Database creation help please

ks652

Hi folks,

posting here as it seems appropriate...

I wish to create an online database of numbers which would enable a user of my website to simply type a number into the search field, similiar to the "Search Boards.ie..." box above.

I really do not have a clue how this sort of system works as computers is far from my forte. What can you, the experts advise?

When the number is typed into the search field a page for that particular number would pop up.

I would also need to be able to upload bulk numbers and remove them easily also.

I hope I am making myself relatively clear. If you have any questions please do ask.

Is there a package you can download or what would you reccomend?

many thanks

yenoah

Dont understand, What do you mean by numbers?

You store say the numbers 1 to 10 in a database,a user comes along and searches by typing 5 into a search box, the database returns 5 ????????????

What numbers? what are these numbers? what do they represent? What information should a user seee when they search for one of your numbers?

Seth Brundle

When developing an online database, the database is the back of the overall system so you also need a "frontend".
What will the search results link to (other pages? phone numbers? etc.)

This "frontend" would also allow you to add and remove items. This could be done via PHP My Admin (but wouldn't suit ordinary website users as they would just delete everything)

ks652

Thanks lads,

I'm not making myself very clear it seems.

For instance, take Argos, each product has a unique code. When you are in the shop or on their online shop you know what the number is from the catologue and this is the number you type into the "search box".

You type in product number 12345678. It comes back with the info on the product, quantity available, which store has them and description.

I don't wish to give my exact idea away but what Argos do is very similiar. Basically I have a large list of products, each with unique numbers and I want to be able to have a search box on my website homepage that when you type in 12345678 the same info that Argos provide will flash up as it was searched through the database of product numbers that I have in the "background".

Does that make better sense?

Seth Brundle

Ok, so when searching, the user must enter say an eight digit number - if not then nothing returned.

Most apps available nowadays have search functionality (but not with restrictions on the mandatory length of the search text).

Is the search the core of your app or is it only part (e.g. with Argos, you also have to have pages displaying the product, etc.)

ks652

Ok, so when searching, the user must enter say an eight digit number - if not then nothing returned.

Most apps available nowadays have search functionality (but not with restrictions on the mandatory length of the search text).

Is the search the core of your app or is it only part (e.g. with Argos, you also have to have pages displaying the product, etc.)

The eight digit code was just an example but basically if you type in a number that is not on the database then "not available" would show up or if the number was on the system then it would just basically show, price, availablity, location and small description (similiar to what the blue machines in Argos say) nothing fancy, just straight forward info.

When you say "App" what do you mean exactly? My definition of an app is what I download to my phone...

But yes, the search function is basically the core of the website. After that then there would be an online purchase shop.

Can you point me in the direction of where I could start the process of having a database. Who provides them or is there free info or downloads available?

Thanks thus far Kbannon

Liam Byrne

The database is easily confused with the technology required for the database.

For most online sites, the database would be a MySQL database.

But that only gives you the ability to create YOUR database - a bit like Excel would allow you to create YOUR spreadsheet.

YOUR database then has a "table" - let's say "products" which contains a record for each product - the product ID, a title/name, maybe a category, a description, a price, and maybe a photo or link to a photo JPG file.

Once that's set up, the code for the site (usually PHP) can use queries to search through it and generate the HTML to display the results.

Dale Parish

Try Zen Cart. Doesn't look the best but it (from what I gather) does what you want.
http://www.zen-cart.com/

yenoah

What you are trying to do is not trivial if you are coming from a no knowledge background. I often visualise an analogy of asking a group of surgeons what would be the best way to remove an appendix and to explain it to me gently as I'm a total noob (what am I like:cool:).

Have you considered asking someone else to do this for you. You can pay a professional, or get a student to do it as a project for free or any number of options in between.

Or you can of course do it yourself and learn as you go by reading, asking questions in forums such as this etc. I just wonder, where's the line? or even is there a line?

ks652

Thanks for the link Dale Parish, I will have a closer look later but it looks good just from the homepage.

I am a total noob to this type of game (behind the scenes computing) but I'm just trying to find out the basics before I go any further; how complicated it actually is to do etc. just so that I have a relative understanding before I am thrown a heap of jargon by a devoloper and taken for a ride.

@ Liam byrne, so the database is similiar to excel. But then there is more software required to install a search function right? You seem to know a bit about the workings. Would you be able to point me in the direction of an expert or reccomend a company who could undertake this project for me?

@ yenoah, I understand that this is not an easy task but I am just trying to find out as much as possible thus asking in this section. Do you know much about this game yourself? I would be willing to pay a professional or a good student to undertake it no problem but I wouldn't even know where to start looking for such a person or organisation. Could you reccomend someone? Oh and there is no line...I just want to get up and running as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible

yenoah

Thats not quite the line I was referring to. I wonder did you miss my point about asking a group of doctors how to remove an appendix.

You can ask someone here to do it for you, or go to any college website and email any IT section staff, they might pass it on to students. Or just search google for website developement, software developement software student site:.ie etc

Kavrocks

If you are looking for a student you could try and ask DCU's Networking/Programming Society they should definitely have somebody up for the job.

Oh and yes there is more 'software' required to implement the search function.

Seth Brundle

A database is a collection of related data such as product details, staff details, customer details and order details.
However, in terms of an online store, you also need to have a user friendly interface (as database interfaces are generally designed for us nerds).

The above link is one example of the software (or application), there are others both off the shelf type packages and bespoke systems that the company designs for their specific needs.

Liam Byrne

@liam byrne, so the database is similiar to excel. But then there is more software required to install a search function right? You seem to know a bit about the workings. Would you be able to point me in the direction of an expert or reccomend a company who could undertake this project for me?

Not so much "software" as the code for a website or whatever front-end, because the search function varies a lot.

For example, Google lets you fill in a single field, whereas another website or app might have a more specific search - search [in this shop for] for "cameras [made by] Fuji [that cost] <250 [and are] 8MP or over"

The search may even be more abstract - "find all accounts that are 'overdue'" or "all 'upcoming special offers'" - where the criteria for those needs to be defined.

You can do these on websites using phpMyAdmin for MySQL, but your visitor won't accept that as the interface or results, so you need to build a separate view for them which prompts them - it's the same concept as a census form : they could give you a blank page to fill in but it's be hard for you to fill in and hard for a system to process/make sense of, so the prompts, fields, options etc make life easier for everyone.

As for people who do this - well, it's what I do! But check to see if there's an out-of-the-box solution somewhere first, because a custom one isn't trivial. PM me if you want to sis's out the options.