[Bort]

Hi all,

I've got this database containing something like 360 tables. Searching through them all to find the table I want is going to be very time consuming. So, my idea for a new VB project is something that will search through the database and display the table whose name has been typed into a textbox.

What I want to happen, is a listbox will list all of the table names, then as you enter text into the textbox, it will narrow the listbox contents down until you have only 1 table name listed. eg. You type 'Exam' into the textbox, the listbox shows all the tables that begin with 'Exam', like Example, Examination, etc.

Once you have found the table you are looking for, you click the name of it in the listbox, and another form opens displaying the contents of that table.

I have barely started this project, so I have no code to show you other than the Exit button (which reall isn't too helpful for my query), but to be honest, I'm still new to VB, so I have no idea if this is actually possible.

If anyone can offer me any advice, it would be much appreciated

Thanks,
Bort

[Louisda16th]

Are these 360 tables fixed? Or do the table names change?
You could store the tables in an array alphabetically. That should shorten the search time. Suppose you have exam and names starting with E are stored from starting from the 50th element of the array, you can start searchin from the 50th element itself. Hope that helps.

[sontek]

Bort, on 24 Nov, 2006 - 06:39 AM, said:

Hi all,

I've got this database containing something like 360 tables. Searching through them all to find the table I want is going to be very time consuming. So, my idea for a new VB project is something that will search through the database and display the table whose name has been typed into a textbox.

What I want to happen, is a listbox will list all of the table names, then as you enter text into the textbox, it will narrow the listbox contents down until you have only 1 table name listed. eg. You type 'Exam' into the textbox, the listbox shows all the tables that begin with 'Exam', like Example, Examination, etc.

Once you have found the table you are looking for, you click the name of it in the listbox, and another form opens displaying the contents of that table.

I have barely started this project, so I have no code to show you other than the Exit button (which reall isn't too helpful for my query), but to be honest, I'm still new to VB, so I have no idea if this is actually possible.

If anyone can offer me any advice, it would be much appreciated

Thanks,
Bort

You need to do something like this: http://www.c-sharpco...OledbSchema.asp

[skyhawk133]

Good lord. Is that database normalized?!?!

[William_Wilson]

skyhawk133, on 25 Nov, 2006 - 09:39 PM, said:

Good lord. Is that database normalized?!?!

I have to ask the same question!!

that is a lot of tables to not be in atleast 3rd Normal Form. If it isn't then the way the database is stored may be the issue. If it takes too much search time, a dynamic indexing should be implemented along with lookup tables, either in binary + or binary - form to be most efficent.

Be sure that data within the table is related to the primary key and the whole primary key!

[Bort]

Thanks for the input guys, however, I'm now a little confused.

What do you mean by 'normalized'? As in, are all of the tables in the database the same format/layout? If that's what you mean, then the answer is yes. If not, could you please explain it?

The primary key in each table is basically just a record ID number for that one table. I used the autonumber format for it.

The table names will be staying the same, although new tables may be added to it later on. The database itself is a list of our customers at work and the transactions they've carried out with us. New tables will be added as we get new customers.

Apparently I forgot to mention this in my first post about this project, but it is an Access 2000 database.

Thanks guys,
Bort

[Jayman]

You can find out what normalization is at the following link.

http://www.samspubli...t...=30646&rl=1

[Bort]

Thanks for the link Jayman. I've had a look and would say that my database is normalized.

[Bort]

Right, I've now got a new datatable called CustomerList as the index. I used the GetSchema method to create it. Now I just need to know how to bind it to the listbox. Any ideas?

It's not coming up in the usual databinding window, and I have no idea how to do this in code.

Thanks,
Bort