Hi guys so I have been trying to build is small library app - the app just will ultimately allow users to reserve study rooms or auditoriums. It will also allow users to book and expert(just a person that has a certain skill they need, like math…) to help them with whatever needs they have. The app reads a CSV file that has all the library branches from the city and it also contains all the rooms that each branch have.

Ok, now the real issue. Due to the new suggest way of building things in Phoenix 1.3 (context) I have been trying to build my little elixir app following the context rule. I originally decided to use processes to hold my states such User, Branch, Room, Availability, and Reservation. But, It felt like I was starting to rewriting ORM crud operations. Thus, I decided to find something that did not require me to use Ecto because I was getting really confused on where to put schema, models and so on. I found this repo Moebius, as I’m using it I found my defining functions such as from_model, to_model basically mapping DB to my structs. Why? Well, this is what I have always learned from java, .net, Ruby and jumping to Phoenix.

I would like to know, can I just create my app without relying on structs to define my data and just use… I guess modules to define how to transform my data or what type of operation can be done with the retrieve DB data?

Pretty what is the right way? Or what the advantages and disadvantages between ORM and Directly just querying to you DB without transforming your data to a model?(Ecto vs Moebius?)

Whats is the correct or approved way of designing when it comes to this subject?

If feel like I am lacking some basic knowledge here, can anyone help?

Thank you.