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Still struggling with normalization

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    #16
    Re: Still struggling with normalization

    Originally posted by netgeorger View Post
    The simple letter examples I have seem to assume one will only talk to one person with one address and not mention other people or their addresses in the same LETTER.
    It is difficult to understand what exactly you are after. Do you mean that you wish to send the same letter/report/whatever to multiple people? If so, that is very easy to do. My sample actually included something like that. OR, do you mean, that your letter, to one or more persons, needs to include other names/info from your tables? The latter would be more complex, but doable, assuming there is a certain logic and pattern at work.
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

    [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


    Comment


      #17
      Re: Still struggling with normalization

      Steve thanks for the reply. It is true that what I want to do from the database is to be at least the source for the merge document.
      If not be able to create the document in Alpha. I thought I would be able to split my big record up into tables use them to store all the different data and then get
      them back together in one record. based on the superkey of Client_Id. As it is, mountains of fields in the one record are blank but are there because
      it is possible they would need to be used in the merge document. The assignment process of setting the fields would select out the data
      I needed and create the result. When I started experimenting with Alpha I slipped a rich text field into a report and
      pasted the form into it then selected a record with some of the assignments to fields I had managed to get to work and I could get the data in there.
      but this is one big record that is mostly empty. So I started to look at the normalization process and what it would take to get the
      database to be normalized and then fill in the form. Eventually I will have to get the real data per client into one table to make the report or letter whichever
      will look best or work. If I have to send the data to a merge in Word or WordPerfect It would be better to have only one table to go from. So here I started to look at temporary tables and result tables and the like which I am not really familiar with. I mean, only the data I need to make the document should be sent over to the merge or in the one table that is used for the report. I have all these possible fields but I only want the ones that are used.
      In WordPerfect I would send everything and the merge would only put what was in the fields and this worked. Its is just that it seemed to be error prone and getting the address database to take things from the client database was confusing even though it would work. In Lotus Approach there wasn't any hope of using the database to actually create a document but in Alpha there seems there is.
      Thanks
      George R. Kenney

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Still struggling with normalization

        OR, do you mean, that your letter, to one or more persons, needs to include other names/info from your tables? The latter would be more complex, but doable, assuming there is a certain logic and pattern at work.
        __________________
        Peter
        Yes that's it. there are documents that will mention the names of various people, children, spouse etc. some of the documents can also have a reference to addresses of different people twice in the same document the same address is shown at the top of the document then again at the bottom for two different people. I can manage this in a WordPerfect merge I don't have a clue as how to do that in Word but I suppose there is a way. There is a logic to the information flow in the document, in that each paragraph or section deals with certain aspects and therefore inherently deal with certain assignment rolls WordPerfect brings all of these different documents together into one. Alpha can also put conditional paragraphs into a letter or RTF field as I understantd it. Steve mentions that letters should only be a few pages and can't reach out to more than one table but that a report could. I thought these fields in Alpha memo and Rtf fields were unlimited in size and I have pasted a full 40 page document into an RTF field in a Report. Getting the documents to look good well that could be a problem we are dealing though with documents that have been tediously and expertly worked out over 20 years. so at this point it is just slipping in the information or a conditional paragarph under certain circumstances.
        Thank you for your consideration.
        Sincerely
        George R. Kenney

        Comment


          #19
          Re: Still struggling with normalization

          George,

          I never found a document, letter or any kind of report I could not make, duplicate or fill-n with alpha5v7. That is not saying one will not come along. I typically work with reports and send many letters, Birthday cards, christmas cards(too), each month/year by way of reports. I can filter as needed. I also have a way that my end users can put in their own wording by way of notepad.

          My point is, You can do it all in Alpha. It will take a little learning and experimentation.

          were I making a db like you want, I might would make one table with a code for each family and repeat the code for that family that would connect them. Then put a field for relation to the first/top member. Another way would be to add tables in layers(not my way to do it) like parent, child, gchild, ggchild.

          Were I really wnating something hot or to sell, I would make 2 tables. Table1(master) would contain the person1 and all info with a code of some kind in a field to connect relatives to. Table 2 would be connected by a matching code for each relative. That way I can choose a person from master and prnt their info and also a list of all relatives. Conversely, I could send a letter to the master and all connected relatives.

          As far as naming, I prefer "relation prefix fname mname lname suffix" if that helps you.

          Dave
          Dave Mason
          [email protected]
          Skype is dave.mason46

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Still struggling with normalization

            Originally posted by netgeorger View Post
            I thought these fields in Alpha memo and Rtf fields were unlimited in size and I have pasted a full 40 page document into an RTF field in a Report.
            George,

            I would put that 40 pages of text in a memo field as part of a record. Then have your report print the memo field. As Dave says, with some effort and experimentation, you should be able to produce reasonable duplicates of your current letters/reports.
            Peter
            AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

            [email protected]
            https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


            Comment


              #21
              Re: Still struggling with normalization

              Dave
              Thanks for the input. I was getting worried. Using the Dbf Peter
              gave me I created a letter and pasted the 40 page document into
              an RTF field. It was a bit of a trick because for some reason
              every time I tried to past into it I got a double backslash // and
              no text eventually I just deleted the rtf given and pasted directly ctrl V
              and this automatically created an RTF object with the forty page
              document in there. Naturally, I had to reformat and set the page
              breaks. I had to find the famous allow growth check box under properties.
              Then I could print the whole document with page numbers.
              With the Rtf I can use the power of expressions and conditional
              phrases. It looks very promising basing the letter on the set I can
              paste fields from the set into the document. So I think the thing will
              do what I want if I can figure how to get the fields to output the data
              I want. trick will be to find a way to boil everything into one record in the
              the end which may be a bit to do. However there are more potential fields
              than actual fields in the final production.
              As far as normalization goes I can see that when there are
              two different addresses for billing they will put Address1 and Address2
              this is blatantly not normalized form but then there are probably only
              two or three addresses ever possible per record. With cousins though
              my wife has forty and I only have eight. To write a sentence with their
              names I need to figure out how to set their individual names into a generic
              field or figure out how to translate a generic field to a specific field or
              something. Obviously this is the trick I am looking for. Somewhere I saw
              something about using Collections or Arrays for something like this. collections
              seem to be able to go directly to the record and pull out the data and then the fields can be addressed by a prefix index. I DON�T really know how to
              use them here or if they are appropriate or even needed.
              Anyway, I appreciate all advice and observations.
              Sincerely George R. Kenney.

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Still struggling with normalization

                Peter
                Thanks for your advice I am still playing with the dbf you gave me.
                It is simple and clean enough I can see what I am doing. So I will
                try one thing at a time. Thanks a lot
                George R. Kenney

                Comment

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