X-Original-To: pgsql-sql-postgresql.org@localhost.postgresql.org Received: from localhost (av.hub.org [200.46.204.144]) by postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 57BD99DCA3E for ; Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:11:22 -0400 (AST) Received: from postgresql.org ([200.46.204.71]) by localhost (av.hub.org [200.46.204.144]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 50648-02 for ; Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:11:21 -0400 (AST) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey- Received: from hosting33.com (ns1.hosting33.com [203.194.209.173]) by postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F2629DCA39 for ; Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:11:19 -0400 (AST) Received: (qmail 22497 invoked by uid 504); 12 Mar 2006 17:11:18 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO paulsen.homeip.net) (70.112.127.158) by hosting33.com with SMTP; 12 Mar 2006 17:11:18 -0000 From: Robert Paulsen To: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org Subject: Question re: relational technique Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 11:11:17 -0600 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200603121111.17147.robert@paulsenonline.net> X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at hub.org X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.214 required=5 tests=[AWL=0.214] X-Spam-Score: 0.214 X-Spam-Level: X-Archive-Number: 200603/174 X-Sequence-Number: 24520 Here is a sample table: item item_id int name char attrib1 char attrib2 char attrib3 char One problem with the above is that the list of attributes is fixed. I am looking for a way to assign new, previously undefined, attributes to items without changing the table structure. Is it ever appropriate to do the following? item item_id int name char details item_id int attribute_name char attribute_value char If this is a reasonable technique are their guidelines for its use? When is it approptiate? When not? Thanks, Bob