I'm designing my first real database and I'm weighing the pros and cons of how to enforce uniformity in my data. My first option is to create a custom domain and program my UI to only allow certain options. My second option is to create an attribute reference table that would store allowed values. My UI could query that table for allowed values and display them in a drop down box. Or I could do bothMy thoughts on the first is that it would be more difficult to maintain the UI. If the domain were to change, then I would need to alter the UI (unless there is a way to query the domain for values?). I don't know whether there is, but my thought is this would process and return results faster than having to query a second table.An attribute table seems beneficial in that I can design the UI to adapt on the fly, but less optimal in the sense that the data values are not controlled by the DBMS and it requires an additional query.Doing both would add all of the complexity, increase processing time, and increase UI maintenance.
Custom Domain or Attribute Reference Table or Both?
sql;efficiency;ui;attributes