Kwei
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>ScienCentral, Inc.
>(212) 244-9577 ext. 118
--
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Raymond Cote, President Appropriate Solutions, Inc.
www.AppropriateSolutions.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
603.924.6079(v) POB 458, Peterborough, NH 03458 603.924.8668(f)
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