Putting It Together: Improving Data Entry / Restructuring the Database File
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Subtitles of the Movie
Before moving on I want to take a look at the database and show you how the relationships have been setup and talk a little bit about how you could structure the files that support this example. Remember the invoice example is based on a join table called invoices which has links to the customers table and to the line items table. It is very similar to the way you construct a report card join table with links to student and to individual grades. The data basically lives in these two tables. and, the join table really has nothing except links and one other piece of information it has here is a filed called date which identifies the date of the invoice. This case all 3 tables are in one file. In the real world they could all be in one file, they might be in two files or in three files. Typically if you are working in an environment with a large number of databases and database tables. What you may find is that you have a database file that contains a customers table and tables that are closely related to customers. For example your customers table may have a one to many link to addresses because a single customer might have a number of addresses. And , it would make sense for a database file to contain a customers table and the addresses table. Likewise the line items table might be in a database file that dealt with inventory. It will contain line items of items that have been sold and invoice might contain line items of items that have been ordered on purchase order. So there might be a number of different types of line items. They may be in one table, line items for invoices and purchase orders or they may be in several tables in line items table separately for invoices and purchase orders. But, if you have such architecture where you have inventory in one database file, customers in another, you might want to place your invoices join table in a third database file and create tables using file references to get to the database files that contain the other tables. Further, on the issue of architecture you might want to come along and say that your invoices join table is in its own database file, you also conceivably would have one database file that contains your inventory items, line items for purchase order and invoices. Another database file that contains customer information including addresses and a third database file that contains all of your join tables. So, the invoices table would be in there as well as any other tables that joined the other two or may be more databases files together. There is no one right way to structure database files and as you are developing FileMaker solutions, what you will do often is you are building on things that have been already built. So, you may not have a choice of where the tables are but since you can always create a new table in any database file with the file reference and access it through the relationship graph, it does not really matter where the tables are in most cases.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | FileMaker Pro 7 |
| Author: | Jesse Feiler |
| SKU: | 33495 |
| ISBN: | 1-932072-88-8 |
| Release Date: | 2004-05-28 |
| Duration: | 8 hrs / 137 lessons |
| Captions: | For Online University members only |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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