Another Name for Address Book Table

[Dr. Evil]

Hello all, I have a bit of a silly question...

 

I was pondering the name of the table that hold all the addresses, phone numbers, emails, urls, etc...

And realized I could not think of a perfect name, names used in the past have been:

 - book   (a little too general)

 - data   (too general)

 - line   (way too general)

 - address book   (more then just address)

 - phone book   (more then just phone numbers)

 

So like like the word "Rolodex", it is perfect! Except that it is a BRAND!

But none the less, it works perfect implies the collection of all info such as phone, address, emaill, etc and is a small, single word that would neatly fit in the naming of database table/occurrences.

 

I'm currently using the name "Info" for my table. Maybe this is good enough?

 

ANYBODY have a better name then what I have listed for this type of table?

What do you name your address book table?

 

I'm curious to hear from you all, THANKS!

[Raybaudi]

Contacts ?

[Dr. Evil]

Hello Raybaudi.. THANKS for chiming in!

 

I name my person table "Contact".

Contacts in my case, track people, like Randy Johnson, John Doe, Mary Jane, etc...

Along with their personal info, like DOB, title, etc...

 

I relate Info to the Contacts to track there personal info, which is all related to Company table.

 

                  -< Employment >- Contact -< Info`Contact

Company 

                 -< Info

[bcooney]

We've used COMM

 

Yes, short for communication.

[Dr. Evil]

bcooney: comm, is that short for communication?

[vobrien]

Contact Details.

[LaRetta]

Hi Randy. :^)

I use an Addresses table for all addresses (including a Type field for whether billing, shipping, warehouse, summer home et) and a Numbers table which holds phone numbers and emails. The web address I store within the company record

[Raybaudi]

What about any of these:

 

Link

Conjoin

Connection

Call

Meet

Channel

[Dr. Evil]

 THANK YOU ALL for your suggestions and help!

[dansmith65]

I like "ContactInfo".

 

I'm surprised you store addresses in the same table as phone number's. I use a separate table for addresses. What fields do you have in this table?

[Dr. Evil]

I'm surprised you store addresses in the same table as phone number's. I use a separate table for addresses. What fields do you have in this table?

 

I know, its been pointed out to me that they are two different entries, phone numbers and addresses.

 

I have combined them because in my mind, phone, email, fax, address, url... are all just info of the company/contact. So only one entity in my mind.

By combining all info into one table it allows me to create a report that displaying Company and all their info.

I do however use TWO separate relationships to create phone numbers and addresses. But they are both stored in same table.

I also have a single calculation field in the InfoTable that neatly display the data, be it address, or phone, etc... this field is always populated, never empty.

 

P.S. I have key fields on both Company and Contact records to set "primary address, phone, email, etc. I also have a join table called Employment so that one Contact can be employed by many Companies. For example John is the Owner of Gadgets Galore Co. and also is on the Save a Whale Foundation Co.

 

I'm still debating whether I should continue the all-in-one InfoTable, or separate into two tables, one PhoneTable and one AddressTable.

I'm leaning towards keeping the all-in-one InfoTable.

 

FUN FUN!!!

[Rick Whitelaw]

I don't get it. Who cares what you call your (or anyone's) contacts table? I call mine Mikey.

[Dr. Evil]

I don't get it. Who cares what you call your (or anyone's) contacts table? I call mine Mikey.

The naming is for the User, yes you can call your behind the scenes table Mikey, Joker, or Scrambled Eggs. But it makes for an easier database to work on if the naming conventions make sense and match what the User sees.

 

This topic alone has educated me on the need to separate AddressTable from PhoneTable.

 

Thx.

[LaRetta]

And it is not only important to match what the User thinks but also for other developers who might work in the solution.  Using more standardized naming (in the database/software industry) is important and I've seen some strange table names that in no way made it clear what it contained. 

 

I am always searching for the extract right word to properly describe a Let() variable, field names, and table occurrences.  If more folks asked these kinds of questions, our cleanup work would be a lot easier.  Of course, we make more money when the solution isn't as clear but I would rather deal with clearly-named objects. 

 

Good on you for asking about it Randy.

[Rick Whitelaw]

Randy and Laretta,

Just joshing. I agree with both of you, and yes, even the under the hood naming is important for other developers taking over a project.

R.

Edit: it's also not a bad idea to have two help files. One for user, one for developer. Great place to keep notes.

[LaRetta]

Thanks Rick - it is so true. A table with notes of version changes and attach Requirements and Business Rules is very good idea. 

[Rick Whitelaw]

LaRetta, Yes, when I look at my user help file I realize the concepts and the dos and donts are more related to the business the db is managing than db concepts. I'm the only one who's read the help file as I've never distributed a solution! This brings me to something I've always believed. To design a solution for a particular kind of business, the most important requirement is an understanding of the business and the ability to adapt to changes in business practices because they happen all the time. I also keep a table of Developer Notes. Records of wishes or problems. Four fields: date, title, issue and solution. I hang on to many of the records after I solve the problems. It's a simple way to see a bit of history without restoring backups. Rick.

[LaRetta]

This is embarrassing.  I'm on ipad and I went to rate Rick's thread with +1 and my finger slipped.  And now it won't let me change it.  I don't just want to have someone else rate it a plus because that will only make it 0 again.  Lee?  Stephen?  Can someone remove this minus please and let me rate it a plus?

[Lee Smith]

Is that what you wanted? The problem is, you can only do this once on a post. So once it its posted, it takes Stephen to reverse it to, the way you wanted to in the first place. i.e. make it a + 1

Edited November 16, 2012 by Lee Smith
made the post read better.

[LaRetta]

YES!  Thank you Lee!  I knew you'd fix it for me! Ah darn, I hadn't read all your post and I clicked plus and it showed it took it but when I refreshed, it disappeared again.

I'll get ya next time then Rick!

Edited November 16, 2012 by LaRetta

[Rick Whitelaw]

LaRetta, No need for a plus! The fact that you read it and seemed to agree is more than enough. Rick.