My comments, questions & explanations inserted below mos wrote: > At 09:55 AM 1/6/2009, you wrote: > >> >-----Original Message----- >> >From: c...@l-i-e.com [mailto:c...@l-i-e.com] >> >Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 9:47 AM >> >To: mysql@lists.mysql.com >> >Subject: RE: how to design book db >> > >> > >> >Just theories here: >> > >> > >> > >> >The same book re-issued by another publisher might have a different >> >ISBN. >> > >> > >> > >> >A book with an insert (e.g., CDROM) may have a different ISBN, but be >> >the "same" for some purposes. >> > >> > >> > >> >And mistakes can be made... >> > >> > >> > >> >Ultimately, I suspect that the uniqueness of ISBN to what normal folks >> >call the "same book" is not as clear as one would hope. >> > >> > >> [JS] I'm really glad I was able to eavesdrop on this conversation. I >> had no >> idea the ISBN issue was so murky. >> >> For better or worse, most of "my" publishers don't use ISBNs; many of >> them >> don't even assign product numbers. >> >> I guess the only way around it is to assign your own unique key. > Not only do I have 2 ISBNs for a few books, but there is also the problem of books in foreign languages (French, Italian, German, Spanish) - my boss (my daughter who owns http:// www.ptahhotep.com ) tells me that foreign editions do have different ISBN numbers .... but not to worry, they are diffeerent but they are unique and would not conflict with the US numbers. > BTW, it might be worth while for PJ to look at how Amazon stores its > data. I don't think you can find an easier to use database for > searching on books. It looks like they store 2 ISBN numbers per book. > It also appears they use fulltext indexing on a lot of fields so the > user can search on anything. I'll look at the Amazon stuff. Thanks for the suggestion.
But this is where I get a little bit muddled: I have a problem (probably just understanding how things work) with categories. Since there are many categories (somewhere like 40+), how do I handle that? Would it be best to set up foreign keys for a categories table? But then there is the problem of fulltext indexing... it only works with MyISAM but foregn keys only work with InnoDB? So do I use MyISAM, a categories field, and just use 1 table for books with fulltext indexing on description, title, author, and categories tables? And what about fulltext indexing? Do I really need that? I thought it would be sufficient to search the fields for words or phrases (in the case of categories which often will be like "second intermetiate period"). In effect, what I expect to be doing is to use php to format the pages dynamically using the search functions of MySQL - so the categories would be on a static page with javascript dropdown fields for the different categories which would poinnt to a file that would do the required search and php would then set up the page to display the retrieved info. > > > Also check out http://www.abebooks.com/ > > re: ISBN numbers. If this application is for a used bookstore then > you're going to have to allow books without ISBN's because books from > 40 years ago of course don't have ISBN's. No, this is not for a used bookstore... only for the ptahhotep site which is only a bibliography of books on Ancient Egypt. :-) - so you're right, there are old books in there. PJ > > > Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isbn. > > Mike > > >> > >> >-- >> >MySQL General Mailing List >> >For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql >> >To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql?unsub=jschwa...@the- >> >infoshop.com >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> MySQL General Mailing List >> For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql >> To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql?unsub=mo...@fastmail.fm > > -- Phil Jourdan --- p...@ptahhotep.com http://www.ptahhotep.com http://www.chiccantine.com -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql?unsub=arch...@jab.org
