Sorting by number in a nonnumeric expression field?

[Guest]

I am a new Access user. I've created a database for an academic conference
that contains everything related to the logistics of the event (speakers,
rooms, times, dates, paper titles, abstracts, panel information, and much,
much more). I'm trying to get a report sorted in such a way that it goes in
the following order:

Panel Number [panel number assigned to each panel] ([Panel title])
[Speaker last name], [speaker first name] ([Professional Affiliation])
[Paper Title]
[Paper Abstract/Summary]

The problem that I'm having is the Panel Number expression - it's set up as
a text field because of the added parts (the words "panel number" and the
panel title in parenthesis from another field) and I want it to sort in
numerical order based on the panel number. Now it's sorting in alphabetical
(ie - panel 19 comes before panel 2). I've explored the MS help and tried
using the "Val" feature, but can't get it to work right. Does anyone have
any suggestions?

Beth

 

[Joseph Meehan]

I am a new Access user. I've created a database for an academic
conference that contains everything related to the logistics of the
event (speakers, rooms, times, dates, paper titles, abstracts, panel
information, and much, much more). I'm trying to get a report sorted
in such a way that it goes in the following order:

Panel Number [panel number assigned to each panel] ([Panel title])
[Speaker last name], [speaker first name] ([Professional Affiliation])
[Paper Title]
[Paper Abstract/Summary]

The problem that I'm having is the Panel Number expression - it's set
up as a text field because of the added parts (the words "panel
number" and the panel title in parenthesis from another field) and I
want it to sort in numerical order based on the panel number. Now
it's sorting in alphabetical (ie - panel 19 comes before panel 2).
I've explored the MS help and tried using the "Val" feature, but
can't get it to work right. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Beth

If I understand what you have, you have at least two choices. You can
brake up the data into different fields for different parts of the data or
you can break up the data in a query.

Some samples of a couple of records would be helpful.

If I am guessing right, the words "panel number" should not be part of
the stored data, rather it should be added when displayed as needed in forms
and reports. The panel number should be in its own filed and then you just
sort on that numeric field.