[HELP] Adding book copies to book_copy table

[kingzl3y]

Ruralguy suggested that i made a new thread - so I'm taking his advice (H)

I've got another problem, well not problem..i want to make it more user-friendly.

Database= View attachment 21238 (Look for yourself see what i mean)
(rename to .RAR if it doesn't open)

Basically, when the user adds a book, they can add it easily..
the only problem is, when ..just say i want to add a book, and I have 10 copies of this book, I have to add the book first and the go into the ADD_BOOK_COPY form and then select the book which i want to add more copies of and click add - i repeat this for the total amount of copies that i have.
So if i had 10 copies of 1 book, i add, and then go into a seperate form and then click this button 9 more extra times.
Which, can cause headahces!


So basically, i'm thinking of implementing a new way to do this,
i was thinking about..
When i got to add a book, there's a List/Combo box with 1-20 into
So i can add the book, and then select how many copies, click 'add' and this will add 20 copies of that bookm firstly by adding it to the 'book' table and then adding 20 copies to the book_copy table..


Is there anyone who would like to help with this? :' )

Cheers btw!

 

[Guus2005]

Did RG also mention that you had to normalise your database?
It doesn't seem to make any sense to add the same book 9 times. Just add a field which displays the number of copies.

Can't open RAR files. Use zip (which comes default with the later versions of windows) instead.

 

[kingzl3y]

I did normalise my database..
It does, a library doesn't just have 1 copy of each book, they have 10's-100's of the same one..
Yeah, i would do that..BUT
that would mean a nursery can loan A book many times..
if you get what i mean?

 

[neileg]

If you know how many copies of a book you have stored in a field and you know how many current loan records you have using DCount or a count query, then you can subtract one from the other to determine how many free copies you have.

I don't imagine it matters which specific copy of a book you have to lend out, just that you have one.

 

[kingzl3y]

Ah Yeah!
I guess that's a good way to do it!
You're right, i wouldn't care what book was used on the loan...i don't think the nursery would either.
So basically, add another field to my book/book_copy table.. which you enter the total amount of books you have of one book.
Then basically when a nursery loans a book, you minus 1 for the field with # of books in it.
But at the moment.. the way it works is you add a book..and then add a book_copy.. which when you add it creates a book_ID.. and then it's used throughout the database..
So basically how would i create a book_id for each book when I'm using the above method?

Cheers
xx

 

[neileg]

You want help to do this the wrong way?

 

[stopher]

You want help to do this the wrong way?

I wouldn't say kingzl3y's approach is necessarily wrong. However, you do raise a good point. Does a lending library really need to track individual copies (Book, videos etc)? Or does it just treat it as a stock item and manage it purely at a transactional level (like stock control, goods in/out)?

I don't know the answer to the above. However, one reason I could think of tracking, say, videos, is that if one gets damaged you can track back to see who's done it. Also if a copy goes missing (say when you check your stock), then again you can track to some degree what might have happened. Also, do you need to track the condition (good,poor etc) of a copy so you can monitor how many books you are going to need to replace. Also, my uni library did track individual books simply because when you returned it you just dropped it in a box. They then scanned it in and knew which book it was and hence who had returned it (I guess they must do this for video lending also).

Over time all this info might be useful. But all this would be outlined in the users requirements. If none of this is necessary then Neil's approach would seem more appropriate.

Chris

 

[neileg]

Perhaps my comment was a bit over the top! You've raised some valid points, Chris.

If you need to have a record for each book copy as Chris suggests, then you will need to have a unique identifier for each copy. A serial number or something similar. In this case, automatically creating the records may not be appropriate, either.