Setting up tables for complex relative values

[ASetzler]

I am mining an auction website for values.

Items are put up for trade. Sometimes items are auctioned with other items simultaneously, such as:

Item A, Item B and Item C.

Sometimes items also have credits listed with them, such as:

Item A and 50 credits.

Other members then bid on those trades with bids that follow a similar form, such as:

Item D and 2000 credits.

So, a given trade could look like:

Up for trade: Item A ... Winning bid: Item C, Item C, Item D and 250 credits.

...or...

Up for trade: 2 of Item B ... Winning bid: Item A, 3 of Item C, Item D and 150 credits.

What would be the best way to go about recording these completed trades?

The object of this recording is to approximate a relative value (in credits) for each item.

I've been thinking about how to go about this for several days now, and I haven't had much success.

Could someone point me to some helpful literature, or perhaps take a stab at it?

I would appreciate any and all help!

[bartonc]

DB Design 3rd Edition looks very promising.

[MMcCarthy]

You will need to start off with an Item Table, a Lot Table and an Items per Lot table.

Item Table (tblItems)
ItemID (Primary Key, AutoNumber)
ItemName
ItemDescription

Lot Table (tblLots)
LotID (Primary Key, AutoNumber)
LotNum (Num from the website)
LotDescription
Credits (defaults to 0)

Items per Lot Table (tblItemsPerLot)
LotID (Composite Primary Key, Foreign Key to PK of tblLots)
ItemID (Composite Primary Key, Foreign Key to PK of tblItems)

For reference check out this tutorial in the Access forum.

Mary

[ASetzler]

Excellent!

Thanks to everyone for their help.

On the other hand, does anyone know about an algorithm that would evaluate the relative values for each item that was traded?

[MMcCarthy]

Excellent!

Thanks to everyone for their help.

On the other hand, does anyone know about an algorithm that would evaluate the relative values for each item that was traded?

Does each item have a credit value that could be set in the Items table?