Hi all! (this is not a drupal specific question) I'm building my site with drupal 7, and my question is the next: Drupal can make custom fields in database, but i don't know which should i chose, which is lighter on the system: a few (about 5) mysql query (so i should save all data in different fields) or one query (data saved in the same field) and a php explode. The exact problem: i'm going to save data about goods in a database, like: year, an url, type, cost (these are just examples), etc (about 5 details needed). These are simple data, so if i just save them with "," between them, then i can simply explode it when printing with php, so i can save them into one field. So, which is better: 3-5 mysql query (each data have saved in different mysql field), or one query, a php explode, and then a php while statement? I guess the question is understandable, any help is approciated, thanks!
Do you realize that by storing all the data in a single field would require you to re-build everything once something new comes in ( a new field, a new type of data, etc. ) ? I think you should design your database first and only then you'll see what kind of database you are going to need .. As per your example, I don't see why you should use MySQL at all - save your goods in a text file and read it whenever needed .. cout lines, explode values; what else is needed ? Not for me at least.
Drupal's database is designed very well, so if any new data is needed to save into the database, i can just create another custom field for it, i don't have to rebuild the whole field. The only reason i thought i should store more data in one field, that it is maybe faster to get them (one query + php script), so i can reduce the query time. I guess i will just store all value in a different field for now, i can later merge them if the database grows too big, or if i find it better in terms of performance. The text file thing is simply not good. Sql is the way to go, it is much simpler and faster (imagine editing a 100mb text, or a 100mb sql: it is faster to edit sql - if you store all goods in different text, then you will have disk I/o, or open files problem). So i guess there are no performance gains if i'm doing this.Thanks!