[Tellico-users] collection of plants

[Peter Alcibiades]

The question is not so much tellico versus some other flat file database -
the answer is going to be that it is as good as any, and a lot better than
most.

The question is rather, can you and should you do what you are seeking to do
with a flat file database, or is it relational?

Some rules.

If you find you need repeating fields, you need relational and a new table
If you find yourself entering the same data more than once, you need
relational and another table.
If you find that you cannot delete one item without deleting data you want
to keep, you need relational and another table.

I could imagine doing a plant database in a flat file as follows.  Each
plant observation is an item.  The items are grouped into categories by
plant number.  So we have as an item, sighting on 12/12/2009.  Thien we have
all entries grouped by plant number, so this is for plant no 1, and there
are repeated entries for each graphic.

Your problem is going to come if you need to record places where they are. 
Then you'll be entering the same place over and over again, and what you
really need is a relation and a table of places.  Similarly for observers,
and consider what happens if you want to record the name and address of the
observer.   Over and over again.

And then consider what happens if you delete all the observations by a given
observer.  Then you have no more record of that observers details.

So, think carefully about what you are recording and what use you'll make of
it, on the basis of flat versus relational.  There is an excellent book
called Relational Database Design Simply Explained, by Harrington, which
will give you a quick and reliable introduction to this topic.  

But if you decide flat file is OK for you, tellico is as good as anything,
and better than most.

Al


Michal M. wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> is Tellico good for a collection of plants including taken a new photo
> every year or is there is better different program for this purpose?
> Does anybody use Tellico for plants (or for living animals)?
> Thanks,
> Michal Manas
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> tellico-users mailing list
> tellico-users at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/tellico-users
> 
> 

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