How to store bullet-form descriptions in table ?

[alvinz_c]

Assume that if i have a product called Jacket that has the following descriptions, which written in bullet form

• 600 Denier Carbolex® coated 1000mm Polyurethane
• Anatomically fitted for the riding position
• Ballistic nylon in protective areas
• FS Rainguard® 100% waterproof/breathable jet-liner
• Polyester mesh non-allergenic liner
• Removable CE armour equipped in the hips and knees
• Padding at knees, shin, hips and kidney area
• Removable zip-out satin quilted liner
• Reflective Phoslite®
• Stretch in the knees
• Gusseted with Velcro front zip closure
• Velcro adjustable waist
• 2 front pockets
• Storm flap system


How am i going to store in the Products table ? But not all products have these descriptions, other products may have no description at all.... If I store them in a text/memo DESCRIPTION field, then , I do not know how to format them into bullet form...


I would appreciate anyone knows the solution for me... Thanks in advance !

[r937]

store it as xhtml

<ul>
<li>600 Denier Carbolex&reg; coated 1000mm Polyurethane</li>
<li>Anatomically fitted for the riding position</li>
<li>Ballistic nylon in protective areas</li>
<li>FS Rainguard&reg; 100% waterproof/breathable jet-liner</li>
<li>Polyester mesh non-allergenic liner</li>
<li>Removable CE armour equipped in the hips and knees</li>
<li>Padding at knees, shin, hips and kidney area</li>
<li>Removable zip-out satin quilted liner</li>
<li>Reflective Phoslite&reg;</li>
<li>Stretch in the knees</li>
<li>Gusseted with Velcro front zip closure</li>
<li>Velcro adjustable waist</li>
<li>2 front pockets</li>
<li>Storm flap system</li>
</ul>

[alvinz_c]

store it as xhtml

<ul>
<li>600 Denier Carbolex&reg; coated 1000mm Polyurethane</li>
<li>Anatomically fitted for the riding position</li>
<li>Ballistic nylon in protective areas</li>
<li>FS Rainguard&reg; 100% waterproof/breathable jet-liner</li>
<li>Polyester mesh non-allergenic liner</li>
<li>Removable CE armour equipped in the hips and knees</li>
<li>Padding at knees, shin, hips and kidney area</li>
<li>Removable zip-out satin quilted liner</li>
<li>Reflective Phoslite&reg;</li>
<li>Stretch in the knees</li>
<li>Gusseted with Velcro front zip closure</li>
<li>Velcro adjustable waist</li>
<li>2 front pockets</li>
<li>Storm flap system</li>
</ul>

I do know use the <ul><li> tags , but the question how am i going to store these data into the database...

[r937]

if you are not storing xhtml tags, but instead storing some kind of character encoding to represent the bullets, then you will not be able to send the output to any platform that doesn't have the same character encoding

do yourself a favour, at least consider storing xhtml

[alvinz_c]

if you are not storing xhtml tags, but instead storing some kind of character encoding to represent the bullets, then you will not be able to send the output to any platform that doesn't have the same character encoding

do yourself a favour, at least consider storing xhtml

Your advice is right... different platforms has different encoding schemes...Seem using database isn't working well. I currently store them in the xml file like this :



<products>
<product name="xxxx" id="123">
<descriptions>
<point>600 Denier Carbolex&reg; coated 1000mm Polyurethane</point>
<point>Removable CE armour equipped in the hips and knees</point>
<point>Ballistic nylon in protective areas</point>
<point>Stretch in the knees</point>
<point>Velcro adjustable waist</point>
<point>Storm flap system</point>
</descriptions>
</product>
</products>

and use the XsltArgumentList + ASP.NET to get the particular product descriptions..

[r937]

well, then, you obviously don't need a database at all, right?

[alvinz_c]

well, then, you obviously don't need a database at all, right?

I use DB for storing the brands, categories, and models records...AND product common attributes (eg. code, name, price, imagePath)

and use the XML to store the specific attributes of every products.

Do you think can this way be ?

[r937]

okay, i have a good idea

why don't you store the xml in the database

[alvinz_c]

okay, i have a good idea

why don't you store the xml in the database

store the xml in the database ? How ? Any example?

[r937]

insert into Products
( ProductName
, UnitPrice
, ImagePath
, ImageZoomPath
, Descriptions
, ModelID
)
values
( 'xxxx'
, 9.37
, '/images/xxxx.jpg'
, '/images/zoomxxxx.jpg'
, '<descriptions>
<point>600 Denier Carbolex&reg; coated 1000mm Polyurethane</point>
<point>Removable CE armour equipped in the hips and knees</point>
<point>Ballistic nylon in protective areas</point>
<point>Stretch in the knees</point>
<point>Velcro adjustable waist</point>
<point>Storm flap system</point>
</descriptions>'
, 'xxxx-a-matic'
)

[alvinz_c]

insert into Products
( ProductName
, UnitPrice
, ImagePath
, ImageZoomPath
, Descriptions
, ModelID
)
values
( 'xxxx'
, 9.37
, '/images/xxxx.jpg'
, '/images/zoomxxxx.jpg'
, '<descriptions>
<point>600 Denier Carbolex&reg; coated 1000mm Polyurethane</point>
<point>Removable CE armour equipped in the hips and knees</point>
<point>Ballistic nylon in protective areas</point>
<point>Stretch in the knees</point>
<point>Velcro adjustable waist</point>
<point>Storm flap system</point>
</descriptions>'
, 'xxxx-a-matic'
)

I get your meaning... but considering is every model has their display formats. (Eg. descriptions of monitor products displayed in bullet form, mouse's displayed in Header-Description form like

- 600 Denier Carbolex&reg; coated 1000mm Polyurethane
- Storm flap system
- Velcro adjustable waist


Code
O1234

Name
Optical Lansing Mouse

Shape
XXXX

Type
XXXX


Then, how do i format them according when i retrieve the xml data from the database ? Use the XSLT? or using templated asp.net data web control there?

[r937]

well, if it was me, i would store it as xhtml

that way you don't have to do anything else but include it on your web page

[MattR]

If I'm reading this right, this is sort of a 1NF violation (repeating group).

Couldn't you just create some sort of description table that you JOIN to, then in your application you determine how to display the rows.