B5 - Week 6 - Use of Databases In Design Offices

The blog post this week assigned Group D to read and write about the use of databases in design offices. I decided to focus on the use of databases with AutoCAD since I am a frequent user of AutoCAD and have a very limited understanding of how databases work.

The first thing that needs to happen with the use of databases in a design office is the initial setup of the databases.  This can be done with a database management system (DBMS) such as Microsoft Access. An example database would contain columns of Part Number, Description, Drawing Size, and Units. From what I understand, you can connect a database to AutoCAD using the dbCONNECT command from within AutoCAD. Once your database is connected to AutoCAD, you can link objects in a drawing with files in your database. 

The use of databases are beneficial for a multitude of reasons.  The most beneficial seems to be the ability to assign data to an object such as price.  Because a property, such as price, can be attached to an object, this allows the user to create a detailed report containing quantities and costs of a project. Another benefit of using a database in a design office is the ability for multiple users to access the database. It is important in a design office to maintain a drawing standard, so the ability for multiple users to share one database makes this very easy to accomplish.

Reference:
http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_ancillary/11/11180222/DOWNLOAD/9781118022214-BC01.pdf

Responses:
Abdulghani Sayed - I too thought that Excel could be used as a database software. Hopefully Access is as easy to use as Excel, though from what you've stated, it seems as though the interface is very dull which usually is a drawback for users.

Mikaela Price - I have very little knowledge of databases, so your explanation of SQL helped me me understand a little more about databases.

Catherine Stephens - The tab delimited file approach to databases seems very inefficient compared to relational databases. In the example you gave showing the difference between a relation and a table, is the table just a random distribution of letters and numbers whereas a relation has information organized by row and column? Since I don't know much about databases, your entry helped me understand more about databases.