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Proper way to name objects..



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 24th, 2006, 08:23 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
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Default Proper way to name objects..

I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms & reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com
  #2  
Old February 24th, 2006, 08:39 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
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Default Proper way to name objects..

These are standards that have been around for a while. Most of us with some
experience use some form of these. For instance, I might name my queries:
qsel - Select Queries
qapp - Append
qdel - Delete
qtot - Totals
qxtb - Crosstab
qupd - Update
I think the key is to find a naming convention that means something to you
and try to be consistent. One thing you won't see in my object names is
spaces and punctuation.

Jeff Conrad has some links at
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conrad...ingConventions

One convention that I have found very useful is naming all of my fields
beginning with 3 characters that describe the table. For instance:
tblEmployees
=============
empEmpID autonumber primary key (Always)
empFirstName
empLastName
emp....

tblEmpTimeSheet
================
etsETSID autonumber primary key
etsEmpID link to tblEmployees.empEmpID
etsWorkDate
etsPrjID link to tblProjects.prjPrjID
etsWkTID link to tblWorkTypes.wktWkTID
ets...

--
Duane Hookom
MS Access MVP
--

"Mell via AccessMonster.com" u18304@uwe wrote in message
news:5c5f2069e09b2@uwe...
I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms &
reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com



  #3  
Old February 24th, 2006, 09:55 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

Mell,
Whoever told you that you MUST use those abbreviations to be developing your
databases properly didn't know what they were talking about. Those are
merely conventions that people have come up with and you can use them or
not. Personally, I do not use them. Instead, I have my own method for naming
things that serves to group like objects together. You can use the
conventional stuff or come up with your own.

--
Lynn Trapp
MS Access MVP
www.ltcomputerdesigns.com
Access Security: www.ltcomputerdesigns.com/Security.htm
Jeff Conrad's Access Junkie List:
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conrad...essjunkie.html



"Mell via AccessMonster.com" u18304@uwe wrote in message
news:5c5f2069e09b2@uwe...
I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms &
reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com



  #4  
Old February 24th, 2006, 10:08 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

Lynn,

Thank you so much.
I have done some db's the so called correct way and done some db's with out
the abbreviations.


Lynn Trapp wrote:
Mell,
Whoever told you that you MUST use those abbreviations to be developing your
databases properly didn't know what they were talking about. Those are
merely conventions that people have come up with and you can use them or
not. Personally, I do not use them. Instead, I have my own method for naming
things that serves to group like objects together. You can use the
conventional stuff or come up with your own.

I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms &
reports

[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.


--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com
  #5  
Old February 24th, 2006, 10:14 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

Dear Lynn:

Exactly true!

What is important is to use some convention, and use it consistently.

You are programming in a object oriented environment. If you do not
classify object you create, you will likely duplicate names, with unhappy
and mysterious consequences. Having some convention is very important.
Which convention is unimportant, as long as it is consistent and distinct.

My convention is usually to affix the abbreviation at the END of the object
name, not the beginning. When I'm looking in an alphabetical list, this
seems very much handier.

If I have a table, a select query, and an append query to something I call
George, I see this alphabetical List:

GeorgeTbl
GeorgeQSel
GeorgeQApp

This is much more useful for my preferences.

Tom Ellison


"Lynn Trapp" wrote in message
...
Mell,
Whoever told you that you MUST use those abbreviations to be developing
your databases properly didn't know what they were talking about. Those
are merely conventions that people have come up with and you can use them
or not. Personally, I do not use them. Instead, I have my own method for
naming things that serves to group like objects together. You can use the
conventional stuff or come up with your own.

--
Lynn Trapp
MS Access MVP
www.ltcomputerdesigns.com
Access Security: www.ltcomputerdesigns.com/Security.htm
Jeff Conrad's Access Junkie List:
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conrad...essjunkie.html



"Mell via AccessMonster.com" u18304@uwe wrote in message
news:5c5f2069e09b2@uwe...
I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms &
reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com





  #6  
Old February 24th, 2006, 10:16 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

Mell

The prefixes are conventions, to make it easier to identify Access objects
at a glance. The key isn't THESE prefixes, it is adopting SOME convention,
then sticking to it. If you're the only one who will ever need to work on
your dbs, come up with something that works for you.

If there's a chance folks other than you will need to work "behind the
curtain" on your dbs, adopting a standard convention like this one would
help them out.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

"Mell via AccessMonster.com" u18304@uwe wrote in message
news:5c5f2069e09b2@uwe...
I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms &
reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com



  #7  
Old February 24th, 2006, 10:28 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

Tom,

This is great!
Alphabetical List:
ABSOLUTELY.........


Tom Ellison wrote:
Dear Lynn:

Exactly true!

What is important is to use some convention, and use it consistently.

You are programming in a object oriented environment. If you do not
classify object you create, you will likely duplicate names, with unhappy
and mysterious consequences. Having some convention is very important.
Which convention is unimportant, as long as it is consistent and distinct.

My convention is usually to affix the abbreviation at the END of the object
name, not the beginning. When I'm looking in an alphabetical list, this
seems very much handier.

If I have a table, a select query, and an append query to something I call
George, I see this alphabetical List:

GeorgeTbl
GeorgeQSel
GeorgeQApp

This is much more useful for my preferences.

Tom Ellison

Mell,
Whoever told you that you MUST use those abbreviations to be developing

[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.


--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com
  #8  
Old February 24th, 2006, 10:32 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

Dear Mell:

Well!

I'm glad if you liked it.

I know I certainly prefer suffixes to prefixes. They perform the same
essential purpose, but are handier in the alphabetical order.

Tom Ellison


"Mell via AccessMonster.com" u18304@uwe wrote in message
news:5c60380f86ade@uwe...
Tom,

This is great!
Alphabetical List:
ABSOLUTELY.........


Tom Ellison wrote:
Dear Lynn:

Exactly true!

What is important is to use some convention, and use it consistently.

You are programming in a object oriented environment. If you do not
classify object you create, you will likely duplicate names, with unhappy
and mysterious consequences. Having some convention is very important.
Which convention is unimportant, as long as it is consistent and distinct.

My convention is usually to affix the abbreviation at the END of the
object
name, not the beginning. When I'm looking in an alphabetical list, this
seems very much handier.

If I have a table, a select query, and an append query to something I call
George, I see this alphabetical List:

GeorgeTbl
GeorgeQSel
GeorgeQApp

This is much more useful for my preferences.

Tom Ellison

Mell,
Whoever told you that you MUST use those abbreviations to be developing

[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.


--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com



  #9  
Old February 25th, 2006, 01:52 AM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

While 'tags' are fine for objects like forms, reports modules etc I'm very
much against their use for table and column names. The convention for these
used by most SQL programmers of my acquaintance is to use plural or
collective nouns for tables, using terms which as closely as possible
represent the entity type which the table is modelling, e.g. Employees,
Orders etc. For column names singular nouns are generally used, again using
terms which as closely as possible describe the attribute which the column
represents, e.g. firstname, lastname orderdate. As you see the convention
here is to use lower case for column names, though personally I don't see any
real advantage in that and I tend to use CamelCase (not camelCase, note).

By keeping as close as possible to real English words it makes writing and
reading SQL a lot easier. I was told by Joe Celko once that some
psychometric research on this had actually been done at one American
university, which demonstrated the advantages of this approach. One thing I
do know from experience is that it’s a real PITA when I receive databases to
work on where naming conventions of Byzantine complexity have been used for
table and column names.

Ken Sheridan
Stafford, England

"Mell via AccessMonster.com" wrote:

I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms & reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

--
Message posted via http://www.accessmonster.com

  #10  
Old February 25th, 2006, 04:47 AM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Proper way to name objects..

"Mell via AccessMonster.com" u18304@uwe wrote in message
news:5c5f2069e09b2@uwe...
I have been told that if you don't name your tables, queries, forms &
reports
like below than you did not build the db properly? Do these abbreviations
have to be put in front of the name to be policitally correct as a good
developer?


1. TABLES: tbl
2. QUERIES: qdf
3. FORMS: frm
4. REPORTS: rpt


A much more important thing is to design your tables properly! Names can be
changed easily if they are't useful but a system built on bad table design
can be very difficult to fix.

Tom Lake


 




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