Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Pulling Member Data from Manila sites

Author:Walter Ludwick
Posted:9/9/2000; 2:59:25 AM
Topic:Data Captivity in WebApps
Msg #:21056 (In response to 21023)
Prev/Next:21055 / 21057

That's certainly moving in the right direction, Ken. It's hard for me to specify it more precisely, since i still don't grok the Manila data model. My bias (as an ex-IT-exec) is to think in terms of relational data modelling, in which terms the attributes you've named would not go in a single (base) table, since that table would then contain repeating groups (like Member [a unique ID, i presume], Name, Address, etc, for each msg posted by that member). But if you're talking about a derived table or view, then i sort of get it.

I can see member profile (i.e. static defining attributes associated w/ each individual) as going in one "Member" table, perhaps also including member prefs (tho, since these are qualitatively different [i.e. more dynamic, tho still persistent across sessions], i'd probably put them in a different base table, and set up a view combining data from the two tables). Messages (number, date, topic, content, and attribution), i see as being in another table, related in the attribution field by member ID. Then a third category of information would be logged event stats (about registrations, sessions, page requests and postings), which could be aggregated for each member and fed through a classification scheme (e.g. "lurker", "heavy contributor", etc.) back into our Member view.

Is this explanation helfpul? I know i'm calling things by the wrong names, and if the stats and classifications bit introduces new requirements that would have to be analyzed, of course that might take some time. For now, a single table that i could read in Excel, with all self-declared attributes of member (personal info & prefs), plus most significant system-logged events - let's say RegistrationDate, TotalSessions, LastSessionDate, TotalPosts and LastPostDate - would be just GREAT to have. Is it as easily scriptable as Dave suggests? |/|/

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:56:35 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.