Back to basics

D

Daniel

Hello,

I have no formal training on databases and would like a few general
guidlines if possible. I've created a quite complex database and
encountered certain logistics problems because of certain approaches that I
had taken and wanted to know if there were rules that are commonly followed
(I know this is a big subject).

1- Is there a table naming comvention (I have seen people use "tbl" when
they name their tables, why?)?

2- What about when naming table fileds? I started trying to make my field
headers very descriptive (sentence structured with space), I quickly learn't
that this approach complicated VBA programming...

3- Same question for Queries, Reports

Basically, I just wanted to know what experienced database developpers do!

Thanks,

Dan
 
T

Tony Toews

Daniel said:
I have no formal training on databases and would like a few general
guidlines if possible. I've created a quite complex database and
encountered certain logistics problems because of certain approaches that I
had taken and wanted to know if there were rules that are commonly followed
(I know this is a big subject).

1- Is there a table naming comvention (I have seen people use "tbl" when
they name their tables, why?)?
Click to expand...

This is part of a naming system. Personally I see no reason for it as
it serves no real purpose. The only possible ambiguity is with query
names and those are descriptive enough that you know they are queries.

It's quite handy in the database window to hit a key and go to the
first table with that letter, ie p for PurchaseOrders.
2- What about when naming table fileds? I started trying to make my field
headers very descriptive (sentence structured with space), I quickly learn't
that this approach complicated VBA programming...
Click to expand...

Tony's Table and Field Naming Conventions
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/tablefieldnaming.htm
3- Same question for Queries, Reports
Click to expand...

I just name those whatever I feel like. None of this qry, frm, rpt
etc in front.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
 
M

M.L. Sco Scofield

And then there are those of us that religiously use the naming conventions
in the "Reddick VBA (RVBA) Naming Conventions" document that Tony has listed
on the page that he sent you the link to.

Sco

M.L. "Sco" Scofield, Microsoft Access MVP, MCSD, MCP, MSS, A+
Useful Metric Conversion #17 of 19: 1 billion billion picolos = 1 gigolo
Miscellaneous Access and VB "stuff" at www.ScoBiz.com
 
V

Van T. Dinh

1. Never use space or special characters in naming. I strictly use only
letters + digits and the underscore (_) which is not a special character.

2. Avoid using reserved words like "Date", "Name", etc... I tend to the
concatenation of at least 2 (abbreviated) words for names. The reason is
that reserved words / Properties / Methods / etc ... used by Access tend to
be one or more word spelled out in full. This way, I avoid most of the
reserved words and Property / Method names that are used by Access / Access
VBA.

3. If you work in a collaborative environment, it is not important which
naming convention you use but it is vital to agree to a *single* convention
which may even be of your group's design.

4. OTOH, I will move on and I think it is a help for the next programmer if
a well-known naming convention is used. Hence, I stick mostly to
Reddick-Leszynski Naming Convention.
 
A

Arvin Meyer

I use the Reddick naming convention as described at:

http://www.xoc.net/standards/rvbanc.asp

with perhaps 1 or 2 slight variations. For forms and reports, I generally
use the form or report wizard to create the rough object with all the
controls on it. I then use a utility I wrote to automatically change all the
names to conform to the convention. Then I move everything around the way I
want it and write my code. The FixNames utility will fix a form or report in
seconds, and has error checking to make sure you can't rename something
twice. It is available for free at:

http://www.datastrat.com/Download/FixNames2K.zip
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access Downloads
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
 
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