Re: [WEB400] Row / Record Versioning Design

Hi Paul,

since we have to deal with validity everyday we developed this structure:

Each row has an ID and we store the ID in others tables so we have direct
and stable links. This is the core of the concept.
Each row has two dates (can be timestamps if you prefer): initial and final
validity, both of them nullable. Initial date NULL means open period
(downward). Final date NULL means open period (upward) and marks CURRENT
period.

We use a trigger BEFORE with ACTGROUP(*NEW) to monitor invalid updates /
writes. Valid means no overlapping, adjacent, only 1 null allowed in a
collumn and so on.

HTH

--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco

2015-01-16 15:09 GMT+01:00 Charles Wilt <charles.wilt@xxxxxxxxx>:

[question posted in WEB400]
What's you're talking about is a "temporal database"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_database

Joe Celko has some good discussions online and in his books around them.

Charles



On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 8:51 PM, Holm, Paul <pholm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Hi,

Looking for design ideas or experience with the following.

We are creating a DB to hold equipment where each record holds a
description of equipment. They want to have the ability to have 1 to

many

"versions" of the record. For example, if a device firmware or
configuration is updated, they want to maintain the old record.

I'm thinking I can accomplish all this by simply adding a "Version"

column

to the database. Version could have values such as "1.0", "1.2", or
*CURRENT if it's the latest. When a new version is needed, we simply

copy

the record and update the VERSION field.

Feedback with this approach?

Thanks in advance, Paul
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