quote:
Originally posted by:
Dan Bracuk
quote:
Originally posted by:
Newsgroup User
And then start planing for the normalization of your database
because that is a classic de-normalized pattern that just leads to
more and more difficulties maintaining your application. Just like
this one you have just experienced!
That wasn't my interpretation. I have some reports where the
contents of a select clause depend on user input. It results in a
similar scenario to what was described in the OP.
Or maybe the OP was trying to write generic code that could
be applied to arbitrary tables.
That was the situation which resulted in my question that you
and Ian answered so helpfully: I use an Access template in which
there are forms to facilitate entry of value lists (list-id, value,
and label) and a metatable that describes each column of the actual
working table , identifies any value-list that column references,
and includes the prompt and (after processing) the HTML for that
web page element. After I define the working table in the metatable
I run a VB procedure that creates the working table and generates
all the HTML in the metatable. Finally my generic ASP (and, coming
soon, ColdFusion) references the metatable and the working table to
generate an empty form, display a form populated from a DB row for
editing, assign form values to a DB row, or delete a DB row. Same
code, any table; all I have to do is define the table and the
value-lists it needs.
This is a wonderful tool for me in a Social Sciences
department where the Professors are always designing surveys to
gather data. I can deplay a web-based survey in a few hours, and,
with your help and many hours poring over manuals, I have the first
example working in ColdFusion. And, incidentally, the ColdFusion
version is way tidier, more compact, and more readable than the ASP
version.
Dan, I'll be happy to answer other peoples' questions as soon
as I am more confident in my knowlege of ColdFusion!
-Richard
--
Richard Hopley
Research Associate
Department of Social Science and Health Policy
Wake Forest University Medical School
Winston-Salem, NC