CODEWITHSUNDEEP
database-design
Heinz
Heinz

Reputation: 115

Display Order in DB

What's the best way to track display order in a database? I have been using integers (1 being displayed first and something like 5 last) but worry about corrupting the data somehow.

Is there a better way?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 257

Answers (1)

Ronnis
Ronnis

Reputation: 12843

For simple display purposes I usually use a simple integer with increments of 10 if the number is to be manipulated manually. That leaves room for a few adjustments. Or if the number is maintained by code, I go with increments of 1.

When I model something more "important" or busineslike, I usually consider an adjacency list model.

Performance and scalability may be of concern here, because if you use a number in a list of 10,000 items, you may have to lock/update 10,000 rows. Of course, you could always use larger increments and be peeky & sneaky at the cost of more complexity.
The adjacency list does not have this problem, but is more difficult to query on the other hand.

Upvotes: 2

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