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simplified code to better represent different approaches

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edited Mar 1, 2017 at 6:32

Following the analogy that a blockchain is a kind of database, I'm trying to understand how my data should be structured and stored on the blockchain.

I've read about writing contracts in solidity and I see that contracts can contain complex data types such as mappings, arrays and struts, etc.

Should I store database type table data, inside one of these inside a contract, or should I create many contracts of the same type and store a row of data in each?

Perhaps an example will help explain, say I want to store relationships between user accounts, would I create a 'table' contract as follows:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    mapping(address => address) public directors;
}

or a 'row' contract:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    struct Role {
        address person; // company the role is valid for
        address company; // company the role is valid for
        uint type;   // the type of role
    }
}

It would be helpful to know the pros and cons of both approaches, or others, including cost implications.

Basically my question is where should table data be stored?

Following the analogy that a blockchain is a kind of database, I'm trying to understand how my data should be structured and stored on the blockchain.

I've read about writing contracts in solidity and I see that contracts can contain complex data types such as mappings, arrays and struts, etc.

Should I store database type table data, inside one of these inside a contract, or should I create many contracts of the same type and store a row of data in each?

Perhaps an example will help explain, say I want to store relationships between user accounts, would I create a 'table' contract as follows:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    mapping(address => address) public directors;
}

or a 'row' contract:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    struct Role {
        address person; // company the role is valid for
        address company; // company the role is valid for
        uint type;   // the type of role
    }
}

It would be helpful to know the pros and cons of both approaches, or others, including cost implications.

Basically my question is where should table data be stored?

Following the analogy that a blockchain is a kind of database, I'm trying to understand how my data should be structured and stored on the blockchain.

I've read about writing contracts in solidity and I see that contracts can contain complex data types such as mappings, arrays and struts, etc.

Should I store database type table data, inside one of these inside a contract, or should I create many contracts of the same type and store a row of data in each?

Perhaps an example will help explain, say I want to store relationships between user accounts, would I create a 'table' contract as follows:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    mapping(address => address) public directors;
}

or a 'row' contract:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    address person; // company the role is valid for
    address company; // company the role is valid for
    uint type;   // the type of role
}

It would be helpful to know the pros and cons of both approaches, or others, including cost implications.

Basically my question is where should table data be stored?

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asked Mar 1, 2017 at 1:21

matthew

Is a contract 'kinda' equivalent to a table or a row in a traditional database?

Following the analogy that a blockchain is a kind of database, I'm trying to understand how my data should be structured and stored on the blockchain.

I've read about writing contracts in solidity and I see that contracts can contain complex data types such as mappings, arrays and struts, etc.

Should I store database type table data, inside one of these inside a contract, or should I create many contracts of the same type and store a row of data in each?

Perhaps an example will help explain, say I want to store relationships between user accounts, would I create a 'table' contract as follows:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    mapping(address => address) public directors;
}

or a 'row' contract:

pragma solidity ^0.4.0;

/// @title Company roles.
contract CompanyRole {

    struct Role {
        address person; // company the role is valid for
        address company; // company the role is valid for
        uint type;   // the type of role
    }
}

It would be helpful to know the pros and cons of both approaches, or others, including cost implications.

Basically my question is where should table data be stored?