Best design to reference multiple tables from single column

database-designsubtypes

Proposed schema

First and foremost, here is an example of my proposed schema to reference throughout my post:

Clothes
---------- 
ClothesID (PK) INT NOT NULL
Name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
Color VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
Price DECIMAL(5,2) NOT NULL
BrandID INT NOT NULL
...

Brand_1
--------
ClothesID (FK/PK) int NOT NULL
ViewingUrl VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
SomeOtherBrand1SpecificAttr VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL

Brand_2
--------
ClothesID (FK/PK) int NOT NULL
PhotoUrl VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
SomeOtherBrand2SpecificAttr VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL

Brand_X
--------
ClothesID (FK/PK) int NOT NULL
SomeOtherBrandXSpecificAttr VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL

Problem statement

I have a clothes table which has columns like name, color, price, brandid and so on to describe the attributes for a particular item of clothing.

Here's my problem: different brands of clothing require differing
information. What is the best practice for dealing with a problem like
this?

Note that for my purposes, it is necessary to find brand-specific information starting FROM a clothes entry. This is because I first display the information from a clothes entry to the user, after which I must use its brand-specific information to purchase the item. In summary, there has to be a directional relationship between clothes (from) and the brand_x tables.

Proposed/current solution

To cope with this, I have thought of the following design scheme:

The clothes table will have a brand column which may have id values ranging from 1 to x, where a particular id corresponds to a brand-specific table. For example, id value 1 will correspond to table brand_1 (which might have a url column), id 2 will correspond to brand_2 (which might have a supplier column), etc.

Thus to associate a particular clothes entry with its brand-specific information, I imagine the logic at the application-level will look something like this:

clothesId = <some value>
brand = query("SELECT brand FROM clothes WHERE id = clothesId")

if (brand == 1) {
    // get brand_1 attributes for given clothesId
} else if (brand == 2) {
    // get brand_2 attributes for given clothesId
} ... etc.

Other comments & thoughts

I'm attempting to normalize my entire database in BCNF, and although this is what I came up with, the resulting application code makes me feel very anxious. There is no way to enforce relations except at the application level, and thus the design feels very hacky and, I anticipate, very error-prone.

Research

I made sure to look through previous entries before making a post. Here's a post with a near-identical problem that I managed to find. I made this post anyway because it seems like the only answer provided does not have a SQL or design-based solution (i.e. it mentions OOP, inheritance, and interfaces).

I'm also kind of a novice when it comes to database design, and so I'd appreciate any insights.

It appears there are more helpful responses on Stack Overflow:

I have referred to the solutions there and suggest others finding my question do so as well.

Despite the above-provided links, I am still on the lookout for responses here and would appreciate any solutions provided!

I am using PostgreSQL.

Best Answer

I personally don't like to use a multi-table schema for this purpose.

  • It's hard to ensure integrity.
  • It's hard to maintain.
  • It's difficult to filter results.

I've set a dbfiddle sample.

My proposed table schema:

CREATE TABLE #Brands
(
BrandId int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
BrandName nvarchar(100) NOT NULL 
);

CREATE TABLE #Clothes
(
ClothesId int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
ClothesName nvarchar(100) NOT NULL 
);

-- Lookup table for known attributes
--
CREATE TABLE #Attributes
(
AttrId int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
AttrName nvarchar(100) NOT NULL 
);

-- holds common propeties, url, price, etc.
--
CREATE TABLE #BrandsClothes
(
BrandId int NOT NULL REFERENCES #Brands(BrandId),
ClothesId int NOT NULL REFERENCES #Clothes(ClothesId),
VievingUrl nvarchar(300) NOT NULL,
Price money NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (BrandId, ClothesId),
INDEX IX_BrandsClothes NONCLUSTERED (ClothesId, BrandId)
);

-- holds specific and unlimited attributes 
--
CREATE TABLE #BCAttributes
(
BrandId int NOT NULL REFERENCES #Brands(BrandId),
ClothesId int NOT NULL REFERENCES #Clothes(ClothesId),
AttrId int NOT NULL REFERENCES #Attributes(AttrId),
AttrValue nvarchar(300) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (BrandId, ClothesId, AttrId),
INDEX IX_BCAttributes NONCLUSTERED (ClothesId, BrandId, AttrId)
);

Let me insert some data:

INSERT INTO #Brands VALUES 
(1, 'Brand1'), (2, 'Brand2');

INSERT INTO #Clothes VALUES 
(1, 'Pants'), (2, 'T-Shirt');

INSERT INTO #Attributes VALUES
(1, 'Color'), (2, 'Size'), (3, 'Shape'), (4, 'Provider'), (0, 'Custom');

INSERT INTO #BrandsClothes VALUES
(1, 1, 'http://mysite.com?B=1&C=1', 123.99),
(1, 2, 'http://mysite.com?B=1&C=2', 110.99),
(2, 1, 'http://mysite.com?B=2&C=1', 75.99),
(2, 2, 'http://mysite.com?B=2&C=2', 85.99);

INSERT INTO #BCAttributes VALUES
(1, 1, 1, 'Blue, Red, White'),
(1, 1, 2, '32, 33, 34'),
(1, 2, 1, 'Pearl, Black widow'),
(1, 2, 2, 'M, L, XL'),
(2, 1, 4, 'Levis, G-Star, Armani'),
(2, 1, 3, 'Slim fit, Regular fit, Custom fit'),
(2, 2, 4, 'G-Star, Armani'),
(2, 2, 3, 'Slim fit, Regular fit'),
(2, 2, 0, '15% Discount');

If you need to fetch common attributes:

SELECT     b.BrandName, c.ClothesName, bc.VievingUrl, bc.Price
FROM       #BrandsClothes bc
INNER JOIN #Brands b
ON         b.BrandId = bc.BrandId
INNER JOIN #Clothes c
ON         c.ClothesId = bc.ClothesId
ORDER BY   bc.BrandId, bc.ClothesId;

BrandName   ClothesName   VievingUrl                  Price
---------   -----------   -------------------------   ------
Brand1      Pants         http://mysite.com?B=1&C=1   123.99
Brand1      T-Shirt       http://mysite.com?B=1&C=2   110.99
Brand2      Pants         http://mysite.com?B=2&C=1    75.99
Brand2      T-Shirt       http://mysite.com?B=2&C=2    85.99

Or you can easily get Clothes by Brand:

Give me all clothes of Brand2

SELECT     c.ClothesName, b.BrandName, a.AttrName, bca.AttrValue
FROM       #BCAttributes bca
INNER JOIN #BrandsClothes bc
ON         bc.BrandId = bca.BrandId
AND        bc.ClothesId = bca.ClothesId
INNER JOIN #Brands b
ON         b.BrandId = bc.BrandId
INNER JOIN #Clothes c
ON         c.ClothesId = bc.ClothesId
INNER JOIN #Attributes a
ON         a.AttrId = bca.AttrId
WHERE      bca.ClothesId = 2
ORDER BY   bca.ClothesId, bca.BrandId, bca.AttrId;

ClothesName   BrandName   AttrName   AttrValue
-----------   ---------   --------   ---------------------
T-Shirt       Brand1      Color      Pearl, Black widow
T-Shirt       Brand1      Size       M, L, XL
T-Shirt       Brand2      Custom     15% Discount
T-Shirt       Brand2      Shape      Slim fit, Regular fit
T-Shirt       Brand2      Provider   G-Star, Armani

But for me, one of the best of this schema is that you can filter by Attibutes:

Give me all Clothes that has the attribute: Size

SELECT     c.ClothesName, b.BrandName, a.AttrName, bca.AttrValue
FROM       #BCAttributes bca
INNER JOIN #BrandsClothes bc
ON         bc.BrandId = bca.BrandId
AND        bc.ClothesId = bca.ClothesId
INNER JOIN #Brands b
ON         b.BrandId = bc.BrandId
INNER JOIN #Clothes c
ON         c.ClothesId = bc.ClothesId
INNER JOIN #Attributes a
ON         a.AttrId = bca.AttrId
WHERE      bca.AttrId = 2
ORDER BY   bca.ClothesId, bca.BrandId, bca.AttrId;

ClothesName   BrandName   AttrName   AttrValue
-----------   ---------   --------   ----------
Pants         Brand1      Size       32, 33, 34
T-Shirt       Brand1      Size       M, L, XL

Using a multi-table schema whatever of the previous queries will require to deal with an unlimited number of tables, or with XML or JSON fields.

Another option with this schema, is that you can define templates, for example, you could add a new table BrandAttrTemplates. Every time you add a new record you can use a trigger or a SP to generate a set of a predefined attributes for this Branch.

I'm sorry, I'd like to extend my explanations by I think it is more clear than my English.

Update

My current answer should works on no matter which RDBMS. According to your comments, if you need to filter attributes values I'd suggest small changes.

As far as MS-Sql doesn't allow arrays, I've set up a new sample mantaining same table schema, but changing AttrValue to an ARRAY field type.

In fact, using POSTGRES, you can take advantatge of this array using a GIN index.

(Let me say that @EvanCarrol has a good knowledge about Postgres, certainly better than me. But let me add my bit.)

CREATE TABLE BCAttributes
(
BrandId int NOT NULL REFERENCES Brands(BrandId),
ClothesId int NOT NULL REFERENCES Clothes(ClothesId),
AttrId int NOT NULL REFERENCES Attrib(AttrId),
AttrValue text[],
PRIMARY KEY (BrandId, ClothesId, AttrId)
);

CREATE INDEX ix_attributes on BCAttributes(ClothesId, BrandId, AttrId);
CREATE INDEX ix_gin_attributes on BCAttributes using GIN (AttrValue);


INSERT INTO BCAttributes VALUES
(1, 1, 1, '{Blue, Red, White}'),
(1, 1, 2, '{32, 33, 34}'),
(1, 2, 1, '{Pearl, Black widow}'),
(1, 2, 2, '{M, L, XL}'),
(2, 1, 4, '{Levis, G-Star, Armani}'),
(2, 1, 3, '{Slim fit, Regular fit, Custom fit}'),
(2, 2, 4, '{G-Star, Armani}'),
(2, 2, 3, '{Slim fit, Regular fit}'),
(2, 2, 0, '{15% Discount}');

Now, you can additionally query using individual attributes values like:

Give me a list of all pants Size:33

AttribId = 2 AND ARRAY['33'] && bca.AttrValue

SELECT     c.ClothesName, b.BrandName, a.AttrName, array_to_string(bca.AttrValue, ', ')
FROM       BCAttributes bca
INNER JOIN BrandsClothes bc
ON         bc.BrandId = bca.BrandId
AND        bc.ClothesId = bca.ClothesId
INNER JOIN Brands b
ON         b.BrandId = bc.BrandId
INNER JOIN Clothes c
ON         c.ClothesId = bc.ClothesId
INNER JOIN Attrib a
ON         a.AttrId = bca.AttrId
WHERE      bca.AttrId = 2
AND        ARRAY['33'] && bca.AttrValue
ORDER BY   bca.ClothesId, bca.BrandId, bca.AttrId;

This is the result:

clothes name | brand name | attribute | values 
------------- ------------ ----------  ---------------- 
Pants          Brand1       Size        32, 33, 34
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