Maybe this is a better question for the Database Design section, but I'm not even really that far yet.
So what I'm trying to do is create an inventory tracking database that tracks my inventory. (Fairly Simple right?)
Here's the kicker, each item has varying numbers of properties I want to track and they do not each share the same properties. Without going into too much detail about the project, here's an example:
Item A, properties: Shiny (reflects 50% of light), Liquid ( Viscosity of 8)**
Item B, properties: Weight ( 30 lbs), Height ( 3 ft.), Speed (5 mph)
Item C,
Item D,
etc...
**i don't know what viscosity is measured in, that may make no sense... sorry!
Item A might not have a Height value so I don't want to track it, but if i pulled a list of my inventory, I don't want there to be a whole string of zeros or blanks where properties don't apply.
There is a set list of possibilities for the properties (and possible ranges for those values), but it is a fairly long list so if i pull a list i don't want to have to scroll 10 pages to the right on each item that may only have 3 properties. I just can't wrap my head around an easy way to design this...
I could have a table with each possible property and it's value range, but then I can't think of how to attach it to the items themselves... Any ideas out there?