[Resolved] DB query VS Cookies VS ??

4rxsid

Hi all,

I've got a web page that already makes a MySQL connection to get data for display in the middle of the page. There are 25 rows of data that are extracted and displayed.

I want to be able to have a smaller section to one side of the page, display other information...hyperlinks (perhaps up to 10 max). I'm thinking about storing these links in another table under the respective user that's logged in (therefore making these links personalized, not site standard for everyone).

My concern is that by adding a whole new db query (I realize that I can utilize the same mysql_connection, since the tables would be in the same db) to a different table, this would be a slower solution than that of other ways...such as storing the personalized links in a cookie after doing a one time only query.

Would it be better to get the link data from the db each time the page is loaded (or other pages that would display them as well), or query the db 1x then read the cookie's each time the links need to be displayed. Or is there an even better solution? What about sessions or caching (I know next to nothing about both of those)?

Thanks in advance!

vaaaska

If you can't somehow do it all in only one query then use two. Two will be ok. However, if you try to use three expect the phpGods to not look favorably upon you ever again. 😉

devinemke

if the basic data structure (same fields) would be the same for the general data that everyone sees and the personalized data the just the user should see then i say store it all in one table (with some field that relates to the user). gather the proper credentials from the user (username/password) and do one query that pulls out all of the data you need (both gerneral and personalized). Then stick it all in a session, perhaps separating the general and personalized stuff into two different subarrays of the session array. then as the user moves around the site you can just dip into the session the get everything. read up on sessions here.

nemonoman

The time to do a database query is going to be less than it would take to upload the content of the cookie with each page load...significantly less, in fact, if the user is on dialup, where upstream pipeline is often VERY slow.

My most complicated db queries execute in less than .005 seconds. Average query executes in .00003 seconds. (MySQL on 2.0 ghz linux pentium).

Remember that cookies will upload with each page load. Better to have a very small cookie that sends a database reference than to upload and download cookie data.

Don't be afraid of using the database. Don't be afraid of using multiple queries if needed.

My pages use 30-40 database queries per page load. Total time accessing the database is less than 0.25 seconds.

4rxsid

thanks to all for the reply's!

i will go with the simple db query for my purposes. yeah....sometimes i'm a little hesitant in putting too many queries on a page, but sounds like this is unwarrented concern (to a point of course), at 2 relatively small queries on my page.

thanks again!