Open To Suggestions

  • Thread starter Thread starter George
  • Start date Start date
G

George

I created a database to track aircrew write-ups. At first I put all the
required fields on the same form and found myself entering some of the same
info repeatedly, ie pilot name, mission number, etc. So I created a form with
a sub form and put the common fields on the master and the unique fields for
each write-up in the sub form. Long story short - the data I enter in the sub
form makes it to the table but the data from the main form's fields doesn't,
what am I doing wrong, or is there a easier way to accomplish this ?

Thanks
 
George,

Have you checked out the Northwind “Orders Form†and tables? Look at them in
design view and see how the forms and tables are link with primary keys and
foreign keys then look at yours to see if it’s similar.

Good luck.
Richard
 
I created a database to track aircrew write-ups. At first I put all the
required fields on the same form and found myself entering some of the same
info repeatedly, ie pilot name, mission number, etc. So I created a form with
a sub form and put the common fields on the master and the unique fields for
each write-up in the sub form. Long story short - the data I enter in the sub
form makes it to the table but the data from the main form's fields doesn't,
what am I doing wrong, or is there a easier way to accomplish this ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

STOP.

Designing your table structure to fit your forms is backwards. You
should design your forms to fit your tables - and the tables should be
designed first, based on the logical structure of the data. Each table
should represent one kind of Entity - a real-life person, thing or
event.

For example there should be a table of Pilots, with fields for the
person's unique identifier, last name, first name, other biographical
data as appropriate; another field for missions, with a unique mission
ID, date, location, etc.

Then you would define the relationships between the tables - e.g. each
Pilot will participate in zero, one, or (most likely) multiple
Missions. I don't know your data model so I don't know if each Mission
involves one and only one pilot, or perhaps multiple pilots.

In any case once you have the normalized set of tables, THEN you can
start designing your forms to fit the data structures (and to fit your
users' needs).
 
George said:
I created a database to track aircrew write-ups. At first I put all the
required fields on the same form and found myself entering some of the
same
info repeatedly, ie pilot name, mission number, etc. So I created a
form with
a sub form and put the common fields on the master and the unique
fields for
each write-up in the sub form. Long story short - the data I enter in
the sub
form makes it to the table but the data from the main form's fields
doesn't,
what am I doing wrong, or is there a easier way to accomplish this ?

Thanks
Click to expand...


If you're new to designing databases, do yourself a favor and read
through Crystal's tutorials before you do anything more:


--
Look at Access MVP Crystal's tutorials, here:


http://www.accessmvp.com/Strive4Peace/Index.htm


Also, the Northwind Sample database can be found under Help | Sample
Databases.
 
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