Tip/Trick: Online Database Schema Samples Library
Problem:
You are building a web application, and are trying to figure out how to best model the particular database schema you need for the application.
Solution:
One great resource I found recently on the web that I recommend checking out is a really nice library of free database models. You can browse the library online here.
The library includes hundreds of sample database schemas for tons of topics – ranging from “Airline Reservations” to “Organizations and People” to “Car Servicing” to “Pizza Delivery”. A sample schema for modeling “Clients and Fees” can be seen below:
The next time you start creating a new database, I'd recommend checking out the library to garner a few thoughts on how to think about the topic-space, and how to structure the table schema.
How Do I ASP.NET Data Video
To learn more about how to create new databases and tables within Visual Web Developer or Visual Studio, I’d recommend watching this “Create Data Driven Websites Video” that is listed on the www.asp.net web-site’s new Video Tutorials section (if you haven’t checked this out yet you should – in now contains dozens of videos with great content, with weekly new videos coming). This particular video demonstrates how to use the database explorer within Visual Web Developer to create new tables, enter data, and build a simple three-tier data access app against it.
ASP.NET Data Tutorials
I’d also strongly recommend checking out the great ASP.NET 2.0 Data Tutorials series on the www.asp.net website which now includes 23 unique tutorials that walkthrough how to create three-tier data access applications using ASP.NET 2.0 (they cover everything from creating a new DAL, creating master/details reporting UI, creating data entry and editing pages, implementing optimistic concurrency, etc).
Each tutorial is written in both VB and C#, and includes full sample source code to review. There are also PDF versions of each sample that you can download to print out as well. We still have another 20 data tutorials still to publish -- so make sure to keep an eye on the site for updates.
Hope this helps,
Scott