Re: What is Pick anyway?

From: x <x_at_not-exists.org>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 15:48:33 +0200
Message-ID: <dqg8f9$toq$1_at_domitilla.aioe.org>

"B Faux" <bdfaux_at_prodigy.net> wrote in message news:nsWxf.470$NS6.53_at_newssvr30.news.prodigy.com...

> ANY attribute (cell, field...) can contain an unlimited number of
'values', which can in turn
> contain an unlimited number of 'sub-values' (and in some implementations
> sub-sub-value, sub-sub-sub-value, etc.)

> So now we can model the example in
> a MV database with the multiple phone numbers, but I'll further complicate
> it by calling it 'contact data' allowing for pagers, email addresses, etc.
> In this case, we would benefit by creating two designated attributes in
the
> data record we'll call 'Contact_Type' and 'Contact_Data'. We will further
> establish these two fields as 'related' fields or 'controlling-dependent'
> related attributes.

How can one define two fields as "related" ?

> So extending the example above, the actual data as stored in the database
> looks something like this (please forgive formatting - these should
align):
>
> Field (attribute) - Description
> 0 - ID
> 1 - FIRSTNAME
> 2 - LASTNAME
> 3 - POSTALCODE
> 4 - CONTACT_TYPE
> 5 - CONTACT_DATA

> Notice no reserved space for 'CITY' or 'STATE' because these values are
> contained in a different file, the 'POSTAL file. We might benefit from
> creating a control file called 'CONTACT', but the data likely to be held
> there could also be in the dictionary item itself, if there are only a few
> types allowed. So we'll use the following: 'HP' for 'Home Phone', 'BP'
for
> 'Business Phone', 'MP' for 'Mobile Phone' and 'EM' for 'Email.'

With this design is it possible to store a contact data as being of multiple types ?
For example a list of contact addresses being of both e-mail and home types:

                 Home        Business
Phone        HP            BP
E-mail        HEM        BEM

In other words: In a type field is it possible to store a variable number of values ?
Is it possible to define three fields as "related" (T1,T2)-->V where (T1,T2) define the type for value(s) V?
What makes type fields different from other fields ? How many kinds of fields are there ?
What make them different ?

The following "design" is possible ?

> Field (attribute) - Description
> 0 - ID
> 1 - FIRSTNAME
> 2 - LASTNAME
> 3 - POSTALCODE
> 4 - CONTACT(TYPE, DATA)
If yes, what make it different from first design (ignoring physical file/disk layout). Received on Mon Jan 16 2006 - 14:48:33 CET