CODEWITHSUNDEEP
databaseef-code-firstrelational-databasekey-valueentity-attribute-value
duduhayo
duduhayo

Reputation: 95

when to choose eav against flat table, in terms of schema changes?

After reading some posts here, I didn't find a solution to our problem.

our problem is this:

we are at a crossroad whether to use a flat table or eav table, personally, I am against the nonrelational table in a relational database. we have 3 data providers schemas :

  1. will not change much, let's say 3 months a change.
  2. also will not change much, let's say 5 months a change.
  3. a dynamic form builder which will change a lot.

I thought using the eav only for the last provider and for the other to flat them to relational tables.

my big question is when to go with the eav way when taking to consideration: schema changes in terms of the year, month.

btw our database is mssql 2008 r2 and the server side code is c#, entity framework code first.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 341

Answers (1)

Erwin Smout
Erwin Smout

Reputation: 18408

And what are the semantics of those data provided by your three distinct data providers ?

What are the envisaged semantics of the table(s) you are going to populate in your own system ?

How does the former semantics logically map/translate to the latter ?

Whenever noobs start thinking that EAV seems like a solution to a problem, usually the real problem is that they haven't thought through the semantics that come with the data. So my advice is to step back and spend some time considering the semantics -that is, the meaning- of the data.

Upvotes: 3

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