Re: Multiway associations

Michael Glaesemann wrote:
> Hi Russel
>
> On Jan 25, 2004, at 12:46 PM, Russell Shaw wrote:
>
>> I have a list of parts, each of which is sold by multiple
>> vendors. I also have a list of vendors, each of which sell
>> multiple parts.
>>
>> How should i arrange the tables for this that doesn't involve
>> having lots of empty fields "just in case" ?
>
> One common way to do this is to have three tables: one suppliers, one
> parts, and one suppliers-parts referencing suppliers and parts.

Hi,

> Does that help?

Maybe so. I thought of this and was wondering if it was the common solution.
Should it be something like:

spid  supplier  part
---------------------
0     sid_1     pid_1
1     sid_1     pid_2
2     sid_2     pid_2
3     sid_3     pid_3
4     sid_3     pid_1
...

Ie, the third table just stores all the combinations of parts and suppliers?