Data Modeling Help - Do I add another table, change existing table's usage, or something else?
- by StackOverflowNewbie
Assume I have the following tables and relationships:
Person
- Id (PK)
- Name
A Person can have 0 or more pets:
Pet
- Id (PK)
- PersonId (FK)
- Name
A person can have 0 or more attributes (e.g. age, height, weight):
PersonAttribute
_ Id (PK)
- PersonId (FK)
- Name
- Value
PROBLEM: I need to represent pet attributes, too. As it turns out, these pet attributes are, in most cases, identical to the attributes of a person (e.g. a pet can have an age, height, and weight too). How do I represent pet attributes?
Do I create a PetAttribute table?
PetAttribute
Id (PK)
PetId (FK)
Name
Value
Do I change PersonAttribute to GenericAttribute and have 2 foreign keys in it - one connecting to Person, the other connecting to Pet?
GenericAttribute
Id (PK)
PersonId (FK)
PetId (FK)
Name
Value
NOTE: if PersonId is set, then PetId is not set. If PetId is set, PersonId is not set.
Do something else?
