Here's my problem with the #4 approach, although granted it is the most referentially correct and probably the most space efficient. The problem is: you're on an edit form for the person, and there is no comment yet in the table for this person. You have a spot on the form for the comment, and the user thinks he can just tab or enter thru the form fields and go right into the comment field and start typing. But he can't because the comment isn't there. So you have to add the row first.
What is the best way of doing this? You can cheat by adding a blank row before you bring the form up, and deleting the row after you exit if they don't enter, but this fills up the table needlessly. Do you put some kind of automatic insert using an eep if they leave the first table? Again, have to insert and possibly delete.... That's the only reason I usually don't use this type of structure myself. Karen > Bob, > > > > Your options are: > > > > 1) Include a TEXT datatype on every row. This eats up a lot of > space without need. > > 2) Include a NOTE datatype on every row. This is less demanding of > space, but carries the issue of the relocation of rows when the note grows > beyond a certain point. > > 3) Include a VARCHAR datatype on every row. This is less demanding > of space in file 2, and avoids the row relocation issue with NOTE types, > but will consume space in file 4 for every row. > > 4) The linked table with the datatype of your choice. > > > > Personally, I’d opt for 4. We use that approach for comments on a bill > of lading, for example, with great success. You only take up space when you > require, and you can use whatever datatype you wish. > > > >
