Relational DB

[Amerine]

I am trying to finish a degree in the IT field. I have a project to make a
DB with three tables and three queries. I am computer savvy, but I am having
a mind block when it comes to creating a relational database within access.
My project has to do with making a movie collection DB. I was hoping someone
could help get me started. I made a movie table, actor table, and a few
other tables concerning genre, format, and rating, but can't seem to make it
work. Could use some good advice, along with some guidance in the right
direction.

 

[PC Datasheet]

Open Access. Click on Open -New. You'll see the list of pre-built templates
that come with Access. There's one there that is exactly what you are
looking for.

--
PC Datasheet
Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications
(e-mail address removed)
www.pcdatasheet.com

If you don't get the help you need in the newsgroup, I can help you for a
very reasonable fee.
Over 1000 Access users have come to me for help.
Remember that a lone man built the Ark. A large group of professionals built
the Titanic.

 

[Vincent Johns]

Open Access. Click on Open -New. You'll see the list of pre-built templates
that come with Access. There's one there that is exactly what you are
looking for.

What PC Datasheet suggests may be just what you want (actually, I wasn't
sure which wizard he was suggesting -- perhaps "Asset Tracking" or
"Inventory Control"), but it's also possible that some of the suggested
Tables and Fields in the template will specify information you won't
need, so you'll have to go through and delete the extra ones.

Since you've already begun setting up your database, you might instead
want to consider using the New Table Wizard to look at some of the
sample Tables that Access offers, that you can add to your existing
database. Choose "Personal", then [Recordings] or [Recording Artists]
or [Video Collection] -- any of these will have helpful suggestions
about fields that you might consider including in the specified Table.
You can use any or all of them, and add your own fields if you wish.

What didn't work? I assume that [movie] contains movie information and
[actor] contains actor information, presumably linked to [movie]. My
guess is that you'll need a 3rd Table to support a many-to-many
relationship -- each record in this [ActorInMovie] Table will represent
the appearance of some one actor in some (one) movie, allowing you to
list all the actors for a given movie and to list all the movies in
which a given actor appeared. Stuff like that. I assume also that this
is what you've been learning in class.

If you can be more specific about what didn't work, you can probably get
more helpful advice here. But there is also something to be said for
figuring out for yourself how to solve problems -- each one you solve
yourself makes the next one easier, so I suggest you ask for help only
when you're really stuck. Good luck.

-- Vincent Johns <[email protected]>
Please feel free to quote anything I say here.