Is this database layout flawed?

aditya2071990

Hi everyone,

I am developing a classifieds website using php and mysql and this is my first major project... I designed a layout for the database and the image is attached to this question, just have a look....

This is how the db works...I am telling this so that people will have an easier time understanding the layout:
1.'Listing Table' is the main table. This is the table I am going to depend upon to display and/or categorize my listings...
2. Using Listing ID, I'll be able to track the user info of the person who posted the listing, and the 'Type' of customer he is (Premium, Silver or Free)
3. I'll also be able to track which sub-category it belongs to, and to which category that sub category belongs to.
4. Also will be tracked the price range of the property (this is a real estate classifieds), and the 'Class' (Buying,selling or renting are classes).
5. Is this the right way to do it? Are there flaws in my layout? Please do answer these questions for me, as I dont have a know-it-all boss to guide me thru...I am pretty much on my own, and of course I gratefully depend upon angelic souls like you to help me out....

Please do have a look and tell me what you think about it....thanx...

laserlight

At a glance, it looks okay. I think you should also tell us what are the entities, their attributes, and their relationships. At the moment I can deduce these by looking at the schema, but that means I have to assume that your schema is appropriate, when that is precisely the thing you are worried about 😉

aditya2071990

laserlight wrote:
At a glance, it looks okay. I think you should also tell us what are the entities, their attributes, and their relationships. At the moment I can deduce these by looking at the schema, but that means I have to assume that your schema is appropriate, when that is precisely the thing you are worried about 😉

Thank you soooo much for answering the question. I appreciate the fact that you took time out to actually look at the layout and try to decipher thru my awful drawing skills!🙂

Basically, I am simply following a road map. From the id of the listing, I am taking a relation to each of the other aspects. The relation is put in a separate table.

For example, the user of the listing is tracked by putting the id of the listing and the id of its user in one table and they are made into a primary key.

From the id of the user in this table, all user info can be tracked by simply looking up that id in the userinfo table. Then, there is a relationship whether the user is a 'premium' type, 'silver' type or 'free' type....this is again done in the same way as above....just put both ids together in one table and then track out the info from the related table.

All the rest of the are also doing the same thing... the subcategory to which the ad belongs to, the category to which that subcategory belongs. Then the money-range the ad belongs to and finally, the class (Buying,selling,renting, or leasing) to which the ad belongs to.

I'll add the city/location tables next, in the same way...

By the way, the only tables that are going to keep getting updated by the users are the listing table and the userinfo table...rest of them are going to remain pretty much stationary, as you may have guessed...I'm telling that just for information

Again, thank you very, very much for answering. Now I can breath a sigh of relief and go ahead with developing my first big project!