FileMaking: Getting Relational

Getting Relational

FileMaker is described as a relational database. Most of us have at least an intuitive idea of what a database is. While we covered the relational aspect in some detail in the first column, we’re going to look more closely at its meaning here. Some of what will be presented here is theoretical, but it will have practical applications, and the only portions of relational theory that we’ll cover will be those directly applicable to FileMaker databases.

What Is a Relational Database?

Long ago in the neolithic era of computing (1969), Edgar Codd wrote an article describing the relational model of database structure that is the basis of modern relational databases. Most modern professional grade database managers, such asMySQL and FileMaker, have their roots in this paper and later works by Mr. Codd. The word relation originates from the mathematical concept of a table, although one could also think of relation as stemming from the idea that the data is built around relationships between things.

The basic idea of Codd’s relational model was that data should be broken into tables, and tables are made up of columns and rows. In FileMaker parlance, rows are records and columns are fields within those records. Tables and fields are chosen based on a process of normalization, which is designed to ensure that the database is properly broken into tables based on the elimination of duplicate data, and to ensure data integrity.

If, after reading this article, you’re interested in delving further into the details of relational database design and normalization, I can recommend a book that helped me quite a bit some years ago, Relational Database Design Clearly Explained by Jan L. Harrington. The link will take you to Amazon’s page for the edition I’m able to recommend, as I’m unfamiliar with the second edition.

Normalization

Normalization is a rather theoretical and complex topic, but in regard to building FileMaker databases, it can be broken down into the following guidelines:

  • Each record in a table should be uniquely identifiable.
  • Each field in a record should be dependent on only the record in which it exists.
  • Each field in a record should be uniquely determined by the record it exists in.
  • Each field in a record should store a single piece of information.
  • Each field in a record should appear only once.

More…ATPM 14.04 – FileMaking: Getting Relational.

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