After much thought, I think I have figured out what I am going to do. I am
going to create on the first page, a place to add the hardware type, and
that will add a row to the database, and create the key I need. It will then
go to another page where I can enter the information, and I will have the
key to be able to do the volume stuff that I want. So I would have a
dropdown menu to select the type of hardware and and add hardware button
only.
This would also allow me to make this front end more customizable. For
instance if I have a drop down that contains workstation, server, printer,
etc. I could write the code so that when workstation is selected, and I hit
add, it brings up the page to enter workstation information. If I select
printer, then I can enter printer information. If later I decide to add
other items, even if they aren't computer related, I could with ease.
If anyone see a problem with this idea, let me know. I think this would
work, but I haven't started coding yet.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alberto Serra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: [PHP] Advice needed
> Привет!
>
> Mike Tuller wrote:
> > So I would have the progressive key inside the addvolume window? Can you
> > explain how to go about doing this?
>
> How you organize your HTML output should *never* interfere with the way
> you organize your data, they are two different things and must be kept
> well separated. In a perfect world design, process flow and datamodeling
> should be free to evolve without stepping into each other's way. It's
> obviously impossible to fully meet this condition in the real world, but
> one should always try and get as close to it as he can.
>
> Just do this:
>
> Think of your data as a temporary table, in which you have two keys:
> 1) the real key, whenever available (will be blank on the stuff you
> haven't written in the database yet)
> 2) a progressive key, assigned by your php scripts by some means
>
> You just have the two keys constantly in your forms as hidden fields, so
> that at process time you can still tell which is which when it comes to
> relations, even if you do not have an already established relation
> system (which is the case on new data).
>
> So:
> you load your hdw components, they all have a db id already, so your
> dataset will look like this:
>
> 1) hdw 1, its real id, your own internal key (say 1), rest of the data
> 2) hdw 2, its real id, your own internal key (say 2), rest of the data
> ...
>
> you add a new component and save the result on a temporary table, now
> your temporary dataset is:
>
> 1) hdw 1, its real id, your own internal key (say 1), rest of the data
> 2) hdw 2, its real id, your own internal key (say 2), rest of the data
> 3) hdw new, no real id, your own internal key (say 3), rest of the data
> ...
>
> You add a new volume and stock the data on a second temporary table,
> which contains:
>
> 1) vol 1, no real id, your own hdw internal key (should be 3 since you
> are adding to the last new hdw), your own internal volume id (say 1),
> rest of the data
>
> You can repeat this step all over as much as you want (like fully
> building up a number of new disks, volumes or whatever), and have it as
> multilayered as you want (it will just take as many temporary tables as
> are the real tables involved).
>
> Once your user finally reviews his/her data (say you entered a totally
> new system, reviewed it and felt satisfied with it) he will have a
> "fire" button somewhere.
>
> At this point your final script just takes the data off the temporary
> tables and uses them to build the real thing.
>
> Notice that this way you also sort of implemented a transaction. Not a
> real one, since it will not protect you if your final script fails at
> runtime. Yet you can be sure no unconsistent data from unterminated
> sessions will ever enter your stable datamodel, and that's were 99.99%
> of the risk would come from.
>
> Пока
> Альберто
> Киев
>
>
> @-_=}{=_-@-_=}{=_-@-_=}{=_-@-_=}{=_-@-_=}{=_-@-_=}{=_-@-_=}{=_-@
>
> LoRd, CaN yOu HeAr Me, LiKe I'm HeArInG yOu?
> lOrD i'M sHiNiNg...
> YoU kNoW I AlMoSt LoSt My MiNd, BuT nOw I'm HoMe AnD fReE
> tHe TeSt, YeS iT iS
> ThE tEsT, yEs It Is
> tHe TeSt, YeS iT iS
> ThE tEsT, yEs It Is.......
>
>
> --
> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>
>
--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
