Re: Database design question


"rkc" <rkc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:bgztf.47195$XJ5.25586@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> MP wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > NB I've been trying to make it clear that I'm not using Access.
> > Since I was also (cross)posting to an access group as well as the ado
groups
> > I tried to be clear about that.
> > "context: vb6/ado/.mdb/jet 4.0 (no access)/sql"
>
> <snip>
>
> > Thanks again for all your help.
> > I hope Lyle isn't going to get too mad at you for helping me.
>
> Are you getting any input from any of the other groups you have
> posted to?
>
> No?
>
> That's because you haven't explained what a 'component' is or even
> what the purpose of storing one is.

my apologies if I wasn't clear on that.
In my first post I was striving for brevity.
after getting the ok from James to post an overview I went into more detail
(apparently too much detail for Lyle <g>) for example my post of 12/22/05 at
9:02 above has what I thought was a fairly clear, if abbreviated, overview
of my general problem domain (even though I'm still leaving out a lot of
details that I'll have to figure out eventually...I thought I should pare
things down to just the basics to keep it as brief as possible)


> You have only tried to explain
> your own attempt at designing tables.

Well, again, sorry if I posted inappropriately, in most of the other code
ngs people like to see that the op is at least trying to do something on
their own and then asking for help
like, this is what I'm trying..what am I doing wrong or how can this be
done better...
that's what my intention was in showing how I imagined (in my admitted
inexperience) a table design might look like.
Not sure how I should be approaching this if everything I've done so far has
been wrong!
:-)

>
> You must be handling this information in some way now.
> How?
>

as I mentioned in my post of 12/30/05 at 1:21am
"(I am currently storing and sorting the familyname, featureCode, and Length
in Scripting.Dictionaries and collections...the idea of moving to database
makes it much more powerful and flexible..."

> When you view a 'report' on a component, what does it look like
> now? Maybe post a picture of a few for download somewhere (not as an
> attachment here) if you can.

I havent' yet designed the reports...at this point our company doesnt' use
databases at all.
We're a small company, (no one here is a professional programmer). I'm
trying to learn ways to improve how they do things now.
We deal with (cad) drawings. Our end product is a dwg of a building with
each piece labled with a name or piecemark. A1, A2, B1, B2 etc. We also
have to derive a list of how many A1's A2's etc. Right now it's all done by
"hand", someone looks at the dwg, counts the pieces and assembles a count
"manually".
I'm trying (on my own time, and not being a professional programmer) to
develop a system that will be of use to the company in automating to some
extent and eliminating some human error.

> The only way I know of 'normalizing' data is to start from a
> required/desired view of that data.
>

Though it's probably not what you would consider a "Report" as such, the
information I want to extract has two levels of detail...one for the job as
a whole and the other for each individual piece on the job.
Individual:
Piecemark: A1
SectionFileName: "A-Section.dwg"
Length: 12"
Count: 24
CuFt: 1
Weight: 150

Job Report:
Job Number: 12345
Piece Count List:
A1 - 24
A2 - 36
B1 - 123
B2 - 3
etc

Although "reports" are apparently the end product of most databases, in our
case I was looking at the possibility of entering items into our drawings
(in various ways using code and the api of our drawing program) by reading
data stored in the database in various tables and putting that data into
different parts of different drawings where it's required. So I don't have
a large list of "Reports" as such which I need to output. I can see that
that will be an added advantage in the future if I can figure out how to
store the data in the first place. Once I started researching databases I
began to see all kinds of possibilities that could improve how we do things.
At this point it's just ideas in my head that I'm trying(with the generous
help of people here) to find ways to implement.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone here, or misused this public forum.
Since I'm just beginning I don't know how to ask the right questions in the
briefest manner while including all salient information.

I'm certainly open to constructive criticism...even destructive
criticism...what the heck <g>... as long as no one starts hitting <vbg>

Thanks to all for their help and advice
Mark


.

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