Re: Database Design Issue

Yes, songs do span shows. However, the list of songs for each weeks show starts out as a *.asc (same a *.txt) space-separated file. This gets uploaded via a PHP file that formats each row and inserts it into the database. That's why even though I know there will be duplication it appears (to me at least) I'll just have to live with it. I have no guarentee that the songs will appear in the *exact same way* every time either (you really don't want to know why -- I'm getting a migrain just thinking about it). I've attached an example of the incoming files I have to deal with for your reference. Also, I'm just designing the website I will have no part in the everyday maintenance of the website -- except when the maintainer gets stuck. :) Jason CPT John W. Holmes wrote: >From: "Jason Lange" <jslange@myrealbox.com> > > > >>Here's my question. I'm creating a website for a weekly radio show. One >>of the items I would like to store in the database is the list of songs >>played in each show (there's normally between 20-25 songs per show), and >>the songs will be displayed by show. Should I put all of the songs in a >>single table with a field denoting what show they're from, or should I >>create a separate table for each weeks show and just request that entire >>table? I'm looking at this from both a long-term performance and >>*maintenance* issue. >> >> > >The first question is if songs can span multiple shows? If so, you need 3 >tables. One to hold the songs, each song getting a unique id. One table to >hold the shows, each show getting a unique id, and finally a third table >that relates the two. You'd list the song_id and the show_id that it's used >in. Add in a row for each song used in each show. > >If a song is not shared across shows, then you could go with two tables. A >show table where each show gets a unique id and a song table with a column >that has a show_id in it relating it to what show it's used in. > >You'd be better off with the first method, though, because sooner or later >down the line there's going to be a song shared, I imagine. :) > >---John Holmes... > > > >