CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net-mvc-4database-designentity-framework-4nopcommerce
lemunk
lemunk

Reputation: 2636

DB Design, To normalize or not?

Using MS visual studio 2012, Asp.net C# MVC 4, Entity Framework, NopCommerce(cms).

Hi guys I have Database Design Query, its actual confused me, normally I have no problems with DBs.

However since transitioning over to the Code First approach I asked my self this question...

I am Creating a new plugin for my NopCommerce CMS website, This plugin shall be a ImageGallery Plugin.

I would like the Data layer to store an

ID,
Name,
LargeImg
SmallImg,
Urlimg

But I also want to realize the functionality of this Plugin, The user should be able to upload any image and then Associate this image to a section of there choosing, What i mean by this is Img to a blog post, or Img to news post, Img to a product post OR all of the 3.

Now these three examples are the only ones i can think of, but as you have guessed this may change depending on additional content types.

Now Instantly I thought, Easy we simply create a field called.....Type? or ContentType? this field will then store the "type" of image association, whether it is a Blog, news or product item.

At which point i thought of "but what if an image has multiple associations?

To which brings me to the question, in this situation, Should i:

For some reason I'm stuck, I don't normally draw a blank on DB design and implementation.

The code below is my Domain Class in my plugin, i went for number 2 but im not sure to continue down this road.

using Nop.Core;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Hroc.Plugin.Misc.ImageGallery.Domain
{
    public class ImageItem : BaseEntity
    {
        public virtual int ImageID { get; set; }
        public virtual string Name { get; set; }
        public virtual byte[] Largeimg { get; set; }
        public virtual byte[] Smallimg { get; set; }
        public virtual string URLimg { get; set; }
        public virtual string Typeimg { get; set; }
        public virtual int LinkID { get; set; }
    }
}

hopefully you guys can point out the correct way to implement this, thanks!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 328

Answers (1)

D Stanley
D Stanley

Reputation: 152566

With everything there is a trade-off

Benefits of normalization in your case:

  • Extensibility - adding another content type requires no structure/class change
  • Smaller tables (with variable-length data the difference may not be significant)

Drawbacks:

  • Querying - if you need to pull multiple types in one query you'll need to de-normalize.
  • Integrity Overhead - possibility of orphaned data if not managed properly

If I were designing this feature I would go with Option 3 - normalizing the content types has other advantages such as being able to use that table for drop-down lists.

Upvotes: 1

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