One table or many tables?

[yhgtbfk]

I have three item booking screens: vehicle, room, equipment. The table fields are identical.

What are the pros and cons of having them in three tables, or having them in one table, with an extra field called "type"?

I imagine if they are in one table, access has to sort through 300 records instead of 100 in each table.

But on the other hand, maybe having one table makes the program file size smaller, and more compact

 

[WayneRyan]

y,

One table is better. Less complexity, fewer data entry screens/reports etc.
Don't worry about the additional time to search, the app will be easier to
develop/maintain with one table.

Wayne

 

[yhgtbfk]

y,

One table is better. Less complexity, fewer data entry screens/reports etc.
Don't worry about the additional time to search, the app will be easier to
develop/maintain with one table.

Wayne

Thank you.

 

[Len Boorman]

Hmmmm

Maybe but think on a little about the attributes.

Room for instance, Do you want to include details about location and size.

Vehicle, Any restrictions, size, Type Estate ? etc

Len B

 

[Pat Hartman]

You should be able to work out the attributes problem. Think about how catalog companies handle this. They frequently sell everything from ladies lingerie to barbeque grills in the same catalog and don't seem to have any trouble. Most of the attributes are embedded in the description. I would include a catagory code to minimize searching. You may also need some specific attributes isolated. Don't worry about a few fields that exist only for certain types of entries.