G
Guest
I'm trying to build a database of books for a family member, and I've
currently made it using two tables:
The first table is for the authors. It has each author's name, and an
AutoNumber so that it can have a unique primary key (since there are a couple
of instances with authors who have the same name)
The second table is for the books themselves. They too have an AutoNumber to
be a primary key (since some authors are used many times over, and some books
from different authors share the same title), as well as the book title, an
ID for the set a book belongs to (this is a non-required field.), and the
author of the book. The reason for the first table is that it is used to make
a combo box from which the available authors can be selected when adding new
books to the books table. I figured this would be easier than having to
retype the author's name each time a book of theirs is added, since some
authors have as many as a dozen books.
The problem for me comes when I try and make a report. The report should be
simple enough. All I want is to sort all of the books by their author, with
the Author's name as a section header, followed by the books (order is
irrelevant), then followed by the next author.
The problem is that when i make this report using the data from the Books
table, and tell it to group by Author, the Author's name isn't what gets
shown in its field. Instead I get what appears to be the ID number. If I try
to make the report with a combination of the book info from the Books table
(title, series, ID) and the Authors' names from the Authors table, I get
absolutely nothing.
How can I fix this so that the report displays the Author's actual name like
it should? I know I could probably save some trouble if I switched from a
unique Authors' table to just filling in the combo box values myself, but I
need to have this database workable for someone who has zero Access training,
and I've been able ot show them how to use both tables to update already.
Thanks.
currently made it using two tables:
The first table is for the authors. It has each author's name, and an
AutoNumber so that it can have a unique primary key (since there are a couple
of instances with authors who have the same name)
The second table is for the books themselves. They too have an AutoNumber to
be a primary key (since some authors are used many times over, and some books
from different authors share the same title), as well as the book title, an
ID for the set a book belongs to (this is a non-required field.), and the
author of the book. The reason for the first table is that it is used to make
a combo box from which the available authors can be selected when adding new
books to the books table. I figured this would be easier than having to
retype the author's name each time a book of theirs is added, since some
authors have as many as a dozen books.
The problem for me comes when I try and make a report. The report should be
simple enough. All I want is to sort all of the books by their author, with
the Author's name as a section header, followed by the books (order is
irrelevant), then followed by the next author.
The problem is that when i make this report using the data from the Books
table, and tell it to group by Author, the Author's name isn't what gets
shown in its field. Instead I get what appears to be the ID number. If I try
to make the report with a combination of the book info from the Books table
(title, series, ID) and the Authors' names from the Authors table, I get
absolutely nothing.
How can I fix this so that the report displays the Author's actual name like
it should? I know I could probably save some trouble if I switched from a
unique Authors' table to just filling in the combo box values myself, but I
need to have this database workable for someone who has zero Access training,
and I've been able ot show them how to use both tables to update already.
Thanks.