Re: Front end options & database design

<anasttin_at_excite.com> wrote in message
news:1138846252.384739.179300_at_z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I need to set up a generic table in Oracle that allows users to enter
> data that can later be retrieved in reports.
>
> I was thinking of a 3 column table in this structure:
>
> DATE,ITEM,VALUE
>
> figuring that you can store anything in this way because ITEM can be
> anything and you can have multiple instances of a particular value by
> having a new date.
>
> Does that seem reasonable?
>
> In any case, what are my user front end options? I was thinking a
> Microsoft Access database but its not ideal because not everyone here
> has Access?
>
> Can you do it with Excel? Or what other options are there as a simple
> user front end to enter the data?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
>
> Kim
>

a single generic table is not a good idea at all, and will not provide any benefit

are you familiar with relational database design? if not, that would be a good place to start

you could take a look at the HTML DB developer's guide to get some ideas on how to set up a simple application -- and then you could use HTML DB (which appears to have been renamed to ApEx in the last few hours) to build your initial application.

++ mcs Received on Wed Feb 01 2006 - 22:28:24 CST