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MS Access Forum / Modules / DAO / VBA / December 2007Suggested organization for data
Using Office 2003 and Windows XP; Let me start by stating that this forum is wonderful and I very much appreciate everyone's input and assistance. I am presently working on a genealogy database project. I need to develop a means of defining relationships between people. This ofcourse needs to link siblings together and children to parents, etc. I have defined a unique Name_ID for each individual in the DB. However, I need some guidance on how to link everyone together. 1) Should I set up a separate "tblRelationship" table that has the columns: Rel_Type (this would contain one of: sibling; parent; child) and Name_ID? 2) Can someone suggest a web site perhaps that might supply suggestions on building genealogy related DB's (I've google this myself, but did not find any), or is perhaps anyone out there experienced in this sort of thing? 3) I would like to ultimately build a report that would show the classic tree chart (hopefully the news reader will display this at least close to correct): Father Father < Mother Child < Father Mother < Mother Is the above possible with MS-Access? Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. Hi, If I remember correctly, this topic has come up in the discussion group before. I seem to remember that there was some free software to use to do genealogy that was a lot simpler than building your own database from scratch. You could do a search on google groups to see if you could find it. Jeanette Cunningham > Using Office 2003 and Windows XP; > [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. Hi Jeanette, Thanks, but I have found every "canned" software package I've examined to be inadequate for my needs. That is why I have chosen to build my own. Thanks for your suggestion. > Hi, > If I remember correctly, this topic has come up in the discussion group [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > > > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. As Jeannette points out, others have already come up with solutions. Perhaps you can find something, even if not 100% suitable, that, nevertheless, resolves the issues you're facing... Have you searched for templates on-line? Regards Jeff Boyce Microsoft Office/Access MVP > Using Office 2003 and Windows XP; > [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. >Using Office 2003 and Windows XP; > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >I have defined a unique Name_ID for each individual in the DB. However, I >need some guidance on how to link everyone together. >1) Should I set up a separate "tblRelationship" table that has the columns: >Rel_Type (this would contain one of: sibling; parent; child) and Name_ID? Well... a relationship implies two people in the relationship! I'd suggest having TWO Name_ID fields: First_Name and Second_Name, in addtion to the Rel_Type. That is, a ReelType of "Parent" would imply that the person pointed to by First_Name is the parent of the person pointed to by Second_Name. You would need to decide if you want to enter the reciprocal relationship - i.e. if Joe is the father of Mary, then Mary is the child of Joe and you could consider entering a second record in tblRelationship. >2) Can someone suggest a web site perhaps that might supply suggestions on >building genealogy related DB's (I've google this myself, but did not find [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >Is the above possible with MS-Access? A heck of a lot easier if you turn it on its side, but not trivial even there. I haven't really looked for examples though. John W. Vinson [MVP] Have a look at the following reference http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/genealogy/index.htm It has further references appended. This may help Bob D > Using Office 2003 and Windows XP; > [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. I'm been investigating and working this topic for a long time. 15 years in databases and 40 years drawing trees. There are various programs (plus on-line services) that have good storage of the date plus a good GUI for entry. But I have given up trying to find one that will do a nice printout of a complex family tree. By "complex" I mean, for example, showing everybody at once including the sister of the person that married your second cousin rather than just closely related to lineage. I have resigned myself to storing the data in databases (Access) and drawing the tree using drafting software. Fred > Have a look at the following reference > [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > > > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. Actually, that's what I do too. In particular I like a style that shows each generation on a row with the siblings and spouses spreading left and right; parents go up and children down. I find I need a rather large palette, but it looks great! I was hoping to just draw a decent basic tree in MS-Access, but I don't think the one I've described above would be practical or feasible in Access. Have you had any luck drawing the basic tree in MS-Access? If so, how did you do it? Can you pan, or click to move up and down the tree? > I'm been investigating and working this topic for a long time. 15 years in > databases and 40 years drawing trees. [quoted text clipped - 55 lines] > > > > > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. Drawing a tree that has only direct ancestors and their full-blooded siblings is pretty simple, I've seen many softwares that do it, and in my mind I know generally how I would do it in Access, But I have never had an interest in doinig only such. Each person has their own focus on doing these things. Some are intrested in tracing (a few threads of ) their ancestors back 400 years. Mine is to record as many people related to me as possible (including interviewing older folks while they are still around) get it all onto one big piece of paper, and give copies of it to many many relatives. Some of them will pass it down to their grandchildren etc. making what I've done something nice for a lot of people. 25 years ago it was a 30' long scroll. Now it's a 15' wide by 11" high AutoSketch (which I find to be a very nice and very economical & suitable light 2D CAD software by AutoDesk. ) document with over 1,000 people on it. Trying to keep that down to 15' x 1' instead of ten times bigger than that takes a lot of clever decision making. After looking I've never seen software that can draw that. I suspect that if it did exist, it would not be able to do such creative decisionmaking and would take at least 4-10 times as much paper most of which would be blank. > Actually, that's what I do too. In particular I like a style that shows each > generation on a row with the siblings and spouses spreading left and right; [quoted text clipped - 65 lines] > > > > > > > > Thank you so much in advance for your assistance. |
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