People/Entities....always add to people/entities table?

[Guest]

Hi all,

I've been running into this recurring issue lately and I'm wondering if
someone has any feedback/direction they can give.

I find that there are situations where, in an app, I might want to attach
someone's name to a particular record yet I know they will never need
attaching to any other record again. I've set things up just like with all
other names...they are added as 'entities' (to the entities table). However,
it seems like this is going to bloat that table and also bloat my combo boxes
based on entities (or, at least 'people' entities).

Does it make any sense to have names of people entered into an app without
adding them to an entities (or, contacts if you prefer) table? Would it be,
for example, any more efficient to add three names to a memo field rather
than add three names to the entities table? I know the users would prefer
just typing the names in a memo field....

Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated. I don't want to get into any bad
habits at this stage, but I also don't want to be obstinate/dumb about it
either.

Thanks,
CW

 

[Roger Carlson]

Querying for any of those people in your Memo field will be problematic.

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
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[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, Roger.

I won't need to ever query for them. All I will ever need to do is be able
to open a form to check for their existence in the memo field.

CW

 

[Roger Carlson]

I'm awfully afraid of the word "never". I wish I could tell you the number
of times I've been asked to do things I was previously assured I would never
have to do. Proper normalization not only helps you now, but saves your
butt in the future.

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ACCESS-L