John R Bartow
jbartow at winhaven.net
Wed Dec 24 23:41:31 CST 2014
No insult intended, I do simple apps myself sometimes ;-) What you mention Charlotte is why, IMO, many database gurus have a thing about Access. A power user designs an app to do one thing and designs the backend to do one thing, disregarding the tenants of normalization. A few years later their asked to update it to do more things and it would take a redesign to accomplish it. We know that access can handle well planned normalized schemas, it's just that it doesn't have to. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 11:28 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] This seems to get me often Susan, I recognize your situation and understand. Just know that the simple apps have a way of sticking around forever and user appetites for new reports and features usually leads to a need for normalization. For me it's easier to just design that way from the start. I'm lazy! Charlotte On Dec 24, 2014 5:28 AM, "Susan Harkins" <ssharkins at gmail.com> wrote: > Charlotte, this makes perfect sense, but it isn't the way I would > approach it for a db I might be working on, but then, mine would be > small and specific. I know some of you use Access to create dbs with a > much broader scope and that definitely impacts your design. I think > perhaps the smaller the project, the more freedom you have -- I might > be wrong. :) > > It's kind of interesting because I downloaded a few knitting patterns > this morning and it hit me that designing a database is really a very > creative endeavor. You have a pattern, you have stitches that you know > and have used for years -- but still, we all seem to bring our own > personal process to the project. :) Another knitter can observe and > with a minimal amount of explanation from you, they might say, "That's > not how I would've done it, but that's nice!" :) > > When I stopped working in and writing about Access, I don't think I > realized how hard it would be to reclaim the skill. It's like riding a > bike right? Um... not for me. And speaking of... I tried riding a bike > with my granddaughter a few years back. That wasn't so easy either. :) > > Susan H. > > On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 8:02 PM, Charlotte Foust < > charlotte.foust at gmail.com> > wrote: > > > The donation table contains donation, amount, date, donorID, perhaps > > type of donation (i.e. pledge, lump sum, in kind, etc.). You have a > > persons table that includes a field for companyID because you > > probably want to address any thank yous to that person's attention > > at their company, if any. The Company table is just that, > > companies. It may have multiple addresses so those are linked to > > the persons table. If you put contacts into the company table, you > > will either wind up overwriting the contacts for future donations, > > or you'll have duplicates of the company for different contacts. > > The persons and companies table have addresses in an Address table whose PK is inserted as an FK in the appropriate table. > Does > > that seem any clearer? > > > > > > Charlotte > > > > On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Susan Harkins <ssharkins at gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > A donor can be an individual or an organization -- they're all donors. > > > Donor is the entity, the name and type of donor all belong to donor. > > Right? > > > > > > Susan H. > > > > > > On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Charlotte Foust < > > > charlotte.foust at gmail.com> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Not without denormalizing the table. > > > > > > > > Charlotte > > > > > > > > On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 4:32 PM, Susan Harkins > > > > <ssharkins at gmail.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > Is there anyway to have orgs and individuals in the same table? > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > AccessD mailing list > > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > -- > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com