The first part, and most important, of a database is the planning. What kind of information are you going to be working with? What type of table structure would best suit it? Will you need to use more than one table format?
Without knowing much about how MySQL really works, it may be hard to do all of this planning. Before going head on into programming a database, take a step back and think about what you are using the database for.
An address book application may need only one table. It can hold columns representing name, address, phone number, and so forth.
Address_Book
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address |
phone number |
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Some elaborate applications may entail many tables. One that will hold product information, one to hold buyer information, one to hold seller information, one to hold catagories information, and so on.
My_Store
| Catagory number |
Description |
Quantity |
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| Vendor number |
Company Name |
Contact number |
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| Buyer number |
Company Name |
Contact number |
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| Take a pencil and paper, sit down for a while, and try to organize the layout. Draw a grid of rows and columns. Put titles in the top of the columns. Start a new grid page if you have a new catagory.
This can be the hardest part of creating a database. Don't worry about the exact layout. It may change as you progress through the database creation anyways. Just try to have a good idea on the kind of layout you would like to achieve.
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Article by David Stanley. Visit his site http://www.htmlite.com. Reprinted with permission.
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