I'm working on a database to store information about archaelogical artifacts. I have a number of different types of artifacts, such as beads, utensils, and ceramics. Each type has fields that pertain only to that type of artifact (e.g., circumference applies to beads, not utensils). But at the end of the day they are all still artifacts and share some fields in common, such as location of dig, estimated period of origin, etc. So I am envisioning tables like the following for each artifact type:
Table: Beads
ID (PK)
Completeness
Material
Manufacturing Technique
Bead Structure
Bead Form
Bead Shape
etc.
Table: Utensils
ID (PK)
Utensil Form
Plating
Handle Decoration
Object Length in millimeters
etc.
Table: Ceramics
ID
Manufacturing Technique
Ware
Vessel Category
Form
Mended Form
etc.
I saw somewhere how these tables could be connected to another table whose purpose is to give each record a unique identifier vis-a-vis all the records in other tables -- obviously each record has its own within-table identifier (table.ID), but I want each record to be numbered uniquely in the db as a whole. So I saw something like
Table: Generate Artifact ID
ContextSampleID (PK; to be used in other tables)
ArtifactID (foreign key, related to the ID fields in each of the previous 3 tables).
I'd post a picture or link of the relationship diagram I'm modeling after, but as a new user I cannot. My problem is that I do not understand how the "Generate Artifact ID" table works (or if it works?). There's probably something very basic I'm missing; this project is outside the scope of my usual, more modest Access projects. Can anyone enlighten me?
Many thanks in advance.
Table: Beads
ID (PK)
Completeness
Material
Manufacturing Technique
Bead Structure
Bead Form
Bead Shape
etc.
Table: Utensils
ID (PK)
Utensil Form
Plating
Handle Decoration
Object Length in millimeters
etc.
Table: Ceramics
ID
Manufacturing Technique
Ware
Vessel Category
Form
Mended Form
etc.
I saw somewhere how these tables could be connected to another table whose purpose is to give each record a unique identifier vis-a-vis all the records in other tables -- obviously each record has its own within-table identifier (table.ID), but I want each record to be numbered uniquely in the db as a whole. So I saw something like
Table: Generate Artifact ID
ContextSampleID (PK; to be used in other tables)
ArtifactID (foreign key, related to the ID fields in each of the previous 3 tables).
I'd post a picture or link of the relationship diagram I'm modeling after, but as a new user I cannot. My problem is that I do not understand how the "Generate Artifact ID" table works (or if it works?). There's probably something very basic I'm missing; this project is outside the scope of my usual, more modest Access projects. Can anyone enlighten me?
Many thanks in advance.