Hi all,

I've been struggling with this mission for several weeks, so some new
ideas and guidance would be great.

Picture this. A table. One row for every 'unit' of production. One
column for every 'check' that needs to be done on a unit at some
point. Within the table there's a mask - blanked out squares when a
check is not required, and clear squares for when a check is
required. Nice and easy for someone who is having to carry out these
checks on units they produce. If they're up to unit 10, the all the
white spaces in the boxes above unit 10 should have been signed off.

So that's the visible side. In behind it there's a second table - the
frequency table for the checks. Every different type of product has a
different collection of checks and check frequencies. Some checks are
required every x units, whereas others are required x times per
'run'. My vision is for a readily updateable backend table that lists
all the checks down the rows, the specifications along the columns,
and within the table the frequencies are captured (I'm currently
trying to use whole numbers for the 'every x units' checks and
decimals for the 'x times per run' checks). There's a couple of other
oddball constraints I need to work in, what I have tried to explain is
the core of what I want to create.

So what I'm trying to build is code to translate the products and
checks frequency table into a units and checks table for a selected
product.
Example - choose product B and the code finds product B in the
products/frequency table. It then creates headings on the output
table only for only those checks that are needed by product B. Taking
the range of units to be produced (say 100), it then lists the unit
numbers down the rows. Next it creates the mask. For test #1 it
leaves a space for every 3rd unit, while for test #2 it leaves space
for 5 tests evenly across the run (this is the 'every x units' vs 'x
times per run' thing).

Any suggestions for what the best approach is? Have I headed down the
wrong track with my current method? Is there anything similar already
out there I can work off?

Thoughts or key snippets of code are appreciated,
Jason.