Please start any new threads on our new
site at https://forums.sqlteam.com. We've got lots of great SQL Server
experts to answer whatever question you can come up with.
| Author |
Topic |
|
danielhai
Yak Posting Veteran
50 Posts |
 Posted - 2002-07-16 : 17:41:35
|
| Does anyone know of a good resource to learn more about Meta Data along with examples?Thanks in advance. |
|
|
M.E.
Aged Yak Warrior
539 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-16 : 17:51:17
|
http://www.sqlteam.com/SearchResults.asp?SearchTerms=meta+data&SUBMITs1=Searchtry this site  -----------------------Take my advice, I dare ya |
 |
|
|
danielhai
Yak Posting Veteran
50 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-16 : 17:53:25
|
thanks mucho, but I'm wondering if I'm using the right word? The kind of example I'm looking for is the kind of table that holds column and value information, like so:AttribID ContactID Attrib AttribValue---------- ------------- ------------ -----------1 1 FirstName George2 1 LastName Marcus3 1 Address1 12345 Sesame St I want to know what the benefits of it are, and how to update fields like these easily?DanEdited by - danielhai on 07/16/2002 18:16:15 |
|
|
|
M.E.
Aged Yak Warrior
539 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-17 : 12:05:01
|
| I don't believe thats meta data... infact.. I'd probably call holding data like that silly Updating values like that would be on a one row at a time basis (unless theres some funky looking/bizzare run around), you won't be able update 2 attrib values at a time (can't change first name/ last name). I'd recommend you look into normalization and design your tables as create table usertable(fname varchar(40) not null,lname varchar(40) not null,.....)Other problems includes returning data. Lets say you want to select all first names, last names, and their addresses from your table... Just gets complicated fast (I think you need a temp table to do that). What the benfits are... I guess you can hold different information about each 'contactID'.-----------------------Take my advice, I dare ya |
|
|
|
inrsence
Starting Member
48 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-18 : 09:39:34
|
| Well,I think there is some utility to the system that daniel is pursuing actually.. and you mentioned it.If you are trying to represent a diverse set of objects in a system, each with unique properties, it is very difficult to fit that into the rigid form of a normalized table.As proof this is not that crazy, consider that microsoft introduced the sql_variant datatype to allow for the storage of different types of values, without loss of precision, in a single column.Generally, though.. I agree with your concerns on this design. In my attempts to make something like this work, you have to create a view of the data that actually creates a pivot table. Not pretty :)Just some thoughts,Greg |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meta Data Examples