database question

[epochonaut]

I'm just starting to teach myself how to do server-side stuff and I'm working on a website where members will be able to send private messages to each other. I've never considered how this works under the hood before. Are all PMs stored in a single table from which a query retrieves messages for a specific user? Does each new member get their own database table created to store their PMs? What is the best way to implement a private messaging feature?

[alhefner]

The best way is with a single table. Try something like:

table name - pm

fields:

• msg_id auto increment
• sender_id (id of the user that sends the message)
• to_id (id of the user message is for)
• parent_msg (would be the id of an original msg if this is a reply)
• msg_text (text of the msg)

oops! I forgot the date field! I would use an int type of field to store a unix timestamp for this.

Now, you have all the information for a user mailbox! inbox, sent, etc...

Queries will be very simple this way.

Al