Re: Complicated query
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 00:30:56 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <m6nug0$lfq$3_at_dont-email.me>
On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 08:41:16 +1100, Geoff Muldoon wrote:
> sheldonlg_at_thevillages.net says...
>>
>> On 12/12/2014 10:11 AM, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>> > They are different answers to the question in that row. Each ROW has
>> > a different question - not each COLUMN. You don't have 18 columns -
>> > one for each question. You have 18 rows. Each row has the question
>> > and five possible answers.
>>
>> ...and you don't know what you are talking about. There is ONE row for
>> each instance and 18 columns, ONE column for ONE answer to each of the
>> 18 DIFFERENT questions for THAT instance --- in the design that the
>> person (philosopher??) suggested as a single table, NOT the actual
>> design that I was working with.
> > Hey, I have 18 different people working in my team. So under your > "logic" I don't really need a STAFF table, as I can just put them in one > column each!
No Geoff
Under his logic you place them in one row each
It's his use of the words "questions" and "answers" which are causing the upset, or rather other people's preconceived interpretations of what exactly questions and answers mean.
Think of the questions as being:
title?
firstname?
lastname?
dateOfBirth?
height?
weight?
hair colour?
eye colour?
nationality?
ethnicity?
sexuality?
gender?
relationshipStatus?
employmentStatus?
......
Then it makes perfect sense, for each instance (person) to have 1 record with all their answers in it.
Allow for the fact that the OP has no experience of richard and his agreement with richard's misguided crap is down to the fact that in fact yes, it is logical for each answer 1..n to be grouped in a single record, but richard's design is predicated on a totally different problem set to the OPs, ie richard is talking about a multiple choice quiz machine with n choices per question, whereas OP is talking about a related set of n values which are captured as the answers to n questions.
I don't know what the OPs questions actually are, but I'm damn sure having gone back and looked at OPs posts that my understanding of their database is a damn sight better than richard's.
-- Denis McMahon, denismfmcmahon_at_gmail.comReceived on Tue Dec 16 2014 - 01:30:56 CET