How to properly design a simple favorites and blocked table?

Posted by Nils Riedemann on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Nils Riedemann
Published on 2010-03-27T17:25:43Z Indexed on 2010/03/27 17:33 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 164

Filed under:

mysql

|

database-design

|

ruby-on-rails

Hey,

i am currently writing a webapp in rails where users can mark items as favorites and also block them. I came up two ways and wondered which one is more common/better way.

1. Separate join tables

Would it be wise to have 2 tables for this? Like:

users_favorites
  - user_id
  - item_id

users_blocked
  - user_id
  - item_id

2. single table

users_marks (or so)
  - users_id
  - item_id
  - type (["fav", "blk"])

Both ways seem to have advantages. Which one would you use and why?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about mysql

How to remove MySQL completely with config and library files on ubuntu 12.04 gnome 3.0

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I tried everything till now: sudo apt-get remove mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common sudo apt-get purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common sudo apt-get autoremove and even more commands... But whenever I am trying to locate mysql. I get a no. of files related to mysql command: shell>>… >>> More
mysql: Cannot load from mysql.proc. The table is probably corrupted

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Mysql was started: /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/srv/mysql/myDB --log-error=/srv/mysql/logs/mysqld-myDB.log --pid-file=/srv/mysql/pids/mysqld-myDB.pid --user=mysql --socket=/srv/mysql/sockets/mysql-myDB.sock --port=3700 but when I'm trying to do something: ERROR 1548 (HY000) at line 1: Cannot… >>> More
Why is there a /etc/init.d/mysql file on this Slackware machine? How could it have gotten there?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
A client of my IT-consulting service owns a web-development shop. He's been having problems with a Slackware 12.0 server running MySQL 5.0.67. The machine was set up by the client's sysadmin, who left on bad terms. My client no longer employs a sysadmin. As far as I can tell, the only copy of MySQL… >>> More
mysql: Bind on unix socket: Permission denied

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Can't start mysql with: sudo /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/srv/mysql/myDB --log-error=/srv/mysql/logs/mysqld-myDB.log --pid-file=/srv/mysql/pids/mysqld-myDB.pid --user=mysql --socket=/srv/mysql/sockets/mysql-myDB.sock --port=3700 120222 13:40:48 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases… >>> More
MySQL – Learning MySQL Online in 6 Hours – MySQL Fundamentals in 320 Minutes

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
MySQL is one of the most popular database language and I have been recently working with it a lot. Data have no barrier and every database have their own place. I have been working with MySQL for quite a while and just like SQL Server, I often find lots of people asking me if I have a tutorial which… >>> More

Related posts about database-design

(Database Design - products attributes): What is better option for product attribute database design

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I new in database design. What is better option for product attribute database design for cms?(Please suggest other options also). option 1: 1 table products{ id product_name color price attribute_name1 attribute_value1 attribute_name2 attribute_value2 attribute_name3 attribute_value3 } option… >>> More
Book Review: Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation

as seen on SQL Blog - Search for 'SQL Blog'
Investing in proper database design is a very efficient way to cut maintenance costs. If we expect a system to last, we need to make sure it has a good solid foundation - high quality database design. Surely we can and sometimes do cut corners and save on database design to get things done faster… >>> More
Advice on database design / SQL for retrieving data with chronological order

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am creating a database that will help keep track of which employees have been on a certain training course. I would like to get some guidance on the best way to design the database. Specifically, each employee must attend the training course each year and my database needs to keep a history of… >>> More
Fiscal year handling strategies in database design

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
By fiscal year I mean all the data in the database (in all tables) that occurred in the particular year. Lets say that we are building an application that allows user to choose from different years. What way of implementing this would you prefer, and why: Separate fiscal year data based on multiple… >>> More
Database design for summarized data

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a new table I'm going to add to a bunch of other summarized data, basically to take some of the load off by calculating weekly avgs. My question is whether I would be better off with one model over the other. One model with days of the week as a column with an additional column for price… >>> More