use Perl

• re-Normalize (Score:1)

  by n1vux (1492)

  I think you've overnormalized. You don't need task_start, task_finish, task_cancel junction tables. You've just traded trying to enforce UserID NOT NULL IF Status NOT NULL for enforcing that a task appears at most once in the UNION of the three task_{start,finish,cancel} tables, which will be even more awkward to code in your data dictionary (1=COUNT(*) FROM UNION...)

  You need just one task_status table that has NOT NULL FKs to TaskID and UserID, plus a State enumerated type and an autoinsert date timesta

  --
  Bill
  # I had a sig when sigs were cool
  use Sig;
  • Re:re-Normalize (Score:2)

    by dws (341) on 2006.07.03 14:18 (#48521) Homepage Journal

    Bill pointed you in the same direction I was going to. Statuses accumulate over time, and you're typically only interested in the most recent one, unless you're rolling back time for audit purposes. But if you're stepping into an area where auditing might be a concern, you have to start paying attention to the distinction between "actual" time and "record" time (a distinction that can tie your brain in little knots when you try to think through queries). Martin Fowler has a decent intro to the issues [martinfowler.com].

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