• Jeff Moden (9/15/2014)


    fregatepllada (9/14/2014)


    Larry - are you aware that since SQL Server 2008 R2 there is a data type HierarchyID?

    If you using anything older than that version there is a Joe Celco book 100% dedicated to the

    topic of hierarchies, trees and graphs 😉

    I'm curious... are you using the HierarchyID datatype for anything now?

    No - just in cases when number of levels is UNKNOWN in design time!

    I got your irony - let's just for FUN implement a WHOLE db in a single table:

    - Identifier (Sequential GUID - PK and replication ID in the same column);

    - xml to store ANY entity (could be even strongly typed by XSD collection);

    - HierarchyID to set ALL relationships;

    This is much cooler than EAV anti-pattern: a minimalistic Zen approach to database design!