Tim

I have columns where there are a few limited choices. The one that brought this to mind was daily/weekly/monthly/annual. I know I can set up another table holding these and use RI to link but I thought it would be nice to have somewhere in the catalogue to define the "picklist"
which could then be accessed to populate dropdowns or picklists in a grid.

I can easily cludge it by using the description field which may even be a better option.

Your thoughts would be welcome.

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< I have columns where there are a few limited choices. The one that
brought this to mind was daily/weekly/monthly/annual. I know I can set up
another table holding these and use RI to link but I thought it would be
nice to have somewhere in the catalogue to define the "picklist"
which could then be accessed to populate dropdowns or picklists in a grid.
>>

Well, you could always define a CHECK constraint like this:

My Column IN (
'Daily',
'Weekly',
'Monthly',
)

and then parse out the bits that you want from the CHECK constraint
expression found here in the CheckExpr column:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/edb1sql_constraints_table.htm

<< I can easily cludge it by using the description field which may even be a
better option. >>

That might be a better option because it would eliminate the need for
parsing the above and you could just specify it like this:

DESCRIPTION 'Daily
Weekly
Monthly'

and then it will be in nice, neat rows in this information schema table:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/edb1sql_tablecolumns_table.htm

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim

><< I can easily cludge it by using the description field which may even be a
>better option. >>
>
>That might be a better option because it would eliminate the need for
>parsing the above and you could just specify it like this:
>
>DESCRIPTION 'Daily
>Weekly
>Monthly'
>
>and then it will be in nice, neat rows in this information schema table:

Thinking about it this is the way I'm going to go. Once I learn how I can then extract the description and use it to populate the picklist.

Roy Lambert

Roy Lambert <roy.lambert@skynet.co.uk> wrote in
news:95FEDF4F-733F-4BBE-BBFD-DFA372364120@news.elevatesoft.com:

> I have columns where there are a few limited choices. The one that
> brought this to mind was daily/weekly/monthly/annual.
>
> I can easily cludge it by using the description field which may even
> be a better option.
>
> Your thoughts would be welcome.

Roy, I work in France, where they often speak French. Actually in the
south of France in a bit that is part of the area known as Catalunya,
where some of them prefer to speak Catalan. Right on the border with
Spain, where several companies have subsidiaries in Barcelona, etc.etc...

I wouldn't ever consider putting a pick-list in the database definition.
You never know who's going to see your program and then contact you to
use a copy in their part of the world.

I really feel RI is the way to go. Caching should make the little tables
zip along, and they'd allow you to add Maestro cards to Mastercard and
Visa without reinstalling the database!

--
Chris
(XP-Pro + Delphi 7 Architect + DBISAM 4.24 Build 1)

Chris


>Roy, I work in France, where they often speak French.


What a dreadful fate

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< What a dreadful fate >>

Don't let my daughter hear you say that.  She's in her second year of
French and her first year of German, and she loves them both.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim


Children are such weird things, I'm always amazed I used to be one

Roy Lambert