Form Wizard - how much help does it actually need / give?

[ITMA]

When using the Form Wizard, are there any tips as to what need be included
and what need not be included (in the way of key fields and their joins) -
or will it include all keys automatically, behind the scenes, even if not
selected?

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

The form wizard will not include any fields that you do not select.

 

[ITMA]

So you need expert knowledge to use even the wizard?! Anyone know if MS
have corrected this short coming in later versions?

 

[Rick Brandt]

So you need expert knowledge to use even the wizard?! Anyone know if MS have
corrected this short coming in later versions?

I think the consensus would be that once you have acquired enough Access skills
to recognize shortcomings in the wizards you are not very likely to still be
using them.

 

[ITMA]

On the contrary, I've yet to acquire sufficient skill to design a meaningful
workable database (yes, any idiot can do the two one-to-many tables, with a
form and subform example which is illustrated to death in the text books)
and I find the wizard is also incapable of doing the job too!

 

[Rick Brandt]

But the form wizard is not attempting to "design a meaningful workable
database". It is merely trying to assist in creating a form to interface with
tables that are already built.

 

[ITMA]

My point was that to make a form work certain fields are mandatory - and
I've found its not just the obvious ones. How do you know what others? You
would have thought an Access Wizard would have known what 'gaps to fill in.
For instance, if there's a two table form then sometimes you seem to need
the fields by which they're joined, but sometimes not. Sometimes you seem
to need both fields from either end of the join, sometimes you only need the
field from the one side or the many side. Access remains a mystery!

 

[Pat Hartman]

The wizard assumes that you know what you are doing as it should. It
doesn't know when you create a single form based on two tables with a 1-many
relationship whether you want the one, the many, or both to be able to be
added/updated. Only you know that and that dictates which fields need to be
included in the query.

You will be much better off if you use a form with a subform for a 1-many
relationship. The whole process will make much more sense. As long as the
master/child links are properly set, you will not need the foreign key in
the subform, Access will set it with the correct value whenever you add a
new record. But you do need to make sure that your relationships are
properly defined and RI is enforced.

I have been using Access for 10 years and I still frequently use the wizards
to make the first cut at a form. First I build my own query to control what
goes on the form then I use either the standard default builder or sometimes
the wizard. Once the basic form is built with all the fields, I rearrange
it to be more visually pleasing and go on from there.