in reply to Re^6: Feasability of quick generation of complex report from large db?
in thread Feasability of quick generation of complex report from large db?

With indexes on the right columns, definitely. Tables Answer1, Answer2, Answer3, ... in a database are at least as much a red flag as variables $Answer1, $Answer2, $Answer3, ... in Perl (or any other even remotely sensible programming language). Just as those variables should be made an array and the number an index, those tables should be changed just to a single table and the number made a column.

If you ever find yourself having to maintain a project with tables like that (it doesn't have to be foo1, foo2, ... it can be users_clientname1, users_otherclient, ...) run! Either to kick some butt or to find a new employer. I once had to do a few things in such a project, the number of TABLES in the database was in tens of thousands, insane. And all the butts responsible for that mess were long gone :-[

  • Comment on Re^7: Feasability of quick generation of complex report from large db?