I have what I think is a normalised database that uses foreign keys quite a bit.
For example if I had a 'contracts' table which refers to 'clients', then there would be a tblClients, where each client has a primary key. The tblContracts would then refer to the relevant client via that clients FK only which would be linked to the client's PK in tblClients via a one-to-many relationship.
If I need any user for any purpose to see contract related information that makes sense to a human being, I simply construct a query with the necessary relationships that will show client information alongside contract information by substituting tblContracts' client FK with required information from tblClients via the appropriate relationships.
I think that is reasonably basic stuff (hopefully correct practice!)
But what about when I come to import a block of new data that needs to go into tblContracts? I'm not going to be given a list of client keys (obviously) I'm going to given their real names.
MS Access has (in theory) all the information it needs (via the relationships) to substitute client IDs (keys) for their real names and thus slot these IDs into tblContracts with the new data as appropriate, but how do I make it do this? (I know it could kick out errors if there are any duplicate client names, but let's put that to one side for a moment).
I'm developing a simple sporting records db. I have a 'Competitor' table listing competitors as follows: CompetitorPK, Name, Division, Club. I have a 'Contest' table listing contests as follows: ContestPK, Competitor1_FK, Competitor2_FK, Winner_FK, Score etc. My question is have I modelled tables correctly i.e. CompetitorPK will appear in three columns of Contest table. How do I define this relationship? What alternative is there to what I have done.I intend to use forms to populate both tables (independantly obviously).
I am trying to get a form to display certain information based on the data in another box. I have to input some exam results and want to assign a level to them. So, if they score < 13, the result would read "Below Entry 3" if between 13 and 21 "Entry 3" etc If this was a spreadsheet I would use an if function, but I am not sure that I can do this here
I noticed that when I made a few changes to one of my queries, the results in my data sheet view were in some sort of Asian looking language. See below. Why is it doing this? I've only been using English with this program and have not changed any of my settings so I'm very confused. Also the other fields are in English. This one field is the only one I'm having issues with.
I'm not new to access, and I understand normalization at pretty much all its levels, but right now I'm curious about a situation that I have just come across. The first time I've been in something like this, so I thought I would ask.
This is the setup.
I have employees. They are apart of a shift and a budget. Shifts and budgets are completely independent of each other.
The database needs to keep track of shifts and budgets over time. Therefore, 1 to many relationship to shift table and budget table.
But, the database also needs to keep track of attendance. And the user wants attendance tracked by Shift and Budget.
Shift and budget are completely independent of each other.
Currently, I have the relationships set up like this.
When a new attendance record needs to be added, both the key to the budget and shift are added to the attendance table. The key chosen is dependant onthe Employee chosen, and whether the budget and shift are the CURRENT budget and shift that the employee is apart of.
I thought of running a query showing budget and shift by date descending, so that the latest budget / shift would be displayed, and thus the most current (SUPPOSEDLY) But, if a user put in a different date, or screwed up on the date, then the incorrect shift and/or budget would be displayed.
Date stamping an entry was an option, but there needed to also be a user entered date as well, to specify WHEN a user began working in that specific budget / shift. Therefore two date entries would be required. Duplicate entries in most cases.
I therefore decided to go with a true/false yes/no checkbox. Where the current budget or shift would be checked, and all non current ones would be unchecked (false).
Currently, this is how the systems works. And it works well. But it is dependent on some form code I created to set the yes/no checkbox to true/false depending on the situation.
I DON"T like doing this. Am I missing a way to do this "correctly" where by Access would do this "automagically" instead of via my trick.
The ONLY issue really, is that when a new attendance incident occurs, the user needs to put in the incident to the approbriate shift / budget. And if the current shift / budget could automatically be displayed without user intervention (IE user has to pick the shift / budget from drop down box after looking up info etc etc) since the current information SHOULD be known.
I've never done a table setup where two foreign keys are the many side of the relationship in a single table.
It is currently working fine, and seems to do well, but I wanted to make sure with others who might have had this experience. And also, any "advice" / "cautions" for this kind of situation so I don't step into it deep and have to fix it later.
Builder Subdivision Lot Number Lot Option Lot Materials Details
The [Lot Materials Details] table is populated by appending data from the [House Type Details] table tree as follows:
Builder House Type Elevation Options Per Elevation House Type Materials Details
The filtered Option Table in both branches determine which [House Type Materials Details] records get appended to the [Lot Materials Details] table.
The question is: Is there any advantage, other than simpler queries later on, to adding the primary key from the [House Type Materials Details] table to the [Lot Materials Details] table.
Its redundant because the [Lot Options Table] contains the [Options Per Elevation] primary key.
hi i need to create a table, i've figured out to make LastName the primary key. But im not so sure about the foreign key, and whether it is necessary to put it into the table in order for all my tables to relate? Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. Also, to clarify.. 3NF primary keys in one table cannot be used in another table?? thanks
Wow, I've found some good stuff here already... Thanks.
PROBLEM: I have a table(we'll call it shipping) that has two columns FK'ed to another table (locations). My problem is I have no idea how to pull the information from the locations table into the shipping table.
DESCRIPTION: My shipping table has a source and a destination column. Now, I have a fixed location list that applies to both columns and I'd like to avoid having a source tbl and a destination tbl... I'm an Access Neophyte to say the least (for now at least) but I have managed to put together a querie that pulls out most of the information that I need (name, phone number, yadda, yadda, yadda) but I can't seem to correctly link the FK's for the sources to the locations table as well as the FK's for the destinations to the locations table. When I run my querie I get an error or my Source(destination) column will display the correct information but the Destination(source) column will display ALL of the locations in the location table. Here's what I mean:
Source destination detroit toledo detroit cleveland detroit San Diego detroit London detroit Paris detroit detroit Paris toledo Paris cleveland Paris San Diego Paris London Paris Paris Paris detroit
. . .
The first and second source was detroit and Paris but the Destinations list all of the locations I have in the table.
How can I link two FK's in one table to another table in a querie?
I have to create a database for work and for my sins I have to use Access. We are running 2007 but I'm having some difficulty in creating foreign keys in my linking table. I've searched their help guide and looked on the net but I can't seem to see how I physically create foreign keys.
My structure looks like this:
Customer CustID (autonumber) Cust Name Cust contact Cust email cust version no of users other info
Modules ModID (autonumber) Module name licensed module? (tick box)
MiscSoftware MiscID (autonumber) Software Installed on live
I am trying to model my database to create relationships between different tables in my database. During the process of doing so I ended up having one primary key in table A linked with to foreign keys in two different tables ( table B & table C) and both of those two table are junction tables to break out many to many between many other tables
Now for some reason!!! I feel that there is something wrong with my logic mapping and modeling of the relationships between tables due the fact of having one primary key linked to two foreign keys in two different tables :(
Is my intuition is right? should such case be considered as indicative of wrong modeling of relationships between tables in a single database And if so what is the disadvantages of that link (talking down the road) when the database if fully populated? :confused:
By the way I am new member and new to database, so please take it easy on me :o
I've got a table - "Products" - in my database, with a text field - "Info" - which contains info about products.
Within this field I would like to have footnotes. To do this, I think the best way to do it is by putting numbers inside the text at the location of where I want the footnote to refer to. These numbers will actually be foreign keys to a table called 'Footnotes'.
I can then program the forms and reports to show any numbers as superscripts or whatever.
(Of course, if the user will actually want to insert a number into the text field which is NOT a reference to a footnote, I will have to make a workaround e.g. by making access put a symbol in front of the number, so access will know the number is just part of the text (and I will program the form to not show the symbol in front of the number)).
Is it wrong to have foreign keys within a text field? I think if executed correctly, it should work perfectly.
Right now, I have 4 related tables. There's a table with companies, one with people involved with companies, a table linking the two by having foreign keys of the company number and people names, and a table that indicates directors and their alternates.
Since there's a one-to-many relationship for companies/people to company-peopleID (A person can run multiple companies, a company has multiple directors, it's easier this way), a person's name can appear multiple times, as can a company, within that table.
In a company, a director may or may not have 1 and only 1 alternate director to him/herself. So, I thought the easiest way was to put an autonumber in the Company-personID table and have a table (alternates) that had two fields, "alternate" and "director", both using that autonumber to link them. However, it appears as though I can't link the same primary key twice to two foreign keys of the same table.
i have a materialsUsed tbl that list all the materials used in a job and the quantity of each.
(ID Material Code Quantity Unit of Measure)
I also have 2 look-up tables - 1 for the material codes and 1 for the units of measure
I have another table, priceperunitofMeasure
id material Code (FK to material lookup tbl) Unit of Measure (FK to unit of measure tbl) Price
In my form Users will select material code from combo box - enter the quantity, and select a unit of measure from a combo box.
For example: they could enter the following :
Paint 2 gallons Paint 3 tubes Paint 1 pint
How do I lookup the price per unit of measure for each of these records in the price per unit of meassure table? The price per unit of measure table has 2 foreign keys.
I have several Suppliers, each of whom holds several SalesEvents. At each SalesEvent I might buy none, one or more Bundles. Each Bundle then contains one or more Items. These relationships are all reflected in my Access 2013 desktop db as one-many relationships with cascaded updates.
My form structure for data entry reflects the Relationships, in that I have a Supplier form with a SalesEvents subform. On that subform I can enter data about each of that Supplier's SalesEvents, and each SalesEvent row has a button to call up a SalesEvent form which has a Bundles subform. Then each row of that subform has a button which calls up a Bundle form containing an Items subform. That Bundle form identifies the Supplier, Sales Event and Bundle number, and within its Items subform I can then enter the data for each Item.
Problem : All used to work fine, but I've clearly changed something because now when I select the Items button on the Items subform in the Bundle form, the system gives me the data for the first record in the SalesEvents table, rather than the one selected. I have checked the raw data and that's as it should be. I have tried to undo all the steps I took since it last worked properly, but to no avail. Restoring the last backup (taken when I'm sure it worked properly) still has the problem.how do I find what data is actually being passed between forms and subforms ?
I have a continuous form it has a field (DateStart) and a field (DateStartCarryOver). There is an event on (DateStart) for the (DateStart.Value) to be passed to a new record in (DateStartCarryOver).
My probem is that the new record dosent get saved (i.e. it dosent get an ID so a record isnt created. How can I create that record once the data has bee pased to it?
I've created a query called "JobHistoryQuery" and a form called "JobHistoryMultiForm", this displays all Jobs related to an Asset and all the information about that job. There are some fields (BilledMonth, BilledYear, BilledValue, Parts Required, PartsUsed), however, that I would only like to see if I need to see them (as there is quite a lot of information on the form and ideally, I'd like to be able to see the key information from each job from that asset with ease). What I would like is to create a button that says "Billing" and "Parts" for each job and it brings up a pop up window displaying that information.
I've established a many to many relationship using a junction table.
So I have 3 tables (A for "materials", B for "batches", and J for "junction")
Form A is linked to table A, and contains a subtable linked to a query from table J. This allows me to input materials into table A and then list all of the batches it may be used in that are in table B. I successfully got this to input all the batches and materials combinations in table J.
Now on form B, which is linked to table B, displays the batch information, with the subtable J.
My problem, is that only the materials primary key is showing, not the other information that should be linked from table A.
Is there a way to display/hide the information on a subform using a checkbox?So, when the checkbox is checked, the fields are blank but when the checkbox is unchecked, the information displays?
I would like to first state that I am new to Access and trying my best to pick up on skills, so pardon if my questions seemed redundant or illogical. I'm trying to create a sort of quick-access/all-in-one Access form that..
1) Displays contact details stored in an excel sheet 2) Opens application on click 3) etc..
I am able to get pointer 2 sorted out, however am having trouble with pointer 1.
I have the contact details stored in an excel sheet, of which I am aware of how to import it into Access. However, my idea was to have a tab where firstly there are 4 buttons, say buttonA to buttonD.
I want it to perform an action such that when i click buttonA, 5 other buttons (say button1 to button5) appear on the right of the 4 existing buttons.
If I press buttonB however, button6 to button10 will appear and replace the button1 to button5 at the same spot.
After which, if I press button1 etc, there will be a field where contact details are displayed (name/number/etc) and it switches as I press different buttons.
What I would like to do is create a list box that will only display the information from another form that is related to the current form.So I have a form call Equipment Catalog and that form is related to Equipment features 1 to M relationship and the Equipment Features is related to a Features form M to 1.
So what I want to do is display all the related equipment features in a listbox that is related to the current PK of that form.So if there is only one feature on one form the list box will only display that one item however is there is 6 features on another it will display all 6.I have been trying SQL and Queries but I still can't get it to work.