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Asked: 2026-05-13T15:45:06+00:00

This is a general database question, not related to any particular database or programming

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This is a general database question, not related to any particular database or programming language.

I’ve done some database work before, but it’s generally just been whatever works. This time I want to plan for the future.

I have one table that stores a list of spare parts. Name, Part Number, Location etc. I also need to store which device(s) they are applicable too.

One way to do is to create a column for each device in my spare parts table. This is how it’s being done in the current database. One concern is if in the future I want to add a new device I have to create a new column, but it makes the programming easier.

My idea is to create a separate Applicability table. It would store the Part ID and Device ID, if a part is applicable to more than one device it would have more than one row.

Parts
-------
ID
Name
Description
Etc...

PartsApplicability
-------
ID
PartID
DeviceID

Devices
------
ID
Name

My questions are whether this is a valid way to do it, would it provide an advantage over the original way, and is there any better ways to do it?

Thanks for any answers.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I agree with Rex M’s answer, this is a standard approach. One thing you could do on the PartsApplicability table is remove the ID column, and make the PartID/DeviceID a composite primary key. This will ensure that your Part cannot be associated to the same Device more than once, and vice-versa.

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