When I began building my Violano rollography database, I investigated
a number of programs.  Microsoft "Excel" spreadsheet program is widely
available.  At first glance it would appear to do the job but, as
I demonstrated at an MBSI workshop a few years ago, it is extremely
easy to do a sort that will result in an unrecoverable error if you
do not capture all of the columns when you do a sort.

Also, Excel is a "flat" database program.  As such, for example,
you need to re-type the manufacturer name or composer every time you
enter it (unless it is a recent entry and the program remembers it
and suggests it when you start typing).  This has several drawbacks.
For one, you have to do a lot of typing.  For another, it is prone to
typing errors.  For yet another, if you find that a multiple entry is
wrong, you need to correct it dozens (and perhaps hundreds) of times.

A much better solution is to use a relational database program.
The one I have chosen is Microsoft Access.  It comes as part of the
Microsoft Office Pro suite of programs and you can often pick up
a previous version for little cost.  It is a common program and is
not likely to be obsoleted with newer operating systems.  At worst,
you would need to upgrade when you changed operating systems.  Also,
there are plenty of books available to help with the program.

The big advantage of a relational database is that you can set up
tables with different types of information.  You only need to enter
each piece of information once and then you relate one table to all
the others.  For example, you might have the following tables: roll
number and title, composer, manufacturer, song type, and so forth.
If you enter "QSR" instead of "QRS" in the table of manufacturers,
you only need to correct it once and it will be right for all times
that this manufacturer is used in the database.

While a relational database can be harder to learn than a flat database
like Excel, the rewards are worth it.  You can set up any number of
"reports" that will list information in whatever form you want it.  For
example, you could list all the waltzes in your collection or you could
only list titles that have the word "tulip" in it.  The possibilities
are endless.

Once the "query" for the "report" is set up, it can be used to do your
search with no effort.  Best of all, the fundamental database is not
modified when you do a search.  One use that I make of these reports
is to print out labels for my roll boxes and rolls that have the same
format as the originals.

If you use Excel and want to sort your database to find information,
you need to understand what you are doing and run the risk of an
irreparable sort error.  I use this program often and highly recommend
it for many applications, but not for this particular use.  Backup
often if you are going to use Excel!

Jack Breen
Southborough, Massachusetts