>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>I am posting this in VFP forum but the backend is SQL Server database.
>>>
>>>I want to ask your opinion on the following DB design consideration.
>>>I need to create a table (which will be a child table) that will store different value, depending on the Parent PK
>>>For example. Some records of the table will have 2 INT columns, 1 Bit Column, 4 Decimal columns. Other rows/records will have different number of types. And the captions to the columns (the way they will be viewed by user of the VFP app) will be different.
>>>I am thinking of having a set of different type columns, as follows:
>>>BIT_VAL 1 Type: Bit
>>>BIT_VAL2 Type: Bit
>>>BIT_VAL3 Type: Bit
>>>DEC_VAL1 Type Decimal
>>>DEC_VAL2 Type Decimal
>>>DEC_VAL3 Type Decimal
>>>DEC_VAL4 Type Decimal
>>>INT_VAL1 Type INT
>>>and so on.
>>>
>>>So, for each different Type the table will have a max number of columns. This way, the UI will take care of Captions and matching the Captions to the Col Name/Type.
>>>
>>>What do you think of this approach?
>>
>>This seems to be a classic example of where it would be helpful for you to tell us what you're trying to do, rather than arguing over implementation details. There may be a completely different approach that would make all this discussion so far, obsolete.
>
>I will put together a brief description. But I am beginning to think that what Thomas suggested, multiple tables, is the right approach.

I just want to point out that I was the first to suggest multiple tables. I don't usually care about who gets credit for an idea, but this seems like a classic case of a woman suggesting something and it not being considered seriously until another man suggests the same thing.

Tamar