Hi Ed,
Yes, relationships are what it's all about and proper use of them solves
your problem. The issue is more in your data design and the establishment
of relationships than it is in form design.
Some comments follow that might be helpful to you.
From your post it would seem that the entities involved in your application
are Vendors, Claims and Parts. That is also the hierarchy. Suggested table
names and fields are given below. In order not to disturb the work you have
already done, you might start a new database using my suggestions and see
how it all works out.
tblVendor
Field Name type length Notes
VendorID Autonumber na Primary Key
VendorName text 50
VendorAdd1 text 50
VendorAdd2 text 50
VendorState text 2
VendorZip text 12
VendorPhone text 20
VendorFax text 20
VendorNote text 255 Notes about just
this vendor
tblClaim
ClaimID Autonumber Primary Key
VendorID Long Integer Foreign key
ClaimNumber text 50
ClaimDescrip text 255
ClaimNote text 255
ClaimOther text ?? Other fields
you need viz the Claims
tblPart
PartID Autonumber Primary Key
ClaimID Long Integer Foreign
key
PartNumber text 50
PartName text 100
PartDescrip text 255
PartNote text 255 Notes
about this specific part
PartOther text ?? Other
fields you need viz the parts
Bring up the tables in the Relationships window and establish relationships
by dragging a connection from tblVendor|VendorID to tblClaim|VendorID.
Enforce Referential Integrity and allow cascading deletes. Enforcing
referential integrity will prevent your entering a Claim until you have a
Vendor selected. Cascading deletes means that if you delete a vendor then
you'll delete all Claims and Parts associated with that Vendor.
Drag a connection between tblClaim|ClaimID and tblPart|ClaimID. Again,
enforce Referential Integrity and allow cascading deletes with the same
effects as described above.
At this point you're ready to design your forms. Once your forms are
designed, make sure that you remove all sight of the Autonumber (ID) fields.
They contribute very little to your understanding of what's happening and,
if you see them you're likely to believe they belong to you. They don't.
Their only purpose in life is to provide uniqueness for primary keys. Any
other use will lead to difficulties.
I suggest that you have a form dedicated to Vendors that shows