Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote: > Bee Dubya wrote: >> Hello! >> >> New to ruby on rails, so I hope this isn't a stupid question (great way >> to start a post ;)). Basically I'm trying to avoid making a bunch of >> different columns in my db table by having my collection_select >> concatenate the ID value it returns to a single text field (for >> instance, the collection_select will return a footnote ID, and I would >> like to keep it in a job column called footnote) with comma's in between >> because each job has multiple footnotes. > > DO NOT DO THAT. You need two tables with a has_many/belongs_to > relationship. You should never ever put multiple values in one field. > >> >> Is there any way I can accomplish this ? Ideally I would like to put >> comma's in between so I can break it apart in another area of my >> program. > > Don't. Read up on proper database normalization, and do it right. > >> >> Thank you for any help. > > Best, > -- > Marnen Laibow-Koser > http://www.marnen.org > mar...@marnen.org
In connection with this, and at the risk of reviving a dead thread: a big part of database normalisation is atomising your data. This enables you to better acclimate your application to future alterations and more effective database requests. Searching is a good example of this - I am simply reinforcing Marnen's point regarding database normalisation. -- Posted via http://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.
