My question is very general, but to properly explain it, i will ask a
specific one.
In our SQL 2000, .NET based application we have as a Device table,
which lists all the devices. That device table has many child tables
storing all kinds of information (Software, Hardware, Windows Events
even). However there is a desire to group many devices into groups.
The devices that belong to a certain group can be hand picked by the
user. Also, we would like to allow the user to define a rule for which
devices belong to a certain group. For example, All devices who's DNS
names start with the letter 'M' belong to Group 'I love M'.
Obviously we would need a Group table to describe the group. But then
i guess we would need a field called something like 'GroupFormula'
which would store the equation needed to run against a device to see
if it belongs to this group. This way, if any new devices are added,
then they automatically go to their corresponding group.
What would be the best way to store this formula. Is there a standard?
An XML string maybe? Or am i doing this all wrong. We have other
features that would require this kind of flexibilty. I assume the
formula would be used to generate a View or Table, then, Joins and
what not can be made.
Thanks
Mark
