pcplantdb

[Bear Kaufmann <bear@ursine-design.com>]

> CHEM
>  From the roots comes a yellow dye (5,9,22,27,44,63,82).
>  Hydrastis canadensis contains the three alkaloids hydrastine,
>  berberine (40) and canadine (1,31,58,82,84).
>  Berberine has been shown to have antibiotic activity (40).
> COMR
>  Roots are easily sold to some drug companies (37).
>  The commercial product Murine contains hydrastine hydrochloride
>  and berberine hydrochloride (82).
> PERS
>  I have ingested one tablespoon of powdered root for the flu
>  two days in a row.
>  The taste was very bitter and quite unpalatable, never the less
>  my health improved within two days.

Hi all,

I'm wondering if there's a schema that might be a bit more flexible in 
terms of the information it contains...and want can be added (easily)..
Basically, table with the fields...:
PlantID, Attribute_Name, Attribute_String, Attribute_Integer, 
Attribute_Blob, [Source, Rank, User, DateStamp, Context/Locale, Section 
]...

Attribute_Name is not highly limited, perhaps something like tags, they 
emerge from user inputs, and our suggestions...(might be too loose a 
system, I should think about it more)...There are fields to accept the 
value, perhaps when a user adds a value, they choose the data type from 
a drop down, and it goes into that field. The values, like comments, 
can be ranked, and perhaps culled from the DB if low rank...

This would seem to allow for a very flexible schema, without editing 
tables...though issues around having a set definition of the term, etc 
might be an issue. Going a non-tag route, we can just provide the list 
of terms, and provide the definition of them for people to follow...

Also, regarding relationships...take a look at Page 63 of the Designers 
Manual...it seems like we might want to include a system like that...
A --> B,  A (benefits, neutral, harmed), B (benefits, neutral, 
harmed)... in real life there is a spectrum of levels, so a 10 point -5 
to +5 system might be better...

A few cents, take or leave...
I'll be out of town for a few days...

Cheers,
Bear