Data in Columns vs Rows - SQL Server Forums

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Data in Columns vs Rows

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jk295
Starting Member

1 Post

Posted - 2007-05-22 : 16:14:11

Which of these is better if you don't know how many fields you may have?(ie a User may add via a web page?)
Which is better if you do know how many fields you will have?
What about Data Types in #2



#1
ID     Field1     Field2     Field3    Field4
1      Test       11         1.34      1/1/2007

#2
ID    FieldName    Value
1     Field1       Test
1     Field2       11
1     Field3       1.34
1     Field4       1/1/2007

dinakar
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

2507 Posts

Posted - 2007-05-22 : 16:21:35

Well, you'd have the problems of datatype either way. If your user can add fields, let him/her also choose the datatype. Not sure what you are actually trying to do. So we can just make guesses on #1 or #2, without knowing what actually is happening.

Dinakar Nethi
SQL Server MVP
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Life is short. Enjoy it.
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http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/dinakar/

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