merging two dbs

  • Thread starter Thread starter gutterz
  • Start date Start date
G

gutterz

two dbs and i need to integrate them.

one db is voting records and the other is an update for a new election.


the main db has columns for each past election, 1988, 1990, 2000,
etc...

the second has only a new election.

the problem is i don't know how to integrate the two because they will
have some duplicate records and some that are not duplicate(people that
voted in the new election as well as a past election vs. those who did
not....)

i tried just doing a query on both tables but i'm only picking up the
records that are in both tables...
 
the main db has columns for each past election, 1988, 1990,
2000, etc...
Click to expand...
This is not a proper relational design. You have an Access spreadsheet....
the problem is i don't know how to integrate the two because they
will have some duplicate records and some that are not duplicate
(people that voted in the new election as well as a past election
vs. those who did not....)
Click to expand...
Are the people's names stored in the same table?
i tried just doing a query on both tables but i'm only picking up
the records that are in both tables...
Click to expand...
This is called an inner join, and it is the default join type. The other choices include
right and left outer joins. Access includes wizards that can help you build queries to
find unmatched records (ie. people who voted in the latest election, but did not vote in
previous elections) and a find duplicates query wizard.

It sounds like you'll need a two-step approach. Use a find unmatched records query to
find the new voters. Convert this into an append query and append those names into the
appropriate table in the original database. Then add a new column to the original
database for the latest election. Run an update query to update the values of this column
from the newer table. Is there a unique key field in each table, such as a voter
registration number? If so, you can join the two tables on this field. If not, you might
have success by joining the various fields with inner joins: Firstname to Firstname,
LastName to LastName, etc.

But seriously, you need a redesign of this data. You should not have separate columns for
each year.

Tom
____________________________________________


two dbs and i need to integrate them.

one db is voting records and the other is an update for a new election.


the main db has columns for each past election, 1988, 1990, 2000,
etc...

the second has only a new election.

the problem is i don't know how to integrate the two because they will
have some duplicate records and some that are not duplicate(people that
voted in the new election as well as a past election vs. those who did
not....)

i tried just doing a query on both tables but i'm only picking up the
records that are in both tables...
 
Back
Top