Normalization advice

[Shirley]

Upon examining my structure, I see a field that I'm filling in with "Paid" or "UnPaid" (calculated based on balance). Am I correct in thinking I should change that to a logical field and display the words "Paid" or "Unpaid" on the form with an expression? I'm not very far into this so it would be easy enough to change. I don't know if the processing power it takes to calculate what to display on the form is important or if there's a big difference between space the 6 characters take to store "UnPaid" vs. the 1 character to store "T". Or if I'm thinking too hard.

TIA
Shirley

[AaronBBrown]

RE: Normalization advice

The space isn't a big issue until you start dealing with millions of records, but since "Paid" is a logical concept (you have either paid your bill or not paid your bill), I'd use a logical field. It will make UI development easier and help prevent errors like someone typing "PIAD" or "NUPAID" into the field.

[G Gabriel]

RE: Normalization advice

In terms of saving, you will be saving peanuts by switching to logical field. With today's hard drive sizes this is really negligible.
The calc field that will translate the logical field into a text field will calculate every time you scroll through the records. Again, with today's RAM and CPU speed, this is measuable probably in nano seconds.
There is hardly much difference between either choices.
What you realy need is: neither!!
If the field will show "Paid" or "Unpaid" based on the balance, all you need is a calc field on the form to do just that !
You are thinking very hard ....so hard you overlooked the main point!
Gabe

[Shirley]

RE: Normalization advice

Man, you're smart.

Thanks a zillion.
Shirley

[T Sayers]

RE: Normalization advice

Any reason why you couldn't use a "Date_Paid" field? That would enable searching for both paids...
query.filter = isnotblank("date_paid")

...and for items paid on both specific dates...
dim shared searchdate as D
searchdate = {01/01/1900}
query.filter = "DATE_PAID = searchdate"

...and for groups of dates...

dim shared first as D
dim shared last as D
first = {01/01/1900}
last = {12/31/2003}
query.filter = between_date("Paid_Date", First, Last)

Regards,
Trevor