You mentioned using queries and switchboards in my final
project which I'm definitely going to create when I learn how.
The scope of my database has changed a little. Initially I was
just going to make tables of books, but I decided that while
I'm at it I might as well add Movies and TV Series to the mix.
I'm also considering making a table for games since my husband
and I have quite a collection of board and card games. Video
games may get their own table or be added to the game tables.
As I'm still trying to decide that you'll notice I don't have a
game table in my database yet.
I will have tables for books, movies, tv series, and possibly
games by the end of my project. These tables will have useful
information. Major information such as titles, authors, and
genres are included along with more specific information. For
example, my movie table contains a field to enter the length of
the movie so we can see at a glance whether we want to take the
time to watch a particular movie. In the books table I have a
check-box that lets me know whether a book is child-appropriate
or not. I will check (or not check) these boxes as I read so I
can remember what books to recommend to the youth I work with
at church as well as to community members in libraries I may
work in.
Books, Movies, TV series, and Games don't always relate to each
other, but sometimes movies or TV shows are based off of books,
and games are often based off of movies. Thus, I am relating the tables by those things that they are likely to have in common such as book titles. I thought about relating all the tables by genre, but I am allowing myself to apply multiple genres to a single record so I can't relate them across tables. I may change that, but I hate only being able to choose one genre when multiple ones apply. I didn't put very many records into my tables just in case I have to change something major or start all over again to get everything to relate better. As is I had a lot of fun learning how to make simple forms so I could enter the data into the tables faster. I'm looking forward to continuing this coming week.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
My Initial Database Concept
Ever since High School I’ve had a hard time keeping track of what books I have in my collection already. Now that I’m married, it’s even harder to remember which books my husband and I own and where they are. Some are in Fairbanks with us, but more are stored with our parents. Thus, I’ve decided that I’d like to begin a library catalogue of sorts. Also since I’m starting my graduate degree next year in library sciences, this should help me learn about some of the challenges of library databases.
For the scope of this class I’ll only be able to add the books that I actually have here with me, but this summer we’re moving down to the lower forty-eight so we’ll have to go through everything anyway so I could add the rest in as we go. I may even turn it into a media database in general with CDs and movies as well. I’ll have to see as I get going since it could take a while to enter that much data.
I’d like to make this database as user friendly (or more) as a public library system. Forms will be a big part of the construction of the database. I’ll need forms for inputting data into tables, and if there’s some way to make a form that will search for specific fields such as title, author, ISBN, or genre, that would also be great. Also I like the idea of having a “home” form pop up right when the database is started, like in the Northwind Traders example. This could even have links to genres, favorite authors or series.
I’m trying to figure out how queries would be useful right at first, and I’m sure I’ll think of something. I know that reports from queries could come in very useful when I want to go shopping for new books in a series and I want to quickly know which ones I have so I don’t buy repeats. Perhaps I’ll even have a special table just for books I want to get in the future with costs and printing dates.
I did some research to see how difficult it would be to use the Dewey Decimal system to categorize my books, but if I really wanted to be thorough I’d have to buy a few code generators to stay updated. I think that for a home library, information you’d look up at a book store will be sufficient.
My ultimate goal is to have some way of managing all the books my husband and I own so we can easily and quickly see what they are and where they’re stored. As I’ve mentioned before this project could readily be expanded to include other forms of media if I find it necessary in the future. I think this project could be fun, useful, and also help better prepare me for my chosen career path.
For the scope of this class I’ll only be able to add the books that I actually have here with me, but this summer we’re moving down to the lower forty-eight so we’ll have to go through everything anyway so I could add the rest in as we go. I may even turn it into a media database in general with CDs and movies as well. I’ll have to see as I get going since it could take a while to enter that much data.
I’d like to make this database as user friendly (or more) as a public library system. Forms will be a big part of the construction of the database. I’ll need forms for inputting data into tables, and if there’s some way to make a form that will search for specific fields such as title, author, ISBN, or genre, that would also be great. Also I like the idea of having a “home” form pop up right when the database is started, like in the Northwind Traders example. This could even have links to genres, favorite authors or series.
I’m trying to figure out how queries would be useful right at first, and I’m sure I’ll think of something. I know that reports from queries could come in very useful when I want to go shopping for new books in a series and I want to quickly know which ones I have so I don’t buy repeats. Perhaps I’ll even have a special table just for books I want to get in the future with costs and printing dates.
I did some research to see how difficult it would be to use the Dewey Decimal system to categorize my books, but if I really wanted to be thorough I’d have to buy a few code generators to stay updated. I think that for a home library, information you’d look up at a book store will be sufficient.
My ultimate goal is to have some way of managing all the books my husband and I own so we can easily and quickly see what they are and where they’re stored. As I’ve mentioned before this project could readily be expanded to include other forms of media if I find it necessary in the future. I think this project could be fun, useful, and also help better prepare me for my chosen career path.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)