Hi all,

I'm having that feeling like I'm trying to lay an egg. I've finally migrated into LinksSQL land and it's really very exciting all of the possibilites.

I have a few questions that I hope someone can take a stab at.

I'm in the process of adding additional "descriptors" for my links that I as admin can select when adding a link. For example:

CONTENT TYPE:
video
pdf
ppt
website

VERTICAL INDUSTRY:
financial
service provider
healthcare
auto
insurance

Right now I've added them to the links table with simle prepopulated dropdown menus. Unfortuately I'm beginning to think this may be a bit clunky.

My questions are the following:

1. Does it make sense to put these descriptors into their own tables? They may change over time. If yes, any advice on implementing would be great.

2. If they are put in their own tables, how hard is it to (read: how do I) make it so that when the admin is adding a link, the descriptors automatically show up in the admin form as a select box or multi check box?

3. Will the descriptor tables be "searchable"? DO I need to modify anything in search.cgi to make it so? How about with a customized querystring?

I really want to balance a well designed database without getting into modification hell.

Any thoughts are really appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

Hi

1. from a database design point of view it might make sense, but it's not easy (read: difficult) to implement. If you only want to add a few fields, then I would not make separate tables.

2. again, it's doable, but difficult. It's not currently possible in the "Browser".

3. if the data is in the links table, search works well automatically. If the data is in separate tables, you will run into difficulties with the search.

Hope that helps a bit.

Ivan
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Iyengar Yoga Resources / GT Plugins

Ivan,

You have tipped my balance.

Much thanks,
Michael