I'll answer with the same things I did on the Oracle list :)
code description To avoid to have a so great number of similar tables in the db I wonder if it is a good idea to unify all these tables in one big table like this: id code table_ name description The advantages are: 1. only one table in the db instead of 100
That's not an advantage.
2. only one controller to manage the table
Why? You can also have a single controller with many tables. With a single table the controller needs to know the code. With multiple tables the controller needs to know the table name. I don't see any difference there.
Is there any negative point that I don't see?
Yes, you can't prevent storing the "wrong" code in a related table as you cannot have a foreign key to it. Assume you have a list of codes for "order status" and a list of codes for employee status. With two lookup tables (and the proper foreign keys) you can make sure that only a valid employee status is stored in the employee table. With the single table you can't prevent storing a value for "order status" as the employee table. Your design is an anti-pattern which has a name: "one true lookup table". Thomas -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
