> I have a problem I don't know how to handle.
>
>
> I have a table called People
>
> CREATE TABLE PEOPLE
> (
> People_ID INTEGER NOT NULL,
> Fname VARCHAR( 24) COLLATE NONE,
> LName VARCHAR( 24) COLLATE NONE,
> }
>
> and a table called PEOPLE_FLAGS
>
> CREATE TABLE PEOPLE_FLAGS
> (
> PFlag_ID INTEGER NOT NULL,
> Flag_Desc VARCHAR( 24) COLLATE NONE,
> }
>
>
> I'd like to associate various people_flag entries with each entry in
> the people table. Usually, I'd create an intermediary table
>
> CREATE TABLE PEOPLE_FLAGS_LINK
> (
> People_ID INTEGER NOT NULL,
> Flag_ID INTEGER NOT NULL,
> }
>
> and just create entries in this table when the users associate
> people_flags to each people entry.
>
> However, the core of my application is a big list (a VCL TlistView)
> which lists everyone from the PEOPLE table AND their PEOPLE_FLAGS.
> How can I do this easily with the above tables?
>
> Ideally, I'd like to do one simple select and retrieve one row for
> each entry in the PEOPLE table, but I suspect that I'd need to do an
> additional query for each person in order to get their PEOPLE_FLAG
> entries. I want to avoid this for performance reasons.
>
> I thought that I could do the following:
>
> 1. Do away with the PEOPLE_FLAGS_LINK table
> 2. Make the PEOPLE_FLAGS table contain a maximum of (eg) 30 entries
> 3. Add an integer array: PFlags INTEGER[30] to the PEOPLE table
>
> With this, I could retrieve PEOPLE details and their associated flags
> with a simple select.
>
> Although this overcomes the problem, it doesn't seem right/correct/wise.
>
> Can anyone offer any advice?
>
> TIA

I would do as you suggest - a relations table and then a join to give you a
resultset giving multiple people with each of their flags. I would, however,
use a treeview which handles the multiple people as groupings quite well.
Alan