And the EAV winner is …. sparse columns
Many of you have already heard the "hardware store" story. What's the best way to model products in a hardware store, where new items arrive at the hardware store each day. Each item has a "short...
View ArticleSparse tables, sparse columns, and XML
I've been talking with folks for (it seems like) a long time about modeling sparse attributes in a relational database. Seems like I run into a new design where there's a need for sparse attributes...
View ArticleMore about sparse columns and column_sets
I'm still getting used to the new sparse column feature in SQL Server 2008. I'd just read in the BOL definition of ALTER TABLE that you can add a column_set to an existing table. I was converting a...
View ArticleConverting an EAV design to sparse columns and populating
One of the uses for sparse columns will likely be replacing entity-attribute-value designs. In an EAV design, the "sparse attribute" values are represented by a separate table. The attribute value can...
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