Databases
StackOverflow2013
Postsdbo
PO
 

Note that there are some explanatory texts on larger screens.

plurals
  1. PO
    primarykey
    data
    text
    <p>We're on the first stages of development, and we don't have the complete functional specifications for the web application we're developing. Yes, we know, but it's not our fault.</p> <p>So, we're building some parts keeping them pretty simple and straight-forward so we can build on top of that when we have more details on what to build.</p> <p>We have a section for clients, for ads, for users, ... and I wanted to keep things separate because we don't know what's coming in the future. Yes, at the moment we have only a few fields and some basic listings and editing pages, but all that will grow.</p> <p>It's not that I don't want to implement some generic code that we can reuse. It's that we don't know yet what will be the limitations in the near future, and I don't want to write generic code that we'll have to parametrize intensely.</p> <p>For example, Alex built a generic Update method to which you pass an object and it will create an UPDATE SQL statement and execute it. OK, that's cool, but that doesn't work for the Users section of the web app because we store the password encoded. First, it won't encode the password. Second, if you edit a user and don't enter anything on the password and password-confirmation fields, the old password will remain. So, we have a problem with the generic Update method, and as I see it there are two possible solutions:</p> <p>a) Parametrize the Update method so if it is modifying a user, keep the password if the password on the object is blank. And encode the password, of course.</p> <p>b) Override the Update method for the child class.</p> <p>Alex's implementation didn't use inheritance and he used the generic methods in a static class he'd call this way <code>DataAccess::Update($object);</code>. The method takes the table name from the class name as he modified the database to make them match (I prefer "Clients" for the table and "Client" for the class). So, option b is not possible with Alex's implementation.</p> <p>The way I was trying to build it was keeping separate Update methods for each table. Yes, I was repeating myself but, as I said before, we don't have a full specification, so we don't know how it's going to grow. We have an idea, but we don't have the exact details.</p> <p>So, the point here is that I don't want to write generic code until we have a much more detailed specification so we can evaluate what can and what cannot be shared between the parts.</p> <p>Not all sections of the web app work the same and, as JB Nizet said: "If it were the case, it wouldn't be a functional application, but a database management application."</p> <p>And I can tell you for sure this is not a database management application, even though Alex would say "we're just building a database app." Well, maybe, but a database application is not only showing/modifying the tables. And now, views won't solve all problems.</p> <p>Again, as JB Nizet said: "If it were the case, it wouldn't be a functional application, but a database management application."</p> <p>And now I'm repeating myself again, but this time there's no reason for that.</p> <p>Thanks for your time.</p>
    singulars
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. POUse common functions and views for web database applications
      singulars
      1. PTQuestion
    1. PTAnswer
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. USOlav Gausaker
    plurals
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. COWell, as the debate is now public,,, I will have to say that even though your arguments seem reasonable, the fundamental flaw here is that you assume i meant:
      singulars
      1. PO
      1. USalex
    2. CO- for my first effort towards generalization to work perfectly in all unforeseen cases. - never to expect to have to write special code for special cases. I have always maintained that special cases will need some effort, however I believe this to be not greater than would be required even if common functionality where kept separate. IMO the gain of keeping the common code in one place far outweighs that concern.
      singulars
      1. PO
      1. USalex
 

Querying!

 
Guidance
A row detail

Detail views are divided into sections. All the information in the data section comes from columns in the selected row. The other sections display data from other, related rows.

Related data can be related in a to-one or a to-many fashion. Captions of data related in a to-many fashion link to a list view showing a filtered view of the table.

Try moving around until you find a non-empty to-many entry and click on the label to get to one. You can move back to the root by clicking on the database name in the header.

SQuiL has stopped working due to an internal error.

If you are curious you may find further information in the browser console, which is accessible through the devtools (F12).

Reload