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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Yes, joining on a text field is slow in
any DB, and searching “slower” in any db also. That said, I don’t
believe the “type” field is used in any join. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Further, this is just something inherent
in Drupal, the “type” field being a varchar. It would take some
core patching to enumerate the field. One say to fix this is to do just that
though, have the DB “enumerate” the field internally; that kind of
gets harry though, depending on your db because you’ll have to
alter/update the field whenever a “type” is created and/or removed.
But that’s a solution to that issue that I can think of off the top of my
head.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I know from my own experience integer
field is much faster, I’d dare to say twice as fast as an integer field.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>- Souvent22<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
support-bounces@drupal.org [mailto:support-bounces@drupal.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Chris Johnson<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, April 03, 2007
10:30 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> support@drupal.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [support] Database :
why the type fields are varchars</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>It all depends on what one means by "slow" I suppose.
If slow simply means "slower than integers," then he's probably
right, regardless of the database.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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