searching forms

[Guest]

Hi im currently using an Freedom of Information database and have a question
regarding searching the database.

there is a field called request details where details of the persons request
for information is typed in.

i was wondering whats the easiest way to search a field with a lot of text
in it? say the person wanting to search for something like "information on
how much council has spent in last year"

is it possible to search for something like this?

 

[Guest]

The functionality you're looking for doesn't exist in Access. To search for
data in a field in Access, they'd have to enter a search term, not a phrase.
In other words, you would only be able to find records that has the exact
phrase "information on how much council has spent in last year" saved in a
field.

SQL Server has something called English Query that might allow more freeform
question like this, but the questions would probably still need to be phrased
in such a way that it could interpret it.

Barry

 

[Guest]

The functionality you're looking for doesn't exist in Access. To search for
data in a field in Access, they'd have to enter a search term, not a phrase.
In other words, you would only be able to find records that has the exact
phrase "information on how much council has spent in last year" saved in a
field.

SQL Server has something called English Query that might allow more freeform
question like this, but the questions would probably still need to be phrased
in such a way that it could interpret it.

Barry

 

[Guest]

damn i was hoping there was going to be some way of doing it.

so what is the best way of doing a search like this? exporting the data into
word and just using the find fuction there??

cheers

 

[Guest]

damn i was hoping there would be some easy way of doing it.

so whats the best way of searching through a large paragraph of information?
exporting the information into word and then just using the find function?

cheers

 

[Guest]

damn i was hoping there was going to be some way of doing it.

so what is the best way of doing a search like this? exporting the data into
word and just using the find fuction there??

Ricardo,
Open a Word document filled with numbers. Click Ctl-F. In the find dialog,
type "Information on how much the council has spent in last year". The find
utility in Word, Access, Excel, or any other standard desktop application
will not be able to interpret plain English and derive meaning.
Unfortunately, the age of talking to computers like they do on Star Trek is
still many years away (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test). The
closest you can come is the suggestion I made or a few other high-end
database tools.

I would suggest storing your data in fully normalized tables and building a
user interface and reports that capture standard requirements and allow for
some flexible queries. For example, if you have a table with four fields that
you want to query on, you can build a form that allows you to enter criteria
for multiple fields. Your report could then filter its data based on these
criteria. This is pretty standard.

Barry