Creating a Ten Pin Bowling League Table (NOOB)

[LFCorto]

Hey there people, I'm brand new at this and have never used access in my life but I heard its the best way for me to get the best results and also be able to transfer the information onto my website.

Anyway, I wanted to know - how do you create a access database that can contain the following information:

Points Won
Points Lost
Total Pinfall Scratch
Total Pinfall Handicap
High Game Scratch
High Game Handicap
High Series Scratch
High Series Handicap

I would also like it to contain the Bowlers information, I.E. what they have bowled that week and what there highest is over the season.

I know this is one hell of a hard task but I have no idea how to do it and would love some help

 

[georgedwilkinson]

Think about all the nouns and events you need to track. Those will likely be table names. Also, look up the topic normalization on this web-site and read everything you can, apply as much as you can. Then when you're totally confused, post another question on the forums with specific questions.

 

[odin1701]

You are in luck...I am a bowler! (598 series last night...2 pins UGH!)

Anyway...here is probably what I would do - though this could be more than you are looking for haha.

PK = Primary Key
FK = Foreign Key

tblBowler
---------
BowlerID (PK)
FirstName
LastName
PhoneNumber
(Any other personal info you want to track - you could put handicap here, though I think it would best be calculated in a query along with average so that it's always up to date. USBC number or things like that could go here.)

tblSeason
---------
SeasonID (PK)
LeagueID (FK -If you are tracking more than one league)
SeasonName (Winter 2008, Summer 2008, etc...depends what you want)

tblLeague
---------
LeagueID (PK)
LeagueName
(Anything else about the league you want to track - if you don't do multiple leagues, you wouldn't need this.)

tblTeamInfo
---------
TeamID
TeamName
(Anything else to track about a team)

tblTeamAssignments
-------------------
BowlerID (FK)
TeamID (FK)
SeasonID (FK)
LeagueID (FK)
(I would highlight all of the fields in this table and make them all Primary Keys because you can't have a bowler on a team more than once. But you can have a bowler on more than one team. Basically that prevents any duplicates across the range. This table is only needed if you do multiple leagues so that you can assign people to teams, otherwise you could just do it elsewhere. It will also keep the data on which team a bowler was assigned for each season/league if you do multiple.)

tblGames
--------
GameID (PK)
BowlerID (FK - so we know who bowled this game)
SeasonID (FK - so we know which season they bowled this in)
LeagueID (FK - so we know which league - they could be in more than one...if you used this)
TeamID (FK - so we know which team they bowled this for.)
GameDate
GameNum (1, 2, 3 - for each game in a series)
GameScore

In the tblGames table, you will have 3 entries per bowler per series bowled. Series scores should be calculated with a query, adding up the games.

It is important to have a date for when the game was played as well - this will allow you to calculate averages and handicaps for any date so that you can generate a report which shows those over time so they can see improvement, etc.

So this all depends on how complex you want to get. I know there is premade software out there which does this, but don't know the cost. If you have any questions, just ask. I think I've covered mostly every bit of data you would need. Possibly the only other thing would be a way to track payments for the league.

Probably a few adjustments you'd have to make....need to relate games to teams to get points won, etc. but should be able to do that with the bowler/season/league ID's in the tblGames table.

EDIT

Actually - now that I think about it - you may not even need the tblTeamAssignments - if you put all that info into tblGame, you should be able to use that for any reporting, so I added TeamID to tblGame.

 

[LFCorto]

Hum, well I know what your saying BUT i have no idea how to set up any of the queries or anything!!!

i need some help from step 1!!

 

[odin1701]

I may end up making one myself...I think I will as I want to put in my own scores and do some year to year trending and such.

So if I end up with something I can post a sample so you can get an idea since that would end up with me fleshing out this idea as there are likely some errors in thought process above, just tossed that out quickly.

 

[MSAccessRookie]

LFCorto,

I know how you feel. Microsoft has some very BASIC How to training for Microsoft Access available at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training. They seem to have courses for the more recent versions of Access (2000, 2003, and 2007). In the lessons that I have taken, they reviewed creating tables, forms, reports, and simple security related issues. There are additional courses that I have not taken yet as well. Perhaps this will get you started. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Bowler230889]

Good Evening, im working on something extremely similar, for a bowling alley! did you ever get far with this? look forward to hearing back

Jay (still waiting for that perfect game)

 

[Pat Hartman]

There's lots of software out there. Just use Google Some is even free. Tracking results is pretty simple. Scheduling is more of a problem since depending on constraints, it might have to be an iterative process. There's at least 10 big, web based offerings but you'll need to filter through the others depending on what, exactly you want the software to do for you.

 

[Bowler230889]

:banghead::banghead: unfortunately, i've been trying all the software available. some came close but all eventually have a downfall or issue, if nothing further was done maybe its time to stop looking at access and focus more on SQL. A mobile, web based system, ill reach out the manufacturer's.

Jay (still waiting for that perfect game)

 

[Pat Hartman]

The expensive versions are all web based. The free versions vary. What are they missing? You haven't told us what you want the app to do. I'm not wasting my time looking at apps if I don't know what problem you are trying to solve.

if nothing further was done maybe its time to stop looking at access and focus more on SQL.

There is no valid comparison between Access and SQL Server. Access is a Rapid Application Development tool. SQL Server is a Database Engine. Access does not do what SQL Server does and SQL Server does not do what Access does. Do not confuse Jet and ACE with Access. Jet and ACE are database engines. Those you can compare to SQL Server if you want to although since they are designed for different uses, the comparison will be flawed.