Barnes wrote:
>
> I'm trying to build what amounts to an appointment book for a doctor's
> office. ...
>
> If anyone has any suggestions or advice regarding table design, I would
> really appreciate it. I'm not sure at all where to start. With things like
> open appointments, this seems much more complex than the typical name,
> address, phone number databases I've done in the past.
A short answer to a rather complex question...
You might consider looking into "Entity-Relationship Modelling". You
can read about E-R modelling in almost any relational database book;
it is the heart of relational database design. Other helpful
processes for ER-modelling include user-interface prototypes and
"Use-Case Scenarios", also available in software design texts.
Another related crucially important process is "normalization". It is
also readily described in cryptic academe-speak in the same RDBMS
texts, but if you're fortunate, you can find an author able to
translate into understandable english:). Normalization is essentially
a process that helps you avoid some painful chronic ER-Modelling
mistakes.
ER-modelling can be quite tedious, but has a huge and lasting payoff
during development and evolution if done well.
Cheers,
Ed Loehr
