flags

Ok i have a database, which has main heading in it, but some of the headings need to show that they are related to one another.

I want the heading to be pulled out and have a coloured flag or something to distinguse that they are all part of the same category.

example

meat (heading)
chicken (flag to show white meet)
beef (flag to show read meat)
lamb (falg to show red meat)

Does anyone know where i could start looking at what the technique is that i would need to use. Hope that makes sense as it was the best way i could describe the effect i want.

From what I gather, you want to be able to associate a specific type of object with a category. I.e.:

Beef belongs to Red Meat category
Chicken belongs to White Meat Category
Lettuc Belongs to Veggie Category

You didn't give much explanation about how you are storing your info in a database. If you are talking about tables, the easiest option would be to have a lookup table containing your available Category names.

In your table where you are storing the specific item, you'll enter the item name and the category it belongs to. Then, whenever you pull that specific item from your table you can pull the category it belongs to along with it.