[SOLVED] Advice wanted

[MadTechie]

OK i have been setting up a database which is getting more and more complex, howeven while i was designing it and started to wonder if i am setting the tables up the best way..

 

heres a basic example of what i have neen doing

 

UserTable

ID

UserName

Group

[/td]

1

User1

Group1

2

User2

Group2

 

 

Items

ID

ItemName

Weight

1

Item1

100g

2

Item2

200g

3

Item3

300g

4

Item4

400g

 

 

Now the question

 

in the example above

 

i'll have another table called UserItems

ID

UserID

ItemID

1

2

1

2

2

2

3

2

4

 

this would be if the user2 picked items 1,2 & 4,

 

now is this the best way of doing this and do i need the ID on the 'UserItems' table ?

[fenway]

You should have a UID in every table with rare exceptions... this is the best way as far as DB normalizati on is concerned.

[veridicus]

If the only purpose of UserItems is to join the other two tables together, then there's no need for it to have its own unique ID.  Whether it has an ID or not, you should place a unique index on UserID, ItemID.

[MadTechie]

 

Cool, i know the UID isn't needed but database explainsion is unforseen thus i try to always have one

 

thanks for the responce,

 

i was sure i was doing this the correct way, i just wanted to check i wasn't living in the past.. lol