How Hard is it to Build a Database?

Hey all!

I'm doing an app startup and I'm hoping for a little guidance. Let me start by saying I'm not tech minded and I can't code but I want to learn in the future. Although, for this project, time is of the essence! If I use incorrect terms that don’t make sense then please correct me as I want to learn!! :smiley:

Before I speak to developers and tell them I want my app to do all the amazing things I've dreamed up I want to know how big a task it is that I'm asking. I have in mind what I feel is the bare minimum service I can offer to test my idea I just want to ensure it isn’t going to be difficult to build.

From my current understanding databases are built from data supplied by the user e.g. when they sign up, place an order, etc. As that is literally everywhere it seems to me that that part should be straightforward.

What I basically want is a daisy chain of databases created by data from the last DB based on a different set of rules.

Example:
The user enters data
A second database is searched to match the data
based on the rules for this database a new database is created, etc.

My Question:
If I am able to provide a step by step of everything I want to happen, how long or how difficult would it be to build?

Also, if anyone has a suggestion of an easier way to achieve this I’d love to hear them i.e. learn and do myself in a couple weeks, software that already does this and can connect with apps, etc.

PS.
I might not even be on the right kind of forum! if not, I apologise!! But I gotta start somewhere right!? :smiley:

why? why do you want to daisy chain and build databases?

Sorry, I may not be using the correct terminology or explaining myself very well.

I want my users to be able to input information,
A database to be searched,
A new list/table to be created based on the matching data

Each time data is added by a user, the same thing will happen.

Hope that makes it easier to answer my question! :slight_smile:

Bump!

answer is it depends what you are building and who will be doing the development

@claysimps,
Do you mean:
I want my users to be able to input information,
A database to be searched,
A new row is inserted into a table if there is matching data?

Basically yes! I know what I want to achieve but don't know or understand the technical terms. That's what I'm hoping to get clarity on so I ask the right questions and make reasonable requests to developers when I speak to them.

Is that something that is easy to do?

You as the end user or the product owner do not need to know tech lingo at all actually. you sit down with your devs (UX, server devs) and in plain English (or your language) detail the requirements of the app you want.
Then it is up to them to execute this as techs.
What is your role in this project?

Note the following or you can find many others out there => Requirements gathering and SDLC

http://agilemodeling.com/essays/agileRequirementsBestPractices.htm

Thanks! I'll have a read of that tonight! It's a trait of mine to want to know everything that's involved but in this case, maybe I should leave it to the experts!! :smiley:

From a SQL Server point of view, I would create database with a table to insert the data into and a stored procedure with search parameters that inserts the search results into the table. The user interface that would capture the user input and execute the stored procedure is outside the scope of this forum, however I would have the application search the other database making a separate connection and cache the results in a datatable variable (as long as you have adequate memory on the server) as cross server queries can have crappy performance.

1 Like

Thanks for the tip!