Oscommerce Quick Install Guide

[netshet]

please be gentle with me, this is my first post!!

Thanks for the more in depth insight into installing oscommerce.

I am wanting to initially develop my shop on my PC before I upload it.

I am having difficulty setting up the database also.

I have used the search function in the forum, but without exact string match clauses, there are thousands of hits, which are extremely confusing and relate to stuff that I am lightyears away from.

I am using the Xmapp suite, and can see the database creation within phpmyadmin. How do I find out how many fields I need to creat, their types / attributes. Is it a flat or relational database?

Has someone got a blank database that I could use?

I really do seem to be spending many hours going round in circles and never getting anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated.