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Taking tutorial, have question

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    Taking tutorial, have question

    Why map tables when my thought was a browse/query could return info, or a report could return?

    Man, am I only getting more confused!

    #2
    Re: Taking tutorial, have question

    Not sure which tutorial..but in general whenever you speak of "mapping" tables, you are referring to matching certain fields from one table to fields in another, or selecting certain fields from a table. A query on the other hand selects records, not fields. Those records could be ordered based on a certain value(s) from a field(s) in a table or a set.
    Does this clear things up or add more to the confusion?

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Taking tutorial, have question

      Maybe the bullet points here will help?

      http://support.alphasoftware.com/Wha...apped%20Tables
      -Steve
      sigpic

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Taking tutorial, have question

        Well the more I learn the more I become confused. The tutorial is an Alpha5 online tutorial.

        A mapped table looks to me to be the results of a query or a report (even with your definition I am confused). What difference does it make if it is querying the record or the combining the tables - if the end results shows the same?

        Oh, do I ever need a drink!

        I am not angry, mind you - just totally confused is all. My preconceived notion what databases were designed to do is now even more greek than the greek I thought it to be originally.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Taking tutorial, have question

          Let's try to talk about this with the report as a kind of central goal:

          Reports can be used to display information from "regular" tables, mapped tables, or sets. Reports are just graphical devices that are bound to a data source.

          So, if you're going to produce a report, you need the "right" data source. By that I mean that your table, mapped table, or set, need to have the data available for the report you want to produce.

          If all you're reporting is a customer list, then a report based on customer.dbf will serve you just fine.

          If you want to limit the customers shown on the report to, say, all customers in Maine, then a query would be used to query just those customers. Mostly I'm going to stay off the "query" stuff but it fits best right here.

          If you're reporting a list of customers and their invoices, then you'll need a report based on a set, where each customer and their many invoices can be available to the report.

          As for a mapped table, let's say that you have a customer.dbf and a car.dbf. We're going to assume that each customer has one car, and no more for this example. We'll further assume that both the customer.dbf and the car.dbf have a customer_id field.

          It makes little sense to combine customer.dbf and car.dbf into a single table -- they are different entities. But suppose you need to report all customers, and the color of their car. You could build a mapped table of customer.dbf and car.dbf that would make it easy to produce the report you need.

          This mapped table could also be used to display a browse of customers and the color of their car. It can also be used as a lookup table in the lookup field rules.

          With the report, you could use the mapped table's contents to limit the report only to customers in Maine, or only to Cars that are red, or to Customers in Maine with red cars.

          I know this might not illuminate everything clearly for you, but maybe the discourse will help.
          -Steve
          sigpic

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Taking tutorial, have question

            the ultimate goal is accurate data info to bill our customers for the storage(sort of rent) for space they use in our building to keep their product cold for certain length of time.

            We store (but "Lot" number, one unique number assigned to each semi tractor load of that product)...we need to keep track of each "pallet"/container of that product, how much it weighs (net,tare,pallet,gross wt), when it arrives, when it ships (and more...).

            Biggest thing is the revenue is based on gross weight and when arrives (in-out fee) then additionally at each month thereafter(based not on the day of the month but the number of days in the cooler).

            And yes there are more details I am leaving out...but ultimately records in each table (be it Lothead, Lotship, Plants, Locations, Shippers/Carriers,Products,Adj, Accting Calendar,On hand....) NO one table has more than 300 records in each table(one only has 7 records in it). IT is not a big project in size, and probably not that big a deal to recreate (for someone who is learned in this field) but frustrating to know from my point of view. to see the tables I wonder why he built them the way he did. To look at the tutorial I think that he may have made some oversights and harder than it should be. Then I have to think that it is my simpleton mind that is talking....and second guess myself. That more than anything else is why I belive I am confused. The logic of how he did it and what I see can be done.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Taking tutorial, have question

              The information stated by Mr. Steve was also helpful to me for understanding the whole issue with lessening the confusion over other tutorials. It was really useful.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Taking tutorial, have question

                Reading this prompted me to look up info on mapping tables but I can't find anything in the [wonderful?] Help file or tutorials. Anybody know where the heck it is?

                I've never needed to use mapped tables but, who knows, maybe there's a use somewhere I wasn't aware of and ended up doing it the hard way instead.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Taking tutorial, have question

                  Hi Cal,
                  This may give a start...in the What's New for version 9....

                  http://support.alphasoftware.com/Wha...apped%20Tables
                  Mike
                  __________________________________________
                  It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
                  It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
                  Henry David Thoreau
                  __________________________________________



                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Taking tutorial, have question

                    Thanks Mike.

                    So, can anybody give me an example of where a mapped table would be better, easier, whatever than just creating a set? Since everything in a mapped table must be a 1:1 link, I don't see the advantage but maybe I'm missing something. Or, maybe this was just to make the Access folks feel better because it looks a bit like one of their "queries" to me. (even down to using the term "join".)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Taking tutorial, have question

                      Originally posted by CALocklin View Post
                      Thanks Mike.

                      So, can anybody give me an example of where a mapped table would be better, easier, whatever than just creating a set? Since everything in a mapped table must be a 1:1 link, I don't see the advantage but maybe I'm missing something. Or, maybe this was just to make the Access folks feel better because it looks a bit like one of their "queries" to me. (even down to using the term "join".)
                      Cal

                      A field rule table lookup can only reference a table not a set. Since a mapped table is a table and not a set, you can use it in a field rule lookup and get information from multiple tables to select from/fill with.
                      Al Buchholz
                      Bookwood Systems, LTD
                      Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

                      Occam's Razor - KISS
                      Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
                      Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
                      When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
                      "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
                      Albert Einstein

                      http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Taking tutorial, have question

                        Thanks! A not-so-obvious advantage.

                        Worse yet. I feel kinda stupid now - I should have looked closer at the three "dotted" items near the top of the "what's new" text.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Taking tutorial, have question

                          Originally posted by CALocklin View Post
                          Thanks! A not-so-obvious advantage.

                          Worse yet. I feel kinda stupid now - I should have looked closer at the three "dotted" items near the top of the "what's new" text.
                          Even the GREAT ONES miss something once in a while. :D
                          Jeff Ryder

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