[thelist] RE: DB question: product attributes

[Rebecca Milot-Bradford]

I would go for a unique product ID for every value
>  combination and keep
>  it in the one table. That would be easy to set up and
>  maintain, less 'logic'
>  at run time, and would allow much easier addition of an out
>  of stock flag.
>  The fact that there are a limited number of products would
>  mean there wasn't
>  much overhead finding the correct record.
>  Sorry it's not an eloquent solution but I tend to think in a
>  linear fashion!

Do you mean something like:
id1 T-shirt, large, green
id2 T-shirt, large, blue

Because if this is what you mean, I HIGHLY recommend against it. Because if
you have a separate product id for each combination, then if someone does a
search for shirts, what they get is a list of all of the combinations. I've
had to work with this system, and it is just ugly.

Best Wishes,
Rebecca Milot-Bradford