# Database best practice question **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 14, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-best-practice-question/137633 "2008-05-14T22:03:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brownerthanu)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-best-practice-question/137633/1 "2008-05-14T22:03:32Z")
hi folks, i’d like some advice about how to approach this database “problem”. i have a website that sells products that are customizable, and are organized in lists. i can’t give the details of the actual product, but i’ll offer this baby clothes analogy: happy hat™ beanie: fuzzy ball =\> true, pattern =\> striped, color =\> [blue, white] angry feet™ shoes: color =\> white, laces =\> fat pretty okay™ shirt: material =\> lead the clothes are customized and saved in “outfits” created by users. my question is: should i create database tables for each user-created outfit? that seems like it would get out of hand. is there a better way? ---
**Author:** ![brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brownerthanu)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-best-practice-question/137633/2 "2008-05-15T05:25:33Z")
I’d look at a table for your base products and one for accessories the accessories will belong to products and products will have many accessories There are many , many ways to do this so i would recommend that you commit the time to get things laid out first, maybe sketch out a couple ERD’s (entity relationship diagrams ) grab some refreshment and some friends and explain you concepts and how you plan to extract input the data into/from these entity’s questions, situations you may have not included should come to light and now is the time to include them in your app These are excellent ref material links [http://www.softwaredeveloper.com/features/intro-to-ruby-on-rails-042507/](http://www.softwaredeveloper.com/features/intro-to-ruby-on-rails-042507/) [http://railscasts.com/episodes;archive](http://railscasts.com/episodes;archive) On May 14, 4:03 pm, browner than u [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brownerthanu)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-best-practice-question/137633/3 "2008-05-16T16:19:24Z")
how long do the outfits need to be retained? do they need to be saved only until the user places an order/ reorders the product? are you planning to save the outfits for reporting? On May 14, 1:03 pm, browner than u [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@brownerthanu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brownerthanu)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-best-practice-question/137633/4 "2008-05-16T21:17:01Z")
thanks for the reply guys. the outfits would be retained for long periods of time (~6 months or so). lvizon wrote: > how long do the outfits need to be retained? do they need to be saved > only until the user places an order/ reorders the product? are you > planning to save the outfits for reporting? > > On May 14, 1:03�pm, browner than u [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)