-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 a wrote: > hi > i want to know > how to add a list of items to a database > it is basically text, but different fields > but the problem is i dont know how many fields are there before hand > > so i m not sure how to store them in the db > sometime i need to store 10 elements and some other times 5 > thanks a lot MUMPS has repeating fields, I think. :) Pick definitely does... Seriously, though, what you need to do is to put that section of the database into "1st Normal Form". For example, a "sales record" has an sales id number, customer name, transaction date/time, store number, cash_credit flag, credit card number, reversal/adjustment flag, and the list of items purchased. So, this is how the tables would look: T_SALES_HEADER - -------------- SALES_ID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, CUST_ID INTEGER FOREIGN KEY (T_CUSTOMER_NAME.CUST_ID), TRAN_DATE DATE, TRAN_TIME TIME, STORE_ID SMALLINT, EMPLOYEE_ID INTEGER, CASH_CREDIT_FL CHAR(1), IS_REVERSAL_FL CHAR(1), IS_REVERSED_FL CHAR(1), XREF_SALES_ID INTEGER T_SALES_CC_DETAIL - ----------------- SALES_ID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY FOREIGN KEY (T_SALES_HEADER.SALES_ID), CC_NUMBER CHAR(16), EXPIRE_DATE CHAR(6) T_SALES_DETAIL - -------------- SALES_ID INTEGER FOREIGN KEY (T_SALES_HEADER.SALES_ID), TRAN_SRLNO SMALLINT, INVENTORY_ID INTEGER FOREIGN KEY (T_INVENTORY.INVENTORY_ID), QUANTITY SMALLINT, SALE_AMOUNT NUMERIC(10,2) PRIMARY KEY (SALES_ID, TRAN_SRLNO) - -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA Is "common sense" really valid? For example, it is "common sense" to white-power racists that whites are superior to blacks, and that those with brown skins are mud people. However, that "common sense" is obviously wrong. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFEppjZS9HxQb37XmcRApNQAJ9L3GZCxVj1pUuCioId5QkpOp7FlACeJQkY JDIoYyAdLvanH9g7JMyAZJM= =jufR -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----