Please help get me started

[jwalter007]

I have used Access many version ago. I wrote 1 database but have since pretty much forgotten most of it. Im trying to create a database and need some help getting started.
I'm creating a database for herbs. I want to list the herb name some parameters that apply only to that herb. Then I have many parameters that are standard. For example...
Color is either Light beige, beige or dark beige.


Aroma is either Characteristic, light Characteristic, Grassy, Light Flowery
Similar for taste. So each of these attributes must come from an individual table & be selected from a drop down box on the herb entry form.
I was able to get this to work after creating a table that has columns for colorIR & color. Each color is listed in a separate row. Is this correct?

The next prob is that each herb needs to list what is used for. Some herbs will have many uses. Some only a few. This is where the main reason im building this comes in. I want to be able to search for condition & all herbs that treat that will show up. The conditions will sometimes be entered as a new condition while entering a new herb. Im completely lost on this. I was thinking it should be part of the herb table but that doenst seem right. If needed, I can post what I have so far. If you know of a similar database that I could reverse engineer, that would be great too.,
thanks

[June7]

Review http://forums.aspfree.com/microsoft-...es-208217.html

[jwalter007]

Thanks for that link. That helped. i was able to get my attribute tables set up properly. I have my color, aroma & taste set up in separate tables & they can be selected from the Herb Form.

Im still stuck though....
I can't figure out how to handle the conditions that each herb treats. The problem is that each herb has a different number of conditions that it treats. Some may only treat 2 while some may treat 20.
I dont want to have a ton of drop down boxes that are empty for the herbs that only treat a few conditions.
I would think it would be a pretty typical situation. There are probably many product databases that have many unused attributes for each product. Maybe some products need dimensions specified while other do not. Is it even possible to hide the unused attributes?
Thanks

[orange]

Research Normalization. Get your tables and relationships designed before you start worrying about drop down boxes.

Start here http://www.phlonx.com/resources/nf3/

If you prefer video then start here

Once you get an understanding of Normalization, you'll appreciate database a lot more.

Here are some links to videos and site that should help. These are geared to database design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiVq8M5DBkk Logical data modeling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGMwuOtRfqU Candidate key

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiB-BKCzS_I Normalization

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ47btpjAhA Normalization example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Wg2fZENK0 1st Normal form

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vji0pfliHZI 2nd Normal form

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH-QR7t-kMo 3rd Normal form

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1GaaGHHAqM E_R Diagramming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXAGQ8vmhCY ERD Part 2

See What is Normalization here also.

The first few topics are well worth the read.

http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/forum/topic238.html

For help with access generally, this link has been referenced often
http://www.accessmvp.com/strive4peace/ Lots of Access Syntax, rationale, samples etc.


Good luck with your project.

[jwalter007]

Thank you. Im watching the videos