Relational Database & CFM Issues

Question

Issue: I currently have a table in a database that is set up
as such:
1st Column Lists Company Names Following columns lists an a
short hand edition of the type of business each company does in
each state. i.e. In Illnois Comany A provide Type Q Services in
Arkansas Type R etc..
Based on a user selection of a particular state how can I get
the list of CompanyNames and only the selected states information
to display on the page?
CompanyName I IL I AR I AL I CO I
Company A Q R R L
Company B L R Q Q
Company C R R L L
Company D Q L Q Q
Thanks,
P

Answer 1

The database layout has to be updated to do what you want
done.
Rules of Data
Normalization
Table: Companies
CompanyID [ integer ] [primary key] (auto)
CompanyName
Table: BusinessTypes
BusinessTypeID [ integer ] [primary key] (auto)
BusinessType [ varchar ]
Table: CompanyBusinessTypes
CompanyID [ Foreign Key: Companies.CompanyID ]
State [ char(2) ]
BusinessTypeID [ Foreign Key: BusinessTypes.BusinessTypeID ]
This layout allows you to scale up to infinite associations
between companies, states and business types.
SELECT CompanyID, BusinessTypeID FROM CompanyBusinessTypes
WHERE State = '#state#'