Apr-27-2022, 03:45 PM
Hello,
I have MariaDB up and running (see previous post), it's Miraculous!
Now, I have a decision to make on how to proceed. I'm afraid it's a lenghty intro for a simple question.
I am still swamped with genealogical legacy 'databases' (dbase, excel various versions, etc.)
Here is the problem: say I get 50 excel files , each with "birth" data in them, from various villages.
They were all created when the animals still could talk, they all have different fields, in different columns, often various formats.
I can take one of 2 roads:
A) Make an inventory of all the different fields that have been created in all 50 "databases", and make a table in MariaDb with those fields.
Of course some are common like name of the newborn, name of the father, but that's about it.
First names are sometimes in 1 field, sometimes in many. Dates as well.
Sometimes there is a mother, sometimes there is a remark, sometimes there is a hyperlink to a scanned page in an old register. etc...etc ...etc;
Then I have to write a mapping program for each case, in order to get the SQL INSERT right. A tremendous amount of work.
Anyway, I will have a massive number of redundant fields, and if tomorrow they give me another excel, I might have to add some extra fields.
B) Alternative :
I can make only one (text) field in Mariadb. And concatenate every excel record as one string, with a separator between the fields: eg.
Name:Jones#firstnames:John,Keith#Father=Eric#Village:London....etc In the order the columns are presented in each excel.
This way I have a searchable field using the SQL SELECT... FROM ... LIKE "%xxx%". Bingo.
No redundant fields, Possibility of multi-criteria search using sets and intersections....
Furthermore, we want Marriages, Deaths, etc.. in the same table , all come with their own fields, more redundancy...
So for a given name + criteria you could find all events across villages.
A or B or something else. Where to go?
Thanks,
Paul
I have MariaDB up and running (see previous post), it's Miraculous!
Now, I have a decision to make on how to proceed. I'm afraid it's a lenghty intro for a simple question.
I am still swamped with genealogical legacy 'databases' (dbase, excel various versions, etc.)
Here is the problem: say I get 50 excel files , each with "birth" data in them, from various villages.
They were all created when the animals still could talk, they all have different fields, in different columns, often various formats.
I can take one of 2 roads:
A) Make an inventory of all the different fields that have been created in all 50 "databases", and make a table in MariaDb with those fields.
Of course some are common like name of the newborn, name of the father, but that's about it.
First names are sometimes in 1 field, sometimes in many. Dates as well.
Sometimes there is a mother, sometimes there is a remark, sometimes there is a hyperlink to a scanned page in an old register. etc...etc ...etc;
Then I have to write a mapping program for each case, in order to get the SQL INSERT right. A tremendous amount of work.
Anyway, I will have a massive number of redundant fields, and if tomorrow they give me another excel, I might have to add some extra fields.
B) Alternative :
I can make only one (text) field in Mariadb. And concatenate every excel record as one string, with a separator between the fields: eg.
Name:Jones#firstnames:John,Keith#Father=Eric#Village:London....etc In the order the columns are presented in each excel.
This way I have a searchable field using the SQL SELECT... FROM ... LIKE "%xxx%". Bingo.
No redundant fields, Possibility of multi-criteria search using sets and intersections....
Furthermore, we want Marriages, Deaths, etc.. in the same table , all come with their own fields, more redundancy...
So for a given name + criteria you could find all events across villages.
A or B or something else. Where to go?
Thanks,
Paul
It is more important to do the right thing, than to do the thing right.(P.Drucker)
Better is the enemy of good. (Montesquieu) = French version for 'kiss'.
Better is the enemy of good. (Montesquieu) = French version for 'kiss'.