recursive relationships hierarchical data dictionary

P

Paul

Overall goal: I am trying to create a data dictionary to define software
interfaces for a complex system.

What I have done:
I have defined a signal table. Each signal is comprised of one or more
parameters (which I select from a parameter table). Right now the parameter
table has fields (parameterID[PK], parameterName, type, min, max, comment,
....) for primitive types. So far so good. (OK, there are junction tables
for many-to-many relationships and other details, but those aren't important
for this discussion.)

What I need to do:
Now I want to set this up so that a parameter can be a composite
parameter--that is, it may be made up of one or more (sub)parameters. I want
to be able to select the (sub)parameters from the existing parameters--by
name!--with a combobox.

I found a page that looks pretty close to what I want to do
(http://allenbrowne.com/ser-06.html) but not exactly and I can't my model to
do quite what I think this example should get me to do. (In Access 2003 I
have to select join option 3, by the way, to get the right direction, by the
way.) In particular, I can't get the subparameter combobox to display the
parameter names.

Of course, I want a parameter to be able to have multiple (sub)parameters.
I'm not sure yet if a (sub)parameter can belong to several composite
parameters.

I'm new to Access and getting a bit lost this deep.

I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!
 
S

strive4peace

Hi Paul,

perhaps this will help...

Access Basics (on Allen Browne's site)
http://www.allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access

the first step, of course, is to define the structure. Do you have
nesting? By that, I mean, can one parameter be a subset of another?
The page you referenced was this type of relationship.

Once you read Access Basics and get a grip on your data structure (you
are the best one to decide), post back for more help

Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
:) have an awesome day :)
*
 
E

Evi

May I suggest also that you rename your min and max fields - these are
functions in access and Access gets snotty about field names which are
functions. Worse still, it doesn't tell you that's the problem, it will
suddenly cause a problem which won't go until you rename the fields.
Evi

strive4peace said:
Hi Paul,

perhaps this will help...

Access Basics (on Allen Browne's site)
http://www.allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access

the first step, of course, is to define the structure. Do you have
nesting? By that, I mean, can one parameter be a subset of another?
The page you referenced was this type of relationship.

Once you read Access Basics and get a grip on your data structure (you
are the best one to decide), post back for more help

Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
:) have an awesome day :)
*

Overall goal: I am trying to create a data dictionary to define software
interfaces for a complex system.

What I have done:
I have defined a signal table. Each signal is comprised of one or more
parameters (which I select from a parameter table). Right now the parameter
table has fields (parameterID[PK], parameterName, type, min, max, comment,
...) for primitive types. So far so good. (OK, there are junction tables
for many-to-many relationships and other details, but those aren't important
for this discussion.)

What I need to do:
Now I want to set this up so that a parameter can be a composite
parameter--that is, it may be made up of one or more (sub)parameters. I want
to be able to select the (sub)parameters from the existing parameters--by
name!--with a combobox.

I found a page that looks pretty close to what I want to do
(http://allenbrowne.com/ser-06.html) but not exactly and I can't my model to
do quite what I think this example should get me to do. (In Access 2003 I
have to select join option 3, by the way, to get the right direction, by the
way.) In particular, I can't get the subparameter combobox to display the
parameter names.

Of course, I want a parameter to be able to have multiple (sub)parameters.
I'm not sure yet if a (sub)parameter can belong to several composite
parameters.

I'm new to Access and getting a bit lost this deep.

I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!
 
S

strive4peace

Good point, Evi

'Type' is also a reserved word

Problem names and reserved words in Access, by Allen Browne
http://www.allenbrowne.com/AppIssueBadWord.html

Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
:) have an awesome day :)
*

May I suggest also that you rename your min and max fields - these are
functions in access and Access gets snotty about field names which are
functions. Worse still, it doesn't tell you that's the problem, it will
suddenly cause a problem which won't go until you rename the fields.
Evi

"strive4peace" wrote in message
Hi Paul,

perhaps this will help...

Access Basics (on Allen Browne's site)
http://www.allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access

the first step, of course, is to define the structure. Do you have
nesting? By that, I mean, can one parameter be a subset of another?
The page you referenced was this type of relationship.

Once you read Access Basics and get a grip on your data structure (you
are the best one to decide), post back for more help

Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
:) have an awesome day :)
*

Overall goal: I am trying to create a data dictionary to define software
interfaces for a complex system.

What I have done:
I have defined a signal table. Each signal is comprised of one or more
parameters (which I select from a parameter table). Right now the parameter
table has fields (parameterID[PK], parameterName, type, min, max, comment,
...) for primitive types. So far so good. (OK, there are junction tables
for many-to-many relationships and other details, but those aren't important
for this discussion.)

What I need to do:
Now I want to set this up so that a parameter can be a composite
parameter--that is, it may be made up of one or more (sub)parameters. I want
to be able to select the (sub)parameters from the existing parameters--by
name!--with a combobox.

I found a page that looks pretty close to what I want to do
(http://allenbrowne.com/ser-06.html) but not exactly and I can't my model to
do quite what I think this example should get me to do. (In Access 2003 I
have to select join option 3, by the way, to get the right direction, by the
way.) In particular, I can't get the subparameter combobox to display the
parameter names.

Of course, I want a parameter to be able to have multiple (sub)parameters.
I'm not sure yet if a (sub)parameter can belong to several composite
parameters.

I'm new to Access and getting a bit lost this deep.

I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!
 

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