Member Avatar for mr-antony

hi guys,
i`m new to the data base systems i currently work in a school and i have been asked to design a database for all the computer items in school the problem i have is because i no very little about how to setup and make a database i dont know where to start (a bit noobish i know) so if u kind people here at daniweb could point me in the right direction i.e which program to use (free verison ofc) and a place to learn how to make a database that would be great.
thanks for reading my post have a good day!

kind regards
mr-antony

Edited by mr-antony because: n/a
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Member Avatar for ChrisPadgham

There are plenty of off-the-shelf inventory control products that can do this better and cheaper than writing something yourself. If your requirements are simple there is bound to be some freeware available.

Member Avatar for Toni Chopper

Why would they ask you to design the database if you don't know how to... kind of a stupid idea? anyway, just search Google for decent freeware, read a review to see if it's legit and what you need..

Member Avatar for mr-antony

the reason why i have been asked is because im the techie in the school so doesnt sound like stupid idea dont u think? thanks chris for the info.

Member Avatar for griswolf

A ten minute search (Google) found a half dozen decent looking free inventory control systems for Windows platforms (which always worries me, but that's a different issue). Tucows is often a good resource (thought I usually go there indirectly). I was less successful looking for something on other platforms.

If you want/need to roll your own, I strongly suggest that you get two or three of the free or demo packages and run them past your "customer" to get feedback about which features are nice, which useless, etc. Be aware (if you aren't already, of course) that you will spend 80% of your time doing screen layout and similar work, and 20% actually getting the back end system working correctly. I suggest that you front load the 20% part so you can give the customer something 'real' to look at as early as possible. (He) will then spend most of (his) time tuning things like colors, text box size and location, how pages flow to each other and all the "what it looks like" things that actually make a huge difference in the day to day use of the program. And may also have some valuable insight into actual functionality that only comes to light when the program is in use (which wraps back around to why you want to let them see some of the "commercial" packages, too).

Edited by griswolf because: n/a
Member Avatar for mr-antony

thank you very much griswolf

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