Option B is the better choice. If a change is ever made to the potential feature set, it is far more manageable to be able to manipulate the data as opposed to having the alter the structure of the DB itself. It's logically a one-to-many relationship, so I'd reflect that fully in your schema. Plus, because of the fields that allow polymorphic behavior you'll have the benefit of data independence, in that features could potentially belong to other types of models in the future.
On Jan 25, 1:28 am, Taylor Strait <li...@ruby-forum.com> wrote: > I am trying to decide between two different database architectures for > an application to manage properties. For capturing the property > features, I have two options: a single model/table with all the features > as fields, or a set of joined models - property, feature, feature data. > (see attached ERD diagram) > > OPTION A > Properties > name > address > has_pool > has_doorman > has_etc. (a bunch of values, not all boolean) > > =OR= > > OPTION B > Properties > id > name > address > > Features > id > title > featurable_type (polymorphic, in this case points to "property.id") > data_type > > Feature_Data > id > feature_id > featureable_id (polymorphic, in this case points to "property.id") > > My ingoing assumption is that we do not know all the features that can > be associated with a property, and as time goes by new features will be > requested by users and need to be added. Here is my question: is going > to the hassle of joining two extra models just to make the features a > bit more independent worth the difficulty of implementation versus just > keeping everything in the main property model? > > Let's assume that this application will be scaled to a high level. Are > there any performance issues associated with OPTION B that should be > considered? Is there another way to model this data that makes more > sense? > > Thanks in advance. > > Taylor > > Attachments:http://www.ruby-forum.com/attachment/4417/ERD_sample.png > > -- > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-t...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en.
