List Box or Combo Box Better?

[JWeaver]

Currently I have a Form where I have to enter the Employee Number, Name, and
Pay Rate each time I enter a record. I have another table that lists just
this information for each employee. Would it be possible to change the
Employee Number to either a list box or combo box to choose the number then
have it populate the other information automatically (i.e., choose the
employee number, then the name and pay rate fields for that record will be
filled in without me having to type the data each time)? If so, how would I
do this? Which is better, a list box or combo box?

I appreciate any assistance you might be able to give me!

 

[strive4peace]

It is not necessary to store information associated with the employee in
another table if you store the primary key for the Employee table.

Read the combobox Example in 'Access Basics'
(combobox and listbox are analogous for this example)

Access Basics (on Allen Browne's site)
http://www.allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access

Allen has a wealth of information on his site; after you get to the
bottom of this link, click on 'Index of Tips'

Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
have an awesome day
*

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

As Crystal mentions, only store it once. The only information that needs to
be stored repeatedly is the key (in your case [Employee Number]) Using
either a combo or list box you can display multiple columns, but with a list
box, it is easier since you don't have to read the data a second time.

One other thing, if you are calculating pay, based on pay rate, you will
need to store the rates in a separate table, since they are likely to change
and you don't want to change existing calculations. You could instead store
the results of the calculation, but it is significantly better to store all
the elements of that calculation.