Whether you want to build your own forum, publish the messages from a mailing list on your Website, or write your own cms: there will be a moment that you’ll want to store hierarchical data in a database. And, unless you’re using a XML-like database, tables aren’t hierarchical; they’re just a flat list. You’ll have to find a way to translate the hierarchy in a flat file.
Storing trees is a common problem, with multiple solutions. There are two major approaches: the adjacency list model, and the modified preorder tree traversal algorithm.[ad code=1]
In this article, we’ll explore these two methods of saving hierarchical data. I’ll use the tree from a fictional online food store as an example. This food store organizes its food by category, by colour and by type. The tree looks like this:
More Info
- http://articles.sitepoint.com/print/hierarchical-data-database
- http://www.freestuff.gr/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39468
- http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=568978
- http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/hierarchical-data.html
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