[AccessD] OT a little - Code Tables

JWColby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Tue Apr 24 10:13:05 CDT 2007


Which little ditty is that?  Are you referring to SysVars? 


John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 10:39 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT a little - Code Tables

Hi Ed,
My ponderings...

I've seen codes like this before - in a USDA database.

I've seen arguments on both sides as to its compliance with relational
theory. In any case IMO it is a confusing way to handle lookup values as it
(obviously) contains more than one type of value. As long as you retain the
same programmer it probably doesn't matter - but who can do that anymore? So
all I can advise is to document, document, document!

The one exception IMO for holding more than one type of value in a lookup
table is if the item will _never_ have more than one value - then JC's
little ditty works nice. In that case it is handled via code not relational
structure.

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Tesiny, Ed
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 9:00 AM
To: dba-ot at databaseadvisors.com; Access Developers discussion and problem
solving
Subject: [AccessD] OT a little - Code Tables

Hi All,
I'm not familiar enough with SQL Server but I have a question regarding what
I call Code Tables.  I use them a lot when I develop an application in
Access, e.g., I'll have a table for counties i.e., county code and county
name or Providers, Provider code and Provider Name.  I have them as separate
tables.  I'm trying to make sense out of the tables and relationships "my"
programmer created.  He has one code table period!
Below is a look as to how it is setup.
 
dbo_tblCodes
CodeType	 CodeId	 CodeName	 OrderOnForm	
Ethnicity	 1	 Puerto Rican	 1	
Ethnicity	 2	 Mexican	 2	
Ethnicity	 3	 Cuban	 3	
Ethnicity	 4	 Other Hispanic	 4	
Ethnicity	 5	 Hispanic, Not Specified/Known	 5	
Ethnicity	 7	 Not of Hispanic Origin	 6	
Ethnicity	 9	 Don't Know/No Answer	 7	
Gender	 1	 Male	 10	
Gender	 2	 Female	 20	
Health	 1	 Poor	 5	
Health	 2	 Fair	 10	
Health	 3	 Good	 15	
Health	 4	 Very Good	 20	
Health	 5	 Excellent	 25	
Health	 9	 Don't Know/No Answer	 80	
 
This is just a little bit of the table but I think you can see his "logic"
here.  Is this a common convention that developers use?  Hate to see what
else I'm going to find as I try to wade through this.
TIA
Ed
 
 
Edward P. Tesiny
Assistant Director for Evaluation
Bureau of Evaluation and Practice Improvement New York State OASAS 1450
Western Ave.
Albany, New York  12203-3526
Phone:  (518) 485-7189
Fax:  (518) 485-5769
Email: EdTesiny at oasas.state.ny.us
 
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