help needed for software project

[adonis]

hi...i dont kno if this topic has been discussed,though i searched the forum before posting..
i am a 3rd yr mechanical engineering student and for my project this semester i want to make a dictionary of terms related to my field.it would be arranged in such a manner that if i perform a search for a specific term..it would return a no of results giving the meaning of that term.
someone told me that the best thing for this would be using visual basic 6..along with a database like microsoft access.but my problem is that i have never used it before.i have only one month before i can complete the project..max a few weeks more.
i would be very grateful if someone could guide me on how i should proceed..like which book i should consult..sumthng that will help me learn..but also help me complete my project in time.
if there is any other easier method i can use to make this dictionary plz tell me about it.i am very taken on this idea and i would be really indebted to the person who helps me realise it.
thank you..nd plz reply quick.

 

[tuxfan]

VB6 in 21 days.
More VB6 in 21 days.
VB6 Databases how to

Just refer to these books. If you know programming, you will pick up VB pretty fast.

 

[adonis]

thnx for the quick reply tuxfan ..i'll starting hunting the coll library for these books.
can u tell me if these books are enough to grasp the concepts that are necessary for completing the project successfully?
its essential that i can implement the "search" capability in my dictionary..ie..retrieve the meanings of only those words that i want..instead of scrolling along to find it.does it require any advanced concepts of database and vb?
waiting for replies from others as well..
thnx

 

[tuxfan]

Access is somewhat an unusual choice. But since its just a college project, its ok

You need to do index the terms and use seek command to find it. For speed, I will suggest that in Access you also create queries. For example, create query for all words starting with alphabet "A". You can do so for other alphabets as well. That will speed up the search. Queries can be seeked in the same way as ordinary tables.

You can connect to a database thru VB using ADO or DAO. If it would have been real life project, it must be ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) because its more efficient. For a college project even DAO (Data Access Object) will do

 

[adonis]

hmmm...couldnt understand nething u said....but hope i do after a few days
thnx tuxfan....i'd try ur suggestions...nd will keep posting here if i need more suggestions.
nd y r u thinking access is an unususal choice?do u think there is sumthng which will be simpler and still serve my purpose?

 

[tuxfan]

No. Nothing will be simpler then Access. Its not the most efficient DBMS, but will serve your purpose of a college project. For real life projects, there are better options available.

 

[adonis]

ok..i have got one more question for the time being..
when i display the search results..will it be possible for me to display them as static web pages?i mean..say when i search for the meaning of the term "scheduling"..the meaning will be displayed in a separate window..with links pointing to meanings of others terms which have relevance in the meaning of the term "scheduling"..is that possible?
one more thing..i am using visual basic 6..and the version of microsoft office i have is 2003.are they compatible or do i need to use a previous version of office?will office xp do?

 

[tuxfan]

Web pages? You want to display the results in a browser? WHY? I mean its not impossible, but sounds somewhat unconventional.

Everything is possible in VB and it all depends on your programming skills. I think Office 2003 will be compatible. Both are from M$ so they should work together. But don't take a chance. Try it out first. You never know when M$ withdraws a feature to make people upgrade :roll:

 

[adonis]

okay..may be not in a browser..but i want links to be present in the result returned..links leading to other terms related to the query....u know,like the results we get when we perform a search in the help files provided with most softwares..

u see..when i perform a search on a specific term..the application will use the database engine to search thru the database and get the meaning that has been related to it..now i want to relate that meaning to a few other specific terms that have relevance to the provided query....when the meaning is displayed,i want it to be displayed along with the links to those terms..so that the searcher can explore further if wanted..

right now i am going thru Microsoft Access 2000 in 24 hours to equip myself with the basics of a database...oh man..am i nervous

but if i can finish this successfully...i will be very happy

 

[tuxfan]

As I said, everything is possible. It depends on your programming skills.

Access is pretty simple. Do you know the RDBMS concepts like relationships and normalisations? Have you done any programming earlier?

I had made a Spell Checker in C long long time back. At that time I had used a plain text file to store the data and link lists for quick searches. But you don't need all those things now. You have better tools available

 

[adonis]

ok..i've started building the access database.i'm making two separate tables..each with two fields.one of the two is common for both tables,i've named it 'id' and want to use it to connect the two other fields,named 'term' and 'meaning'.i've assigned the data type as autonumber and made the field the primary key.so how do i proceed with the linking now?

one more thing..vb6 does not support anything higher than office 8.0(i think thats 97)..so neither access 2000, 2002, or 2003 databases are being recognised.but i've found a way by which i can convert an existing access database created with any of these three to an older format.if i do so..will all tha data be retained?also i heard the relational nature of access started with 2000.so if i convert a database to version 97, will it get destroyed/corrupted?
waiting for ur reply......

 

[tuxfan]

After you open the database, go to Tools > Relationships and define it there. Its simple drag and drop type of thing. You will have to decide whether its one-to-one or one-to-many kind of relationship. (It can't be many-to-many since id is the primary key in one of the tables.)

I have read/written data to Access 2000 databases thru VB6 without any problems. So you can use at least that. No need to convert. Use Access 2000. Its enough for the job.

 

[adonis]

thanx tuxfan..with ur help..i finally completed the project in time..i used DAO by the way..and performed all my database work thru VB itself how cool is that..i created a data entry form with DAO data control and when completed..i just used used the "find" query to sort thru the results...
had to do away with the fancy stuffs like html results and references because of scarcity of time..but will def try to add it later on..
now waiting with crossed fingers for my instructors opinion..
thanks again...

btw i consulted a book called Beginnong Visual Basic 6 Database Programming by John Connell...its a really cool one...

 

[tuxfan]

Well, congratulations on completing your project and learning VB

If you ever want to program under Linux and look for a tool similar to VB, there is something called GAMBAS You can find the details at *gambas.sourceforge.net