Tables :: Numbers / Text And Null All In One Field Linked From Excel
Jan 11, 2013
I know you can't store text in a numeric field but I always thought you could store numbers in a text field - provided you didn't need to do any calculations on them. My problem is as follows:
I receive an Excel 2003 spreadsheet once a month, which I save to a specific filename/location overwriting the previous file. My Access 2003 database uses this as a linked table and (among other things) runs an append query to add the new data onto an existing table.
We have now added a new column called Reference in the spreadsheet. Often, this will be empty, but it could contain numbers or text. This is the first month I have received it and most entries are blank (including the first row) but further down there are some numeric values.
So I added a new Reference field to my main table and set it to text. Then I amended the append query to include the new field. But when I run it I get the error "Numeric field overflow". If I take that column back out of the query, it runs fine, so that's definitely the offending data. And when I open the linked table in Excel and scroll down to where I should see the reference numbers, I see #Num! So it looks to me like it doesn't recognise numbers as text.
Things I've already tried
In Excel, I formatted all the Reference cells as text.
That didn't work, so next I added a dummy record at the top of the Excel file (just under the headings), with zeroes in the numeric columns and 'X's in the text columns including Reference.
But that doesn't work either. Given the above circumstances, what's the best way to proceed with this?
I have an excel file linked to a table in Access. Several fields are date data types in excel but are showing up as text fields in Access.
My real goal is to do a comparison between two tables, but only if the date of the one piece of data is newer than the other. I had planned on comparing the two date fields but even though I have formatted the date fields in my excel file to be "Date", when I look at the design view of my table it is showing up as "Text" and therefore I am unable to do this comparison.
I'm not sure if it's just something that I'm missing but maybe someone else knows an easy fix to this. I know this is probably a simple question, but I did search the forum and didn't find a thread that specifically dealt with this issue.
We have a database (Access 2007) with several linked tables to an MS-SQL 2008 instance. All the text fields that I have issue with are nvarchar(255) on MS-SQL. The odd thing it will not allow a full 255 characters to be entered into the field. It will fail to save unless the number of characters is about 238 or 239 characters (not sure of the exact number of characters). It shows the field as a text and field size of 255 in Access .
i have a slight problem with my reporting data base.
we have currently set, up a database, which has a number of linked tables.
the problem is that, when the macro is run, and the report is poulated, it is not reporting the true amount, in one of the fileds.
we have worked out that, you cant have a is null command with linked tables, becuase it will bring incomplete data, and the zero length must be set to yes.
is there a way round this, i not that offay, with SQL, but i am getting the concept of it.
also, we have discovered it is the imported data, i.e. from another data base that seems to be the culprit. Is there something i can do to transform the data to bring me the count of null values in a partucular field?
SysID PersonData " " " " AddressData " " " " " " " " " TelephoneData " " " " Year (this is 1 or 2)
I'm taking each component Person, Address, Telephone info and making a compacted table of each (i.e. lots of Jane Does etc, appear in both years) Each table with have a URN
I then need to update the big table with the URN so move onto another part of getting this data into a usable format.
Basically what follows is my question on how to get the URN's back into the table:
Is there a quicker way (or a way I'm not seeing) of doing the following.
I have a set of data 'tblDatabaseTable, say:
ID Field1 Field2 Field3 Field4
In the database.
I have an imported file which will be tblImportTable, same deal without the ID:
Field1 Field2 Field3 Field4
I need to compare the data on each table:
SELECT * FROM tblDatabaseTable INNER JOIN tblDatabaseTable ON tblDatabaseTable.Field1 = tblImportTable.Field1 AND tblDatabaseTable.Field2 = tblImportTable.Field2 AND tblDatabaseTable.Field3 = tblImportTable.Field3;
Works great as long as all the fields have values in.
Is there a way to compare the tables and get results as:
Database Ian MacConnell null
Import Ian Macconnell null
Match!
without doing something like:
SELECT IIf(IsNull([Field1]),' ',[Field1]), IIf(IsNull([Field2]),' ',[Field2]), IIf(IsNull([Field3]),' ',[Field3]) FROM DatabaseTable
SELECT IIf(IsNull([Field1]),' ',[Field1]), IIf(IsNull([Field2]),' ',[Field2]), IIf(IsNull([Field3]),' ',[Field3]) FROM ImportTable
before comparing them???
Phew, hope that all makes sense, very long day and I'm........
I linked an Excel table and now, in both the table and report, the cell is limiting itself to 255 characters, even though the Excel cell has more. I checked the "data type" and it says "memo" but it keeps truncating to "text".
Where is this limit coming from and can I change the linked table so it won't truncate the text?
When I go into design view of an Excel linked table, it tells me that I can't change some properties. When I change the format of a field from Text to Number (and from Long Integer to Integer), a dialog box informs me that the property won't be changed but saves the changes anyway?
I know this is an Access 101 question, but what is the best way to view text rather than numbers in my tables. In an example which I have attached, an Orders table shows the Customer field as a number. I would like to view the actual customer name when I am looking at the table.
I have an access database with a linked table to an Excel spreadsheet. I have a form based on the linked table so the presentation of the Excel date is better. The spreadsheet is used by other staff in my office to record sales which I need to register with an external organisation. What I want to do is update the spreadsheet with the registration date from my access form rather than going back into excel to do it.
I'm trying to use a template to track assets-specifically this template:URL....Is there a way I can link an excel doc to my database that provides all of my data, that is thereby linked to other tables within Access?I want my data to be updated as it is manipulated within the independent excel doc when I open access.
I have a few dozen Excel workbooks in a folder, and I'd like to import all sheets in each workbook to Access as linked tables. I have the following macro that creates linked tables from every sheet within a specific workbook, but I'd like to apply this to all workbooks in a folder.
Code: Sub ImportAllSheets() Dim wkb As Excel.Workbook Dim sht As Excel.WorkSheet Dim xl As Excel.Application
I have a simple Access database with a number of linked tables to Excel spreadsheets located in the same directory.When I open the Access database from two networked machines, I get an error on the second machine when I try to open a form that uses the linked tables. It says that the linked table has been opend in Exclusive mode.Any idea how I can prevent Access from opening the linked tables in exclusive mode?thanks
I am having the problem of importing a database from Excel/Msaccess 2000 to a Msaccess 2000 database from which the data was originally exported. The Database consists of two tables connected in a querry and the two tables has a unique primary key thru which the two tables are linked using a querry. While importing only two tables are listed in the importing wizard and not the querry.
So how to import the data to the two tables connected by a querry using a primary unique key.
I have various columns of data, a mixture of text and numbers, which all have data in them, and a few columns that have numbers or text. When I copy'n'paste-append into the Access table, the text in the sparsely populated columns doesn't copy across but the numbers do.
It works if I import the spreadsheet from scratch (don't want to do that however, that data comes from somewhere else and would require modification to suit), or if I sort the data so that the text is at the top of the column, it works. Don't really want to do that either as there are 5 columns that this applies to and performing a 5 level sort shouldn't be necessary IMO. It seems that the paste is analysing the data and deeming that it should paste as a number even though the column contains text. There are only 120 rows of data, not a lot! I've tried redefining the field as Long Text (currently Short Text) but it doesn't make any difference.
I have a Table in my Db that is a link to an Excel spreadsheet. Of around 200 records just one is giving me a problem, in one field.
The Excel SS itself is the result of links to about 8 other SSs
The problematic field is a part number and is formatted as text, in the linked table and the underlying SSs. But this one bl**dy field which should be '1707' is shown as "#Num!" Which suggests to me Access thinks it is an number.
Other linked cells like "12345" are fine ???
I have tried putting a letter infront and it then works correctly. Remove the letter, back to "#Num!" again!
Can anyone suggest a way of forcing the formatting to text please?
I have a several fields on my form that are list boxes that must have text as the properties so I can populate the lookup data with things like" Severe rating = 7 points" and "Moderate rating = 3 points". I have another similar field where the choices are "High probability = 9 points" and "Low probability = 2 points" etc. A third field needs to show the total points (product) of the choices from the first two fields, i.e. 9 points x 2 points = 18 points. Then, a fourth field needs to display where the answer falls in a grid, i.e. 1-14 points = Low, 15-29 points = medium, 30-49 points = high, etc.
How do I apply the calculations on the field choices if the field properties have to be text instead of number?
Lets say I have table with one of the field header as 'notes'. The notes is of type 'text'
In the notes column information like the following is typed out
Record 1 - MAX O.D 3.456" Min ID 1.2 and OAL 3.4"
or
Record 2 - MAX O/D 5.456" Min I.D 1.2" and Min Length 4.4 inches
Please note that as shown in the example there is no standard way of entering data. The only order that is followed is that the first numerical value corresponds to OD, 2nd corresponds to ID and 3rd corresponds to overall length.
I want to pull out the first numerical value (3.456 - first example, 5.456 -second example) and the last numerical value (3.4 -first example and 4.4 in second example). How would I be able to do this.
So the end result should be 2 more columns with max od as one and min length as the other. Regards George
I have a field in a query that contains numbers and text (text field). The numbers displayed come from a percent calculation and display with many decimals ie, .99898745987245. Is there a way to eliminate the decimals with code in the query field? For example .99898745987245 to equal 99%? I can’t format the field as a number or percent because it has both text and numbers. HELP!! Thanks
I have a field that is text format. However many of the records in that field contain numbers.I want to delete all the records that are numbers in this text field, leaving only records with textual data.
I have a field called PRICE and obviously it is a NUMERIC field as it need to perform calculations such as calculating Total Quantity * Price etc. At the moment the PRICE is inputted manually by the User on a Form and when it has no Price it is simple left blank.
What I wish to include is that on the REPORT when the field is empty it writes the text FOC instead of leaving it empty.
Can you please anyone suggest a way of doing this.
I am trying to create a query to find missing sequential numbers in a text field. I am using this specific field as a case number which is designated as two letters, the # sign, two digits indicating the year, a dash, and then a four digit number; For Example: AB#13-1234.
The reason for this query is to tell the user of this database that a specific case number has yet to be entered and needs to be. The case numbers are unique and will never be referenced more than once.
My table name is "MainDataTbl" and the field i'm trying to find the missing case numbers is titled "CaseNumber".
