Question

I’ve recently been tasked with improving a records database that consists of the following:

• All records are stored in one giant
  XML file.
• Any changes or updates to
  these records are done by hand within
  this XML file.
• Each record contains
  an ‘Updated’ datetime stamp to keep
  some form of revision control.
• The entire XML file is also checked into
  a subversion repository to keep
  revision control for the entire
  collection.
• This records database is strictly for internal use only and does not face any public interface.

I’m a bit of a newbie to database design, but the above method feels a little cumbersome. I was thinking of moving all of the above to some form of perhaps a SQLite database and building some form of a front end to update/remove/view entries while keeping track of any changes to that DB. Are there better ways to do this or is it pretty standard to have a system like is already in place?

Answer 1

Putting the information into a database is a good solution. Another decent solution is just making each record its own file and using a revision-control system to track the changes to each individual record. This is much more efficient than having one glommed-together file :-).