How to implement a superclass/subclass structure in MySQL? - mysql

Question

These are the tables in my database, I need to create a couple superclass/subclass structures.
The first is where...
Superclass-Crew_Member
Subclasses-Director, Producer, Other_Directing, Other_Production, Art, Camera, Sound, Grip, Electrical, Post.
The second is...
Superclass-Producer
Subclasses-Salaries, Budget
+---------------------+
| Tables_in_film_crew |
+---------------------+
| art |
| budget |
| camera |
| crew_member |
| director |
| electrical |
| equipment |
| grip |
| location |
| manufacturer |
| other_directing |
| other_production |
| post_production |
| producer |
| salaries |
| sound |
+---------------------+
So how exactly would I go about creating those relationships?
Edit:
Maybe I should have clarified some other things too.
Here's what's contained in crew_member (Superclass):
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
| Member_ID | int(5) | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| Member_Name | varchar(25) | YES | | [INSERT EXAMPLE] | |
| DOB | date | YES | | [INSERT EXAMPLE] | |
| Address1 | varchar(25) | YES | | [INSERT EXAMPLE] | |
| Address2 | varchar(25) | YES | | [INSERT EXAMPLE] | |
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
Meanwhile here's what's contained in Other_Directing (Example Subclass):
+---------------+--------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+---------------+--------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| O_Director_ID | int(4) | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| FAD_ID | int(5) | NO | MUL | NULL | |
| SAD_ID | int(5) | NO | MUL | NULL | |
| SUD_ID | int(5) | NO | MUL | NULL | |
+---------------+--------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
Now all the foreign keys are referring to Member_ID from Crew_Member. All the other tables (except Director and Producer) are created in similar ways.

Answer 1

You could start by following some general rules which have to be taken in consideration when creating a database. Put the information that different groups have in common in 1 table and the specific data in smaller satellite tables.
I would put the generic information about a crew member in the first table:
so we would have an id, name, address and whatever all the members have in common.
Then you create "sub-tables" which relate to the "crew-member" table through the value crew_member_id. In this tables you put only the specific information related to directors, producers etc..
So the fields here might be something like: id, crew_member_id, directed movies, etc..
Even with the superclass producer you should work in the same way. Relate the subtales with the superclass through its primary key to have relations between them.
I would suggest you to read some articles about database designing. It might save your life in the future, cause after a database is made then it becomes much harder to correct mistakes.
http://www.datanamic.com/support/lt-dez005-introduction-db-modeling.html

Answer 2

Yeah this is a really good question, that I was researching as well.
The ideas I came up with were:
1> Have a parent table as the super class with sattelite tables for the attributes for each subclass joined by a foreign key. You could then represent it as a view.
2> Have a parent table as the super class and another single table for all of the extra attributes. This would have to be matched by joined by two foreign keys.
3> One table which holds all of the classes.(Terrible idea)
Theres other ideas but I think the first is the best bet.
Here's more info that suggests the first way.
http://www.tomjewett.com/dbdesign/dbdesign.php?page=subclass.php