> > OK then > Try this > > Table : Books > bookID integer > bookName string > + maybe details like publisher etc but that depends on whether you want > > Table : BookText > bookID integer > lineNumber integer > lineText string > > > Now you could find EVERY book that used boogerhead, or you could > restrict it to books written by Dave Barry > You may find things you had not expected by doing it this way and you > do not require your users to "know" to only search in certain kinds > of books or books before a certain date for results. > They can find any usage anywhere > Hi Norman, First, I really appreciate the time people spend helping with things like this. This is my first project using a real database, so maybe my assumptions aren't right. But wouldn't searching 500,000 records with two things to match (bookID and text phrase) be a lot slower than searching in only one table of 10,000 record with only one phrase to match?
I also figured that since the average line of text is going to be maybe ten words, and the title probably 3 or 5, that adding the book title to each record would make the database 30% to 50% bigger. Although I see that you suggested an ID number, which wouldn't be so bad. The line ID number I am using because I want the person to be able to pick up the preceeding 3 or 4 lines in case it is necessary to understand the context. My idea for this project came the fact that I am learning Spanish (I live in Mexico) and I am teaching English occasionally. I envision using very specific searches almost always. If it's something common like is "Es mejor que" followed by a subjunctive, a few answers are sufficient because they'll all be the same. If the question is something like is the word "acera" used in Mexico, I'll want only Mexican writers. What you are suggesting certainly looks more direct and simple to work with. I guess my main question is the speed, whcih I can test by trying it. One other point, if I do over-complicate it with multiple tables and corrupt the database some day, it's no big deal to simply reload the books, since this isn't "personal" data in the traditional sense. thank you for your time, Don _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives of this list here: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
