K
kristinem
Hello! While I'm not new to flat databases, I am new to relational databases.
I've been trying to build a database to keep track of my inventory of
scrapbooking supplies which is getting to a point where i can't remember what
i own or what's left of a particular product. I discussed the design of my
database with my coworker (who's specialty is database administration) and he
recommended a one-to-one relationship between the tables in my design.
However, reading some of the posts here, I'm beginning to wonder if that
really is the right way to go about it and I figured I'd ask for some advice.
Here's what I thought of so far:
GeneralProductInfo Table - This will house the basic fields that each record
will have such as ProductName, ProductQuantity, ProductManufacturer, etc.
ProductCategory Table - To hold the different product categories.
InkProducts Table - This will contain the fields specifically for ink
products.
PaperProducts Table - This will contain fields specifically for paper
products
(and so on for the remaining product categories)
All products will use the fields in the GeneralProductInfo table, but will
only occupy a record in one of the catagory tables depending on the kind of
product it is. A product will never need to use more than one of the category
tables.
At first I thought of throwing everything into one database, but it didn't
seem right having all those null fields, and then that's when I came up with
this. However, now I'm wondering if I should have a table for each category
containing both the general product fields and its corresponding category
fields. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is the one-to-one relationship
design too complicated for this purpose? Thanks!
I've been trying to build a database to keep track of my inventory of
scrapbooking supplies which is getting to a point where i can't remember what
i own or what's left of a particular product. I discussed the design of my
database with my coworker (who's specialty is database administration) and he
recommended a one-to-one relationship between the tables in my design.
However, reading some of the posts here, I'm beginning to wonder if that
really is the right way to go about it and I figured I'd ask for some advice.
Here's what I thought of so far:
GeneralProductInfo Table - This will house the basic fields that each record
will have such as ProductName, ProductQuantity, ProductManufacturer, etc.
ProductCategory Table - To hold the different product categories.
InkProducts Table - This will contain the fields specifically for ink
products.
PaperProducts Table - This will contain fields specifically for paper
products
(and so on for the remaining product categories)
All products will use the fields in the GeneralProductInfo table, but will
only occupy a record in one of the catagory tables depending on the kind of
product it is. A product will never need to use more than one of the category
tables.
At first I thought of throwing everything into one database, but it didn't
seem right having all those null fields, and then that's when I came up with
this. However, now I'm wondering if I should have a table for each category
containing both the general product fields and its corresponding category
fields. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is the one-to-one relationship
design too complicated for this purpose? Thanks!