Split into 2 tables?

[Jill]

Hi all,

I have a pond database I'm working on. We have weather data and notes
associated with a set of data collected for one pond on one day. We have
"current weather" (current weather noted for the day - ambient temperature,
wind speed, etc.) and "previous weather" which consists of notes about what
the weather has been like the past day or two. These data are contained in
one table linked to the main pond data table via foreign key... Should they
be split into 2 tables - one for current weather, one for previous weather?
What are the questions or "musts" that drive this decision? For us, the main
purpose is to be able to pull up and look over the weather notes should we
see any large changes in data, for example - to see if an overcast, rainy
day, or two or three, preceded the sunny day we are out sampling because that
can definitely have an impact...

Thanks,

Jill

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Jill

Without a bit more description, I can only offer a qualified "maybe"...

If the ONLY reason you'd consider having two different tables is because the
information about "previous" is not anything like the information about
"current", then probably yes.

If the information about weather is nearly/always the same, but you consider
anything older than (fill in a time frame) to be "previous", then simply use
a single table and make sure you include a date/time field. That way, you
could use a query to divide the weather data into previous (i.e., older than
xxxxx) and current (i.e., younger than xxxxx).

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

 

[Jerry Whittle]

I would think that one table with just the weather and a date/time field
would do the trick. That way you just pull up the Top 2 records sorted by
dated descending to see the data. Heck you could even see all the previous
weather.

I think that a form based on the Pond table with a subform based on the
Weather table would be ideal.