Hi, I''m trying to figure the most efficient way to model the following. I can think of at least two ways to relate the tables but from a client/server perspective! I''m wondering how to best (and elegantly)relate them from an AR perspective. A project has many people, A person can work on many projects at any time, A project has many roles, A role is performed by a person, A person may perform multiple roles, An organisation has many people, An organisation is a stakeholder (God, I hate that word - makes me feel like Dracula surrounded!)in one or more projects, A stakeholder has many roles within a project. So one way I have Projects HABTM Roles Roles HABTM People Organisation Has_Many People An Organisation Belongs_to a Stakeholder A Stakeholder HABTM Projects A Stakeholder Has_Many Roles Or Projects HABTM People, A Project has_many roles, People HABTM Roles, An Organisation has_many People, An Organisation is a Stakeholder in a Project, A Stakeholder has_many Roles in a Project. I guess the outcome I''m after is a way to view this data from various perspectives. For example, I have a project view that presents static project data at the head of the screen with a set of tabs containing partials with forms for editing stuff like e.g. People Acting_For(Stakeholder), Acting_As (Role). Other perspectives would be like seeing which organisations are doing what within any number of projects - that sorta thing. Whatya think? Eric.
Eric, I don''t comletely understand the definition of the entity Role. Possibly usefull is to remember that when a project is closed or a person is removed (started working for another company) that the data is stil accessible. To simplify this. When a qoute or invoice is generated there''s always a copy used of the contacts data. Because when that person doesn''t work for a company anymore and is removed I would still want to be able to view the quote/invoice/whatever without getting ''nil'' object errors. Furthermore a look on what historical info you might save could possibly help as well on the relationships you want to maintain. Looks like the 2nd one seems good (couldn''t say why though). But how does a project have many roles. Doesn''t a project have many people who, in there turn, have many roles within a project? I''m on the virge of diving into a similar mather on my internal administration appliation and I must admit this fun stuff to chew on .. :-) Hope (wonder if) it helps. Regards, Gerard. On Monday 02 January 2006 02:10, Eric Sloane tried to type something like:> Hi, > I''m trying to figure the most efficient way to model the following. I > can think of at least two ways to relate the tables but from a > client/server perspective! I''m wondering how to best (and > elegantly)relate them from an AR perspective. > > A project has many people, > A person can work on many projects at any time, > A project has many roles, > A role is performed by a person, > A person may perform multiple roles, > An organisation has many people, > An organisation is a stakeholder (God, I hate that word - makes me feel > like Dracula surrounded!)in one or more projects, > A stakeholder has many roles within a project. > > So one way I have > > Projects HABTM Roles > Roles HABTM People > Organisation Has_Many People > An Organisation Belongs_to a Stakeholder > A Stakeholder HABTM Projects > A Stakeholder Has_Many Roles > > Or > > Projects HABTM People, > A Project has_many roles, > People HABTM Roles, > An Organisation has_many People, > An Organisation is a Stakeholder in a Project, > A Stakeholder has_many Roles in a Project. > > I guess the outcome I''m after is a way to view this data from various > perspectives. For example, I have a project view that presents static > project data at the head of the screen with a set of tabs containing > partials with forms for editing stuff like e.g. People > Acting_For(Stakeholder), Acting_As (Role). Other perspectives would be > like seeing which organisations are doing what within any number of > projects - that sorta thing. > > Whatya think? > Eric. > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails-- "Who cares if it doesn''t do anything? It was made with our new Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..." My $Grtz =~ Gerard; ~ :wq!
I might suggest the following (and I am making the asusmption that the
relationships between projects, people and roles is unlimited
(untested)
people_projects_roles (join table between people and projects and roles)
----------
person_id
role_id
project_id
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :people, :join_table =>
"people_projects_roles"
has_and_belongs_to_many :roles, :join_table =>
"people_projects_roles"
end
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :join_table =>
"people_projects_roles"
has_and_belongs_to_many :roles, :join_table =>
"people_projects_roles"
end
class Role < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :people, :join_table =>
"people_projects_roles"
has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :join_table =>
"people_projects_roles"
end
now, this allows you to do things such as
project = Project.find(1) # "my project"
# all people who are associated with "my project" (any role)
project.people
# all roles associated with "my project"
project.roles
person = Person.find(1) # "John Smith"
# all projects assocated with "John Smith"
person.projects
# all roles assocated with "John Smith"
person.roles
role = Role.find(1) # "programmer"
# all projects with a "programmer" role
role.projects
# all people with a "progammer" role
role.people
now say you want to add John as a "manager" (id = 2) role to Project
10
john = Person.find_by_name("John")
manager = Role.find_by_name("Manager")
project.find(10)
with this information, you could do it several different ways...depending on
the situation
project.people.push_with_attributes(john, :role_id => manager.id)
project.roles.push_with_attributes(manager, :person_id => john.id)
john.projects.push_with_attributes(project, :role_id => manager.id)
john.roles.push_with_attributes(manager, :project_id => project.id)
role.projects.push_with_attributes(project, :person_id => john.id)
role.people.push_with_attributes(john, :project_id => project.id)
each of these accomplish the same thing, they add John as a Manager to
Project 10
now, as far as organisation/projects/roles go, that sounds strange (not
being critical)...can an organisation have the same roles as a person? i
would assume that organisations have different roles than people so you will
want to setup a separate "org roles" table to manage those.
can an organisation be involved in many projects and can a project have many
organisations (stakeholders)? if so, then i would setup another join table
between organisations/projects/org roles and follow the same idea as above
now, one thing i would be concerned about is corss referencing (not sure the
proper term). you have people associated with projects, organisations
assocated with projects and people associated with organisations...this can
get messy when you want to start limiting who can do based upon their other
associations (ie, given a project/organisation association, can only people
associated with the same organisation be assocated with that project?)
hope this helps.
On 1/3/06, Gerard <mailing@gp-net.nl> wrote:>
> Eric,
>
> I don''t comletely understand the definition of the entity Role.
Possibly
> usefull is to remember that when a project is closed or a person is
> removed
> (started working for another company) that the data is stil accessible. To
> simplify this. When a qoute or invoice is generated there''s always
a copy
> used of the contacts data. Because when that person doesn''t work
for a
> company anymore and is removed I would still want to be able to view the
> quote/invoice/whatever without getting ''nil'' object
errors.
>
> Furthermore a look on what historical info you might save could possibly
> help
> as well on the relationships you want to maintain.
>
> Looks like the 2nd one seems good (couldn''t say why though). But
how does
> a
> project have many roles. Doesn''t a project have many people who,
in there
> turn, have many roles within a project?
>
> I''m on the virge of diving into a similar mather on my internal
> administration
> appliation and I must admit this fun stuff to chew on .. :-)
>
> Hope (wonder if) it helps.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gerard.
>
>
> On Monday 02 January 2006 02:10, Eric Sloane tried to type something like:
> > Hi,
> > I''m trying to figure the most efficient way to model the
following. I
> > can think of at least two ways to relate the tables but from a
> > client/server perspective! I''m wondering how to best (and
> > elegantly)relate them from an AR perspective.
> >
> > A project has many people,
> > A person can work on many projects at any time,
> > A project has many roles,
> > A role is performed by a person,
> > A person may perform multiple roles,
> > An organisation has many people,
> > An organisation is a stakeholder (God, I hate that word - makes me
feel
> > like Dracula surrounded!)in one or more projects,
> > A stakeholder has many roles within a project.
> >
> > So one way I have
> >
> > Projects HABTM Roles
> > Roles HABTM People
> > Organisation Has_Many People
> > An Organisation Belongs_to a Stakeholder
> > A Stakeholder HABTM Projects
> > A Stakeholder Has_Many Roles
> >
> > Or
> >
> > Projects HABTM People,
> > A Project has_many roles,
> > People HABTM Roles,
> > An Organisation has_many People,
> > An Organisation is a Stakeholder in a Project,
> > A Stakeholder has_many Roles in a Project.
> >
> > I guess the outcome I''m after is a way to view this data from
various
> > perspectives. For example, I have a project view that presents static
> > project data at the head of the screen with a set of tabs containing
> > partials with forms for editing stuff like e.g. People
> > Acting_For(Stakeholder), Acting_As (Role). Other perspectives would be
> > like seeing which organisations are doing what within any number of
> > projects - that sorta thing.
> >
> > Whatya think?
> > Eric.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
> --
> "Who cares if it doesn''t do anything? It was made with our
new
> Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..."
>
> My $Grtz =~ Gerard;
> ~
> :wq!
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
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Hi Chris, Thanks for your input. You''ve hit the nail squarely on the head (ouch). The relationship between Projects, Roles and People is to be unlimited for exactly the reasons you have pointed out - brilliantly I might add. As to Organisations - the relationship there is simply to define a broader role - Client, Contractor, etc. that People act_for. In practice this level of flexibility might be overkill - but I want it there - just in case :~) As I said in response to Gerard(to whom I replied before reading your post) - on paper this looks kinda scary Thanks Again, Eric. Chris Hall wrote:> I might suggest the following (and I am making the asusmption that the > relationships between projects, people and roles is unlimited > > (untested) > > people_projects_roles (join table between people and projects and roles) > ---------- > person_id > role_id > project_id > > class Project < ActiveRecord::Base > has_and_belongs_to_many :people, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > has_and_belongs_to_many :roles, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > end > > class Person < ActiveRecord::Base > has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > has_and_belongs_to_many :roles, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > end > > class Role < ActiveRecord::Base > has_and_belongs_to_many :people, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > end > > now, this allows you to do things such as > > project = Project.find(1) # "my project" > > # all people who are associated with "my project" (any role) > project.people > > # all roles associated with "my project" > project.roles > > person = Person.find(1) # "John Smith" > > # all projects assocated with "John Smith" > person.projects > > # all roles assocated with "John Smith" > person.roles > > role = Role.find(1) # "programmer" > > # all projects with a "programmer" role > role.projects > > # all people with a "progammer" role > role.people > > > now say you want to add John as a "manager" (id = 2) role to Project 10 > > john = Person.find_by_name("John") > manager = Role.find_by_name("Manager") > project.find(10) > > with this information, you could do it several different > ways...depending on the situation > > project.people.push_with_attributes(john, :role_id => manager.id > <http://manager.id>) > project.roles.push_with_attributes(manager, :person_id => john.id > <http://john.id>) > john.projects.push_with_attributes(project, :role_id => manager.id > <http://manager.id>) > john.roles.push_with_attributes(manager, :project_id => project.id > <http://project.id>) > role.projects.push_with_attributes(project, :person_id => john.id > <http://john.id>) > role.people.push_with_attributes(john, :project_id => project.id > <http://project.id>) > > each of these accomplish the same thing, they add John as a Manager to > Project 10 > > now, as far as organisation/projects/roles go, that sounds strange (not > being critical)...can an organisation have the same roles as a person? > i would assume that organisations have different roles than people so > you will want to setup a separate "org roles" table to manage those. > > can an organisation be involved in many projects and can a project have > many organisations (stakeholders)? if so, then i would setup another > join table between organisations/projects/org roles and follow the same > idea as above > > now, one thing i would be concerned about is corss referencing (not sure > the proper term). you have people associated with projects, > organisations assocated with projects and people associated with > organisations...this can get messy when you want to start limiting who > can do based upon their other associations (ie, given a > project/organisation association, can only people associated with the > same organisation be assocated with that project?) > > hope this helps. > > On 1/3/06, *Gerard* <mailing@gp-net.nl > <mailto:mailing@gp-net.nl>> wrote: > > Eric, > > I don''t comletely understand the definition of the entity Role. Possibly > usefull is to remember that when a project is closed or a person is > removed > (started working for another company) that the data is stil > accessible. To > simplify this. When a qoute or invoice is generated there''s always a > copy > used of the contacts data. Because when that person doesn''t work for a > company anymore and is removed I would still want to be able to view > the > quote/invoice/whatever without getting ''nil'' object errors. > > Furthermore a look on what historical info you might save could > possibly help > as well on the relationships you want to maintain. > > Looks like the 2nd one seems good (couldn''t say why though). But how > does a > project have many roles. Doesn''t a project have many people who, in > there > turn, have many roles within a project? > > I''m on the virge of diving into a similar mather on my internal > administration > appliation and I must admit this fun stuff to chew on .. :-) > > Hope (wonder if) it helps. > > Regards, > > Gerard. > > > On Monday 02 January 2006 02:10, Eric Sloane tried to type something > like: > > Hi, > > I''m trying to figure the most efficient way to model the > following. I > > can think of at least two ways to relate the tables but from a > > client/server perspective! I''m wondering how to best (and > > elegantly)relate them from an AR perspective. > > > > A project has many people, > > A person can work on many projects at any time, > > A project has many roles, > > A role is performed by a person, > > A person may perform multiple roles, > > An organisation has many people, > > An organisation is a stakeholder (God, I hate that word - makes > me feel > > like Dracula surrounded!)in one or more projects, > > A stakeholder has many roles within a project. > > > > So one way I have > > > > Projects HABTM Roles > > Roles HABTM People > > Organisation Has_Many People > > An Organisation Belongs_to a Stakeholder > > A Stakeholder HABTM Projects > > A Stakeholder Has_Many Roles > > > > Or > > > > Projects HABTM People, > > A Project has_many roles, > > People HABTM Roles, > > An Organisation has_many People, > > An Organisation is a Stakeholder in a Project, > > A Stakeholder has_many Roles in a Project. > > > > I guess the outcome I''m after is a way to view this data from various > > perspectives. For example, I have a project view that presents static > > project data at the head of the screen with a set of tabs containing > > partials with forms for editing stuff like e.g. People > > Acting_For(Stakeholder), Acting_As (Role). Other perspectives > would be > > like seeing which organisations are doing what within any number of > > projects - that sorta thing. > > > > Whatya think? > > Eric. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Rails mailing list > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > <mailto:Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org> > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > -- > "Who cares if it doesn''t do anything? It was made with our new > Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..." > > My $Grtz =~ Gerard; > ~ > :wq! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > <mailto:Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
Eric / Chris, @Chris: Cudo''s to you Chris! @Eric: Having gone through Chris'' email. I must say now it doesn''t just look scary on paper .. :-) Being a Rails fan for a couple of weeks I''m not fully up to speed on the proper, and more important failsafe, OO programming. Nevertheless .. I did another post on a model I''m chewing on, on which I would like some reponse. I think, IMHO, I''ve got the model covered for now (never now what''s around the corner). I''m just somewhat insecure on programming around it. But I guess there''s just one lesson .. Practice! Should you or Chris have some comments, they would be appreciated. Regards, Gerard. On Tuesday 03 January 2006 22:49, Eric Sloane tried to type something like:> Hi Chris, > Thanks for your input. You''ve hit the nail squarely on the head (ouch). > The relationship between Projects, Roles and People is to be unlimited > for exactly the reasons you have pointed out - brilliantly I might add. > As to Organisations - the relationship there is simply to define a > broader role - Client, Contractor, etc. that People act_for. In practice > this level of flexibility might be overkill - but I want it there - just > in case :~) As I said in response to Gerard(to whom I replied before > reading your post) - on paper this looks kinda scary > > Thanks Again, > Eric. > > Chris Hall wrote: > > I might suggest the following (and I am making the asusmption that the > > relationships between projects, people and roles is unlimited > > > > (untested) > > > > people_projects_roles (join table between people and projects and roles) > > ---------- > > person_id > > role_id > > project_id > > > > class Project < ActiveRecord::Base > > has_and_belongs_to_many :people, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > > has_and_belongs_to_many :roles, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > > end > > > > class Person < ActiveRecord::Base > > has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :join_table => > > "people_projects_roles" has_and_belongs_to_many :roles, :join_table => > > "people_projects_roles" end > > > > class Role < ActiveRecord::Base > > has_and_belongs_to_many :people, :join_table => "people_projects_roles" > > has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :join_table => > > "people_projects_roles" end > > > > now, this allows you to do things such as > > > > project = Project.find(1) # "my project" > > > > # all people who are associated with "my project" (any role) > > project.people > > > > # all roles associated with "my project" > > project.roles > > > > person = Person.find(1) # "John Smith" > > > > # all projects assocated with "John Smith" > > person.projects > > > > # all roles assocated with "John Smith" > > person.roles > > > > role = Role.find(1) # "programmer" > > > > # all projects with a "programmer" role > > role.projects > > > > # all people with a "progammer" role > > role.people > > > > > > now say you want to add John as a "manager" (id = 2) role to Project 10 > > > > john = Person.find_by_name("John") > > manager = Role.find_by_name("Manager") > > project.find(10) > > > > with this information, you could do it several different > > ways...depending on the situation > > > > project.people.push_with_attributes(john, :role_id => manager.id > > <http://manager.id>) > > project.roles.push_with_attributes(manager, :person_id => john.id > > <http://john.id>) > > john.projects.push_with_attributes(project, :role_id => manager.id > > <http://manager.id>) > > john.roles.push_with_attributes(manager, :project_id => project.id > > <http://project.id>) > > role.projects.push_with_attributes(project, :person_id => john.id > > <http://john.id>) > > role.people.push_with_attributes(john, :project_id => project.id > > <http://project.id>) > > > > each of these accomplish the same thing, they add John as a Manager to > > Project 10 > > > > now, as far as organisation/projects/roles go, that sounds strange (not > > being critical)...can an organisation have the same roles as a person? > > i would assume that organisations have different roles than people so > > you will want to setup a separate "org roles" table to manage those. > > > > can an organisation be involved in many projects and can a project have > > many organisations (stakeholders)? if so, then i would setup another > > join table between organisations/projects/org roles and follow the same > > idea as above > > > > now, one thing i would be concerned about is corss referencing (not sure > > the proper term). you have people associated with projects, > > organisations assocated with projects and people associated with > > organisations...this can get messy when you want to start limiting who > > can do based upon their other associations (ie, given a > > project/organisation association, can only people associated with the > > same organisation be assocated with that project?) > > > > hope this helps. > > > > On 1/3/06, *Gerard* <mailing@gp-net.nl > > <mailto:mailing@gp-net.nl>> wrote: > > > > Eric, > > > > I don''t comletely understand the definition of the entity Role. > > Possibly usefull is to remember that when a project is closed or a person > > is removed > > (started working for another company) that the data is stil > > accessible. To > > simplify this. When a qoute or invoice is generated there''s always a > > copy > > used of the contacts data. Because when that person doesn''t work for > > a company anymore and is removed I would still want to be able to view > > the > > quote/invoice/whatever without getting ''nil'' object errors. > > > > Furthermore a look on what historical info you might save could > > possibly help > > as well on the relationships you want to maintain. > > > > Looks like the 2nd one seems good (couldn''t say why though). But how > > does a > > project have many roles. Doesn''t a project have many people who, in > > there > > turn, have many roles within a project? > > > > I''m on the virge of diving into a similar mather on my internal > > administration > > appliation and I must admit this fun stuff to chew on .. :-) > > > > Hope (wonder if) it helps. > > > > Regards, > > > > Gerard. > > > > > > On Monday 02 January 2006 02:10, Eric Sloane tried to type something > > > > like: > > > Hi, > > > I''m trying to figure the most efficient way to model the > > > > following. I > > > > > can think of at least two ways to relate the tables but from a > > > client/server perspective! I''m wondering how to best (and > > > elegantly)relate them from an AR perspective. > > > > > > A project has many people, > > > A person can work on many projects at any time, > > > A project has many roles, > > > A role is performed by a person, > > > A person may perform multiple roles, > > > An organisation has many people, > > > An organisation is a stakeholder (God, I hate that word - makes > > > > me feel > > > > > like Dracula surrounded!)in one or more projects, > > > A stakeholder has many roles within a project. > > > > > > So one way I have > > > > > > Projects HABTM Roles > > > Roles HABTM People > > > Organisation Has_Many People > > > An Organisation Belongs_to a Stakeholder > > > A Stakeholder HABTM Projects > > > A Stakeholder Has_Many Roles > > > > > > Or > > > > > > Projects HABTM People, > > > A Project has_many roles, > > > People HABTM Roles, > > > An Organisation has_many People, > > > An Organisation is a Stakeholder in a Project, > > > A Stakeholder has_many Roles in a Project. > > > > > > I guess the outcome I''m after is a way to view this data from > > > various perspectives. For example, I have a project view that > > > presents static project data at the head of the screen with a set > > > of tabs containing partials with forms for editing stuff like e.g. > > > People > > > Acting_For(Stakeholder), Acting_As (Role). Other perspectives > > > > would be > > > > > like seeing which organisations are doing what within any number > > > of projects - that sorta thing. > > > > > > Whatya think? > > > Eric. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Rails mailing list > > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > > > > <mailto:Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org> > > > > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > > > -- > > "Who cares if it doesn''t do anything? It was made with our new > > Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..." > > > > My $Grtz =~ Gerard; > > ~ > > > > :wq! > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Rails mailing list > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > > <mailto:Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org> > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Rails mailing list > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails-- "Who cares if it doesn''t do anything? It was made with our new Triple-Iso-Bifurcated-Krypton-Gate-MOS process ..." My $Grtz =~ Gerard; ~ :wq!