Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Please briefly explain why you feel this question should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported.
How would one structure a database where you have City, State, and Country, and Cities sometimes have states and sometimes don’t? Would you simply put State_ID (default NULL) and Country_ID in City or is there a better way to approach it?
Your approach seems spot on. If there is no enforceable hierarchy, then you’re not left with much choice.
When the real world doesn’t conform to our schema, then we’ve got no choice than to make our schema conform to the real world.