Hi,

After a lot of reading and trawling around the net, I've arrived here for some assistance with a detabase model I can't get my head round.

In a high-level sense, it sounds quite simple. But when I try and build something tangible, I get lost in my own confusion.

Here is a simplistic description of the requirements:

1) A database is required to let users share items of information with each other.
2) Each user can have share say a joke, a youtube video link, a recipe etc.
3) A user can choose what he shares with other users. E.g. he may want to share the video link with one user, but not another.

Assumptions:
1) The list of possible share-able items my change, but quite infrequently.
2) The share-able content can be stored in one field

Data access requirements:
1) A user should be able to see everything that everyone has shared with the
2) For each shared item, a user should be able to see who he has shared it with
3) A user should be able to change what he shares with each other user

I've worked with many e-commerce systems over the years, and I almost immediately thought of something like the EAV model. However, I wasn't sure how to implement access control, without several additional tables.

Access to the data is just as important as the ability to store the data, so again, with performance concerns, I was wary of EAV.

I have also considered a simplistic flat(er) table approach.

Any help with this would be fantastic. If I can provide more information, please ask.

Thanks,

Fish

Hmm, how about something simple like:

Is this close to what you're looking for or are there more requirements?