Interesting...<div><br></div><div>Ok, suppose on your schema design below:</div><div>Cond_id: integer</div><div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Cond_Field: Customer_field (From customer database)</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Cond_operand: eq/ne/etc</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Cond_Val:</div></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></div><div>You added another column:</div><div>Cond_id: integer</div><div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Cond_Field: Customer_field (From customer database)</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Cond_operand: eq/ne/etc</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Cond_Val:</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Cond_Parent_id: integer</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Where Cond_Parent_id is the id of the parent condition, then, this would give you the ability to have conditions of infinite <i>nesting</i>.</div>
<div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Ideally, you would then make the decision; should all the child conditions of a parent condition evaluate to true before a parent condition can be deemed truly true?</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If yes, upto what depth?</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">I actually implemented sth similar, I was trying to have a Categories table where a category can belong to one parent category, thus, theoretically and practically, have unlimited depth of sub-categories, its actually worked but not without a lot of sweat, blood and recursion.</div>
<div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:35 PM, Bwana Lawi <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:mail2lawi@gmail.com" target="_blank">mail2lawi@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Since you&#39;ve done something similar please tell me if this approach is ok:<div><br></div><div>Funny enough the decision is either a yes/no (its to check if a customer qualifies for some products)</div><div><br></div><div>

I am committing to db (no option of configs. Long story)</div><div><br></div><div>I am thinking of implemented it thus:</div><div><br></div><div>Cond_Field: Customer_field (From customer database)</div><div>Cond_operand: eq/ne/etc</div>

<div>Cond_Val:</div><div><br></div><div>So that a user can define conditions:</div><div><br>cond_1</div><div>Cond_Field: Region</div><div>Cond_operand: eq</div><div>Cond_Val: Nairobi</div><div><br></div><div><div><div>cond_2:</div>

<div>Cond_Field: Age</div><div>Cond_operand: &lt;=</div><div>Cond_Val: 30</div></div><div><br></div><div><div><div>cond_3:</div><div>Cond_Field: Age</div><div>Cond_operand: &gt;</div><div>Cond_Val: 30</div></div><div><br>

</div></div><div>cond_4:</div><div>Cond_Field: Salary</div></div><div><div>Cond_operand: &lt;=</div><div>Cond_Val: 10000</div></div><div><br></div><div>etc</div><div><br></div><div>and then finally, set the decision that will be made out of these conditions set above. The system must be able to accept multiple conditions (combinations of which determine if the decision is Y/N)</div>

<div><br></div><div>Decision: y</div><div>Conditions: cond_1 and cond_4</div><div><br></div><div>Decision y (Another set of conditions for Y)</div><div>cond_3</div><div><br></div><div>Decison n</div><div><br></div><div>cond_1 and cond_2</div>

<div><br></div><div>I am yet to write a single line of code. Just trying to visualise the implementation</div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Peter Karunyu <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:pkarunyu@gmail.com" target="_blank">pkarunyu@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>

<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">My rule of thumb is:<div><br></div><div>1. If parameter is to be changed by techie people, put it in a config file</div>

<div>2. If parameter is to be changed by lay people, put it in a database table (usually a key-value store) and create a nice GUI for them to use to change the parameters</div>
<div><br></div><div>Has worked pretty well so far.</div><div><br></div><div>However, that takes care of where to store the contents of the variables of the condition, you still need to figure out how to actually implement the condition.</div>

<div><div>
<div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:00 PM, Bwana Lawi <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:mail2lawi@gmail.com" target="_blank">mail2lawi@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">


Am in trouble. The problem is how to parameterise the conditions. Apparently the client wants them to be maintainable (added/removed at will). <div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 10:31 AM, Peter Karunyu <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:pkarunyu@gmail.com" target="_blank">pkarunyu@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>



<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">At face value, I would guess there are (2 x 3 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 2)  possible scenarios, 144 in total :-)<div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">



<div><div>On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 12:19 PM, Bwana Lawi <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:mail2lawi@gmail.com" target="_blank">mail2lawi@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div>Couldnt come up with a good subject. <div><br></div><div>I have to make a decision (well, my program has to) based on 6 variables. </div>




<div><br></div><div>Var 1 has 2 options (boolean)</div><div>Var 2 has 3 </div><div>Var 3 has 2 (Boolean)</div>
<div>Var 4 has 2</div><div>Var 5 has 3</div><div>Var 6 has 2</div><div><br></div><div>How many possible scenarios am I looking at?</div><div><br></div><div>There are some interdependencies, of course, but for now ignore them. </div>





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