How can I add multiple items to one field?

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Guest

I would like to create a database containing information on individual land
surveys.
The problem I have is when an individual survey falls within several
geographical sections. There are aproximately 400 of these sections that the
survey could lie in -most often a survey will include 8 or fewer of these
sections.
I will use these sections later to perform queries on what surveys are in a
particular section.
I'd like to know how to set up this database to allow me to enter several
sections for one survey?
I figure there is an easy answer to this question but I have limited Access
experience and it's a stone wall to me.
Thanks in advance to anyone considering my problem.
 
"Would rather be surveying" <Would rather be
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message
I would like to create a database containing information on individual land
surveys.
The problem I have is when an individual survey falls within several
geographical sections. There are aproximately 400 of these sections that the
survey could lie in -most often a survey will include 8 or fewer of these
sections.
I will use these sections later to perform queries on what surveys are in a
particular section.
I'd like to know how to set up this database to allow me to enter several
sections for one survey?
I figure there is an easy answer to this question but I have limited Access
experience and it's a stone wall to me.
Thanks in advance to anyone considering my problem.
Click to expand...

You never store multiple values in a single field. What you need is a
second table related to the first with a one-to-many relationship. Then
you embed a subform on your main form which allows you to enter a few or as
many sections per survey as you need.
 
As a rule, never store more than 1 value in a field... it can only lead to
problems down the road.
"most often" a survey will include 8 or fewer of these sections.
Click to expand...

You really need to set up a One to Many relationship between the Survey
and the Sections. Create a table with 2 fields... SurveyID and Section.
(my examples... use your own names and key fields)
SurveyID would be the key field that associates it with a particular survey
in your main (One) table, and Section could contain any number of entires
(Many) against each Survey.
You could make Section a Combo field and allow the user to select a
Section designation from a predefined list... for better accuracy.

hth
Al Camp

"Would rather be surveying" <Would rather be
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message
 
Thanks Al and Mark for pointing me in the right direction... but I could use
a liitle more help. After browsing MS Access Help it seems I need to use a
many to many relationship since my Surveys table will contain several
sections for each survey and my Sections table will contain several surveys
in each section. MS Access Help suggests a third linking table which would
contain the primarys key from the other two tables, in this case the SurveyID
from the Surveys Table and Section from the Sections table. Section would be
the only field in the Sections Table and also the primary key since they are
unique and numerals.
Please correct me if it seems I'm getting off track at this point.
I'm having trouble visualizing how I would be able to perform a multiple
selection on a form whether it's a combo box or a sub-table and how the three
tables are linked.
I hope I'm not too far behind the curve to get some help on this. But I
think I'm maybe one.... or two follow-up questions from seeing the light on
this.
Thanks again.
 
Thanks also to you Rick, that Mark guy was really no help at all (please see
the reply to ALCamp).
 
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