New Database

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mackenzie Williams
  • Start date Start date
M

Mackenzie Williams

I'm a novice at Access, though I am generally computer literate. I'm
having trouble setting up a database.



I want to have a simple database wherein I name some unique
characteristics of a file, then I classify the file. I want to be able
to classify it into multiple categories, but only the categories I
specify. I created one table with everything except those categories,
then created another with just the categories as yes/no fields. I then
linked the "ID" fields of the two categories. Am I on the right track
here? And if so, how can I create a form that lets me input all the
data at once, including checking off the boxes for the yes/no
categories?



Basically I want it to look something like this:

Unique Article ID:

Article Title:

Report Categories:

A: Y/N

B: Y/N

C: Y/N



I just want to get it into a form so the data entry portion will be
easier.



Thanks.





MW
 
Hi Mackenzie,

Your thinking is kinda' sorta' moving in the right direction but the stars
are not yet in alignment. In your reading in Help and in books, you should
learn about the normalization rules. There is also another good newsgroup
for people starting to develop in Access:
microsoft.public.access.tablesdesign.

Without knowing a lot more about your data, I can't tell you a lot. I can
tell you that you need at least 3 tables. The table names I suggest follow
a fairly common naming convention.

The tables you need:

tblArticle; field ArticleID is of type Autonumber and is the primary key,
you may have several fields that contain attributes of the entity Article.

If you are going to refer to articles in publications you may need
tblPublication.

tblCategory will be a list of every possible category of report you might
record.

tblArticleCategory will have its own autonumber primary key and will have a
long integer foreign key which is the primary key of tblArticle. If that's
what you meant by "linking the ID fields" then "yes". If you meant
something else then the answer is probably "no". There may be other fields
in tblArticleCategory for notes, etc. There will be one record for each
category of each article.

??Are articles and reports the same things??

For handiest data massaging, you'll probably want a form/subform design. It
seems complicated and scary at first but Help is pretty good in this regard.

Give it a try and post back with any questions.

HTH
 
What you have is a "flat" file, like a spreadsheet, though you have it split
in two tables and linked 1-1. What will happen when you need to
add/subtract/rename categories?

A better approach to make your Categories table the many side of a 1-Many
relationship. Each category record would have: articleID
categoryID(name)
categoryYN

I should add that the category Y/N is really not needed, since the presence
of a category indicates Y and the absence of same, N. However, if you want
it to operate as a checklist, then keep the YN field,

For data entry, a common solution is to have a main/subform setup. The main
form is typically a single record type(though it would also work with a
continuous type) that has a record source of the table/query with Articles.
Use the toolbox wizard to add a subform, whose record source is the
table/query with Category records. The wizard will walk you through the
process of linking the two forms. The result will be a complete form (for
data entry/viewing/editing) showing 1 Article and any/all of its related
Category records. You could add a combobox (also use the toolbox wizard to
help you out here) to function as a "locator: control to find a specific
article.

Your reports would generally be based on queries that combine the Article
and Category tables. You could also have a CategoryLookUp table, that has
a standardized list of categories and related info, that would be used to
create/validate the Category records.
Good luck!
-Ed

BTW - most news group users use plain text, not HTML in their messages.


I'm a novice at Access, though I am generally computer literate. I'm having
trouble setting up a database.

I want to have a simple database wherein I name some unique characteristics
of a file, then I classify the file. I want to be able to classify it into
multiple categories, but only the categories I specify. I created one table
with everything except those categories, then created another with just the
categories as yes/no fields. I then linked the "ID" fields of the two
categories. Am I on the right track here? And if so, how can I create a
form that lets me input all the data at once, including checking off the
boxes for the yes/no categories?

Basically I want it to look something like this:
Unique Article ID:
Article Title:
Report Categories:
A: Y/N
B: Y/N
C: Y/N

I just want to get it into a form so the data entry portion will be easier.

Thanks.


MW
 
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