I might be wrong (and please suggest solution if I am) but there is still one thing that is very hard to do with Drupal. I’m not sure the correct phrase to refer to as, Hierarchy or Parent-Child. I find this very confusing as, the Taxonomy structure is a very powerful tool.
I’ll setup a simple real world example.
Requirement goals:
1) Use the Taxonomy structure as provided
2) Try to stay with Core, to insure migration path in the future.
Data structure for example:
Country
|__State
|__County
(not going to take this to the city level for this example)
Possible Solution (1): (using Vocab and Terms with CCK)
1) Vocab = Country
2) Terms = State(Parent) – County (Child)
Problems with Solution (1): Vocab Dropdown in Node would be very long and cumbersome (50 States x 20 Counties = 1000 est.) to many choices.. ouch
Possible Solution (2): (using Vocab and Terms with CCK)
1) Vocab = State (would require 50 Vocabs)
2) Terms = Counties (est. 20 per State)
Problems with Solution (2): This is bit more manageable at the Admin Cat side, but once again, it makes the Node (add) cumbersome, as it would require 50 Vocabs to be offered on Node (add)
Possible Solution (3): (using Vocab and Terms with CCK)
a) Create a separate CCK file for each state