Newbee Access DB structure help
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From: Gina Whipp on 30 Mar 2010 20:12 Yoric, Basically, you need an inventory management system. Unfortunately, I have not seen a Data Model for one but there some other here that might help with *how to store your data*... http://www.databasedev.co.uk/data_models.html One thing to be careful of using Reserved Words for any field or table names, to help with that here's a list of all those words... http://allenbrowne.com/AppIssueBadWord.html You didn't mention which version Access but Access 2007 has an inventory template you could start with and modify to suit your needs. Now, as to where to start... you didn't mention how much experience you have with Access, so I am going to suggest the beginning... Jeff Conrad's resources page... http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html The Access Web resources page... http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP)... http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html MVP Allen Browne's tutorials... http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials -- Gina Whipp 2010 Microsoft MVP (Access) "I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors II http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm "Yoric" <Yoric(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:727153E4-4A3F-476A-9827-E3BFD82D2956(a)microsoft.com... Hi All, I am doing a project to get started on Access. I am a tinkerer, and have a lab and garage full of storage boxes, component chests, tackle boxes, plastic tubs and such, on shelves, in cupboards and on the floor. Each receptacle, be it a large plastic tub, or a single drawer of a 6x5 component chest has components in it. There may be more than one, and more than one type of component in each receptacle. Each receptacle has a location (room), position (shelf, floor) and a unique id. A receptacle is always singular, but may be a single carton, or a drawer within a multi-drawer chest. There may be several chests, some with 5x6 drawers, some with 8x4 drawers etc. Components each have attributes: Description, part #, genre, image, datasheet, # on hand, etc. A single type of component may have 1, 2 or more genres (OPTO, Discrete, Semiconductor). There may be the same type of component in different receptacles (Part of the reason for this project is to gather them and consolidate them!) Thus far, I have created tables for ReceptacleType (18 possibilities), Location(4 possible rooms), Component (20 fields incl location, receptacle type, #on hand, but mainly just attributes etc). I also have a Receptacle table which is the uniqueid for every single receptacle, its type, location, and component list field. I am struggling in several areas: 1) I am not sure how to build the relationships, such that some receptacles have 'parents' or hierarchy and some do not. For example, a drawer within a chest of 20, or a single large cardboard box. 2) How to construct forms that will change 'downstream' fields, dependent upon a certain choice made in a combo box. Say if I select a chest drawer, a field will open to describe which chest 3) How to set up forms for the most efficient data entry. I envisage visiting each receptacle with my laptop, entering the list of components in it (briefly), the location of the receptacle, physically labelling the receptacle with the uniqueid sticker, then moving to the next. Once that is done, I would go to each component, and flesh out the data for the attributes as necessary. Later on, it would be great to report all the 'OPTO' components, so I could gather them all up and consolidate them into grouped, or adjacent receptacles, updating the db as I did so. An important attribute for each component would be a synonym field, so I could query LED, led, LEDS, Light Emitting Diodes and find all of the relevant records. Frankly, any advice, especially on where to begin, would be most appreciated! Thanks in anticipation, Roy.
From: Yoric on 30 Mar 2010 21:15 Thanks to all for such prompt and detailed advice. A lot of it is a little over my head at this stage, but I will plow (plough) through it all and see what I come up with. I don't want to come between Steve and Dennis, and am certainly not authorized to comment, however I always try to start a journey with the end in mind....it is the only way I know that I ever get there. Sage advice however, on labeling techniques, so thanks to both. I will continue to define what I want out of the system, then post more details of the tables as I develop them. And I will visit those tutorials! Thanks again to all, Roy.
From: Dennis on 31 Mar 2010 01:15 Roy, Thanks for making my point for me. You can not start a journey unless you have an end in mind - "it is the only way I know that I ever get there". Enough said. Gina has some good advice for you. You have a LOT to learn and she provided some good links. Don't worry about a lot of this stuff being over your head. Just keep the advice in the back of your mind as you plow through your project . As you get to the point where you have specific questions on how to do some, post it on this forum and people will be there to help. Good luck on your task. You have a lot to do. Dennis
From: Keith Wilby on 31 Mar 2010 04:34 On 31 Mar, 00:35, "Steve" <notmyem...(a)address.com> wrote: > Roy, > > Once again Dennis has given you some very bad advise! It's your choice > whether you want to heed it. > > Steve > > > Given your track record, I know who I'd rather put my faith in.
From: Jeff Boyce on 31 Mar 2010 12:25
Yoric Some folks are willing to share their ideas and perspectives. Others here want to tell you where to go and what to do. Choose the approach that works best with you... By the way, if you don't know where you are going, it will be tough to, as one responder suggested, create your "well designed set of normalized tables"... I also tend to start out trying to figure out what I will need at the end to help me plan what I need to include. Regards Jeff Boyce Microsoft Access MVP -- Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein does not constitute endorsement thereof. Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no guarantee as to suitability. You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer possible/necessary. "Yoric" <Yoric(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:727153E4-4A3F-476A-9827-E3BFD82D2956(a)microsoft.com... > Hi All, > I am doing a project to get started on Access. I am a tinkerer, and have a > lab and garage full of storage boxes, component chests, tackle boxes, > plastic > tubs and such, on shelves, in cupboards and on the floor. Each receptacle, > be > it a large plastic tub, or a single drawer of a 6x5 component chest has > components in it. There may be more than one, and more than one type of > component in each receptacle. Each receptacle has a location (room), > position > (shelf, floor) and a unique id. A receptacle is always singular, but may > be a > single carton, or a drawer within a multi-drawer chest. There may be > several > chests, some with 5x6 drawers, some with 8x4 drawers etc. > Components each have attributes: Description, part #, genre, image, > datasheet, # on hand, etc. A single type of component may have 1, 2 or > more > genres (OPTO, Discrete, Semiconductor). There may be the same type of > component in different receptacles (Part of the reason for this project is > to > gather them and consolidate them!) > Thus far, I have created tables for ReceptacleType (18 possibilities), > Location(4 possible rooms), Component (20 fields incl location, receptacle > type, #on hand, but mainly just attributes etc). I also have a Receptacle > table which is the uniqueid for every single receptacle, its type, > location, > and component list field. > I am struggling in several areas: > 1) I am not sure how to build the relationships, such that some > receptacles > have 'parents' or hierarchy and some do not. For example, a drawer within > a > chest of 20, or a single large cardboard box. > 2) How to construct forms that will change 'downstream' fields, dependent > upon a certain choice made in a combo box. Say if I select a chest drawer, > a > field will open to describe which chest > 3) How to set up forms for the most efficient data entry. > > I envisage visiting each receptacle with my laptop, entering the list of > components in it (briefly), the location of the receptacle, physically > labelling the receptacle with the uniqueid sticker, then moving to the > next. > Once that is done, I would go to each component, and flesh out the data > for > the attributes as necessary. Later on, it would be great to report all the > 'OPTO' components, so I could gather them all up and consolidate them into > grouped, or adjacent receptacles, updating the db as I did so. > An important attribute for each component would be a synonym field, so I > could query LED, led, LEDS, Light Emitting Diodes and find all of the > relevant records. > > Frankly, any advice, especially on where to begin, would be most > appreciated! > > Thanks in anticipation, > Roy. |