[AccessD] More hi-jinks

[James Button]

Ah! - so you're getting that little something extra for Xmas!

Maybe you should also consider recording the ongoing weight of each animal in a
herd, while you are doing this addition
:)
And correlate that with the input of food and output of ...
:(

And - there will be conversion factors - 1 deer = 0.002 of a tiger
1 grasshopper = nnn ants of type,
 

So - reality:

Consider - is it appropriate to have a 'type' indicator and include the groups
into the main database, or better to have them recorded in additional separate
tables using their own forms set and additional 'Union's

Me, I'd tend to include them with the extra entry of type and group-id  and then
you only need special tables for a very few processes related to that type -
such as add to, or remove from a the specific group of that type 

Maybe an indicator to indicate if the being is to be managed as an individual,
but also as part of the indicated group 
Then you can start considering the additional action forms needed to relate to
the group - as in feed/day, and cost of that food.
And - the follow up - food procurement sources, quality checking on receipt,
storage requirements, max and actual amounts (volume and/or weight)  and quality
checking on extraction from the store
And together with that there will be the daily input (from where) and output (to
where/what) 


Maybe it's also time to review your documentation process for the application -
and it's saleability - you're getting into a fully fledged vertical application.
I did one of them - and I get a small retainer for keeping the app going at it's
many client sites, each with slight specialisation & modifications.
(The company that employed me to developed it has gone bust - so the base code
is not owned, but the version tweaked by me  is - it's Mine!)

JimB 


-----Original Message-----
From: AccessD [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of FW
Salato Center
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 7:17 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: [AccessD] More hi-jinks

Just when I thought I had this thing mastered - I will never volunteer to write
another simple database. ;)

I think you all know the main problem - the distinction between individuals and
species tasks. With the medical/vaccine, I provided a second form for species
and used a Recordset to update all animals of the same species when tested,
vaccinated, and so on. The form displays a list of individuals in that species
and the user can remove an individual. We can also update an individual within
that species as necessary, and it often is. We have one bison cow that receives
a lot of specialized care that the others don't need.

New complication - food. We've just started working on the food structure - the
longer I chew, the bigger it grows. :(

Food for the individual animals is easy to track - amount in, amount removed
from previous feeding. These animals are all fed as individuals.

We have several species that are fed as a group. There's no way to divvy up that
feed by individual, so the medical/vaccine solution or specifying a vaccine or
treatment and updating all of the animals in that species doesn't work. I can't
update each individual because there's no way to track how much each individual
ate on a given day, if any at all. The herd or flock is fed and I can track the
herd, but there is no "herd" or "flock" entity for these species. They're all
identified as individuals, because we need them ided that way. As I mentioned
before, we have a bison cow that needs medical care that none of the others do
(and she often does). They need individual status.

I'm seriously considering just throwing in an entity called "deer stock," "bison
stock," "turkey stock" - and so on. Perhaps I need a second table of herd/flock
types and then I can always use a UNION when I need to combine individuals and
groups for some reason. That probably complicates date entry - but I'm using
multiple data entry forms for individual/stock conflicts, so that's not really
all that new.

I just have no idea where this is going to lead at the moment.

I should be home knitting and dividing flowers in my yard.

Susan H.


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