Db design

Anon

Hi, I am trying to get my head around this problem. I have some content which needs to be generated from a database (MySQL) but part of it has me stymied. It follows this format:

ItemOne(bold face, large)
ItemTwo(plain face, regular body of text)
ItemThree - two-part item: ((ItemThreeA - Italic), (ItemThreeB - Nonitalic)), (ItemThree), (Item Three), etc.....

You see, Items One and Two are a single field each and occur ONLY once per "record" on the web page, but ItemThree, which has two parts because of two type faces, may occur anywhere from one time to ten times for a given record of Items One and Two. So, you see, if I could somehow nest tables, then item three would be its own table. But I cannot do that, and thus I am struggling to figure this one out.

Would it be wise to have every single record (Items1,2,3 collectively) generate its own separate detail table for the two-part contents of ItemThree?

Does this make any sense? LOL. Thanks for any help-

bastien

what are the data items? can they be separateded in the DB? if they can then it is really just a matter of formatting the html code when echoing back to the page...

bastien

Anon

Here's the deal. I'll type out the content, maybe it will make sense that way. I have a feeling my description isn't doing the trick! LOL.

// begin repeating unit

Controlled Substances

The Supreme Court recently decided.....etc.etc.etc...

// this last section is THREE 2-part case references

(State vs. Whoever, 2002 Fla. LEXIS 336; State vs. John Doe, 2002 Fla. LEXIS 338; Brown vs. State, 2002 Fla. LEXIS 442)

// end repeating unit

So, you can see that the first two sections of text, "Controlled.." and "The Supreme..." are easily worked in as separate fields of the same table.

However, the case references at the bottom need to have the title in italics, and the source & date in normal font. If each repeating unit only had only ONE single case reference, they could simply be put into the same table in predictable fashion. BUT, each repeating unit will have from one to TEN case references. Considering that the case references are each two-parts, individually formatted, I don't see how the database back end can be a single table.

See what I mean?

slug58

why must it be all in a single table?

why not try this:

Table One:

ID-ONE | Title | Description

Table Two:

ID-TWO | ID-ONE | Italic_Case_Ref | Normal_Case_Ref

Then you can use the ID-ONE field to find all of the References that link to the Title and Description.

Hope this helps,
good luck

Anon

No, this does help and in fact someone has already suggested this. It is the logistics of doing what you're describing that have me stumped, being a Nu-B.

Using a single web form, with a drop-down menu to select the number of Table 2 case references records I will be associating with the Table 1 record, how would I update two tables with a single "submit?"
For displaying the records of the first table, how would I tell it to also print ONLY the Table 2 records associated with that Table 1 record?

I know this is a lot of work, answering these damn questions. Grateful for any assistance.