tempory database or....?

knickerlas

Hi all
I want to add content to a database but not have that data 'live' (available to other processes) untill I say so.

Or put another way, I need to be able to edit data or input data without fear of it showing up as 'the latest article' untill I'm happy.

I know I can use a temp DB but are there any other common methods?

thanks

Nick

Anon

Set a 'visible' column in your database, and have it default to 0. When you're ready to make it live, set it to 1. Before you show anything, check if that is 0... if it is don't show it but if it's 1, show it.

daarius

just create another table which is used only for your admin purposes. and if everything is ok, then just transfer the data to the live table.

the live data should have a field which says e.g. IS_ONLINE and if the value is Y then its live else if its N then its not available for public use.

when a data is displayed for the user from the live table, it should always check with the table which contains all records which are not available for users. e.g. in that table you just need the ID of the record. and if the id exists in that 'check' table, then the data can not be displayed to the user.

knickerlas

Thanks guys that all sounds not only good but embarassingly simple!

My data will not be updated that often (2-3 times a week max it's 'written articles') so I'm favouring the 'double table' approach so far.
Would that seem a good choice from your perspectives?

Cheers

Nick

rrijnders

The "one-table" approach with an "IS_ACTIVE" flag actually sounds simpler. With two tables you will have to create some mechanism for copying the records from one table to the other; either that or copy them manually. With the active flag, you only need to change the querry that retrieves and displays the articles to have "WHERE IS_ACTIVE = 'Y'" at the end.

Just my $.02

-- Rich Rijnders
-- Irvine, CA US

daarius

yes, the single table is the best one.

but Nick can also use the 'other' double table suggestion i made. let me explain bit more:

ARTICLES

ID | HEADING | TEXT
---|---------|-----
01 | Test hd | This is text

LOCKED

ID | OBJ_ID | OBJ_TABLE
---|--------|----------
01 | 000001 | ARTICLES

so now, when the article is viewed by the user, the script will check whether the called record is not in LOCKED table. if it is e.g. in above example, record 1 is in locked table, then the retrieving the data from ARTICLES table is not allowed. if the article id requested doesnt exist in LOCKED, then everything is fine!.

knickerlas

Okay I'm convinced, I'll go with the is_active approach, the reason I was going the other route was it struck me as inefficient to have a clause in the WHERE statement every query when it would only result in is_active=N once or twice a week.
I guess as an enum field it wont be such a problem and the convenience outweighs the inefficieny.
Thanks for all the help guys.

Nick