Hey Paul, First thanks for your thoughts :)
> > Well, on the one hand, changing to a database does mean learning > databases, and putting in a certain amount of time to develop it, > although you should be able to pull in the data from the spreadsheet. > There's also no clear gain, if the spreadsheet works for you, what do > you gain by going to a database? And because databases are a little > more structured, it means changes are harder to make. On the other > hand, it does make things a little neater, and more formalised. Keeping > track of things may be easier, at least mentally. > Neater is exactly what I'm aiming for. Currently it's kind of all over the place and with me continuously adding things I am always debating where to put things, how to organize, how to easily view it, etc.. etc... So neater is a big + for me. > > The point at which one should switch from spreadsheet to database is > always hard to find. Personally, I would switch with this, but I > already know databases pretty well, so it would be that much easier for > me to set up, and I'd probably find it easier to make changes and add > functionality. > Sure - I like to learn though so if it's not too steep of a learning curve (again I've used Access a little) then I think with some dedication I could get it done. > > I find such large spreadsheets unwieldy, because you have to work with > the actual data, whereas databases you work with the data container, > and the database applies that to the actual data. Pulling up the > correct information is simply a matter of writing a simple (for me) > query, whereas in a spreadsheet you have to manually select the correct > cells, type in formula to exclude values, etc., etc. > Unwieldy is where I'm at with this thing, and it's only getting worse ;) > > So basically, if it works, why change it? But if you do change to a > database, you may end up with something that is neater and > cleaner, meaning that it is easier to find the information in all the > data, but maybe slightly harder to just change in an ad-hoc kind of > way, which itself can be both good and bad. > It does indeed work and I'm pretty good with spreadsheets generally but - well at my old job we had someone who had a 1.5 gig spreadsheet (and it was absurd) and his logic was the same "it works" - I had a hard time not saying "it works but it doesn't work RIGHT" - I'm starting to feel like my spreadsheet doesn't work right (from functionality to organization to me just being happy with it) > > Just my thoughts. If you do go ahead with the database idea, feel free > to ping me with further questions when you get into it. I'd be glad to > help if I can find the time. I know databases pertty well, if not Base > so well. > I will most definitely take you up on this. I guess my first step would be a table that just has: UniqueID Author Book Title Series Name That sound right? I'm going to start after work today. Best, Joel P.S. I won't lose functionality that I have in spreadsheet when using database right? Basically everything you can do in a spreadsheet you can accomplish in a database? -- *Joel Madero* LibreOffice QA Volunteer [email protected] -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
