Newbie: constrain data to only those in a second table?

[Ed from AZ]

I'm trying to muddle my way through Access 2003. I'm using a
proprietary program to dump data out of a massive database, saving the
results as XL or CSV files, and importing those as Access tables.
From there, I can create a very basic report. It's actually a report
built on one table with the other tables inserted as sub-reports.

That's done me okay, until now. Out of the thousands of results, we
want only those that meet a handful of criteria, most of which do not
fit well into a query (as I know how to create a query, that is). I
can filter and otherwise eyeball a spreadsheet down to the hundred or
so records I really want and save that as a new table.

How, then, would I constrain my report to only those records that
match the filtered table?

Also, is there a recommended book for learning the basics of Access
2003?

Thanks.
Ed

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

If you add a yes/no (Boolean) field to your table, you will be able to
select whichever records you want, An excellent book on Access is:

Access 2003 Inside and Out by John Viescas.

 

[Ed from AZ]

Thanks for the reply, Arvin, and the book suggestion.

Ed

 

[Lance]

If you can "eyeball" it down, you can almost certainly write a query to do
it. What are you doing manually to decide which records to include?

 

[Ed from AZ]

After I autofilter the Excel list, I do a couple of things:
-- check the returned records by a text field to see if they really do
match my criteria
-- check certain fields to see if the record actually belongs to a
different subgroup
-- and generally check for errors in the entered data.

Ed

 

[Lance]

1) check the returned records by a text field to see if they really do
match my criteria

Can you be a little more specific here? How do you perform this check?
What are the criteria values in this text field must meet before being
included? How do you know if they pass?

2) Check certain fields to see if the record actually belongs to a
different subgroup

Again how is this check made? Is this something that could be handled by
creating a "sub group" table and linking the two?

3) generally check for errors in the entered data

Data validation should be handled at the data entry level, before the final
report takes place. But since it doesn't seem likely you can do it at that
point, as you're pulling from another database you may or may not have
control over, you should probably write a query to flag problem records and
allow you to correct them.. again before running the final report.

So again, what steps do you take to perform these checks? Values over/under
a certain number? Values over a certain percent of some other number?

 

[Ed from AZ]

Hi, Lance. Sorry to be kind of vague - but really it's just an
eyeball thing. It's difficult sometimes to put into exact computer-
understood terms the criteria that wil ctch your eye and make you say,
"That doesn't belong here." That's why I thought about creating a
second table of just the record numbers I would need for this go-
round, and contrain my main table that way, rather than having to re-
write the query every time I re-run the report.

Ed

 

[Lance]

It's probably not nearly as difficult as you think, and would lead to a far
more efficient and accurate process.. but ultimately you need to do it in a
way you're comfortable with. So good luck, sorry I couldn't help more.

 

[Ed from AZ]

Thanks for trying to help, Lance. Your way will probably make a lot
more sense when I learn more about what I'm doing in Access. I do
apreciate the time and expertise given.

Cheers!
Ed