I have a parent form (frmGroupSession) that has a subform (SubFormParticipants) in datasheet view. The subform is based off a query that selects all participants ([CLIENT ID], [NAME], [ATTENDED]) that had attended a specific group [GroupID] on a specific date [GroupSessionDate]. The parent form saves to a table that logs group sessions (tblGroupSessionLog). I need to save the group's participants [CLIENT ID] to the record within tblGroupSessionLog
Basically, I need to pass data from the subform to the record within tblGroupSessionLog. I'm not sure what the most effective way to do this, if it's possible at all. Ideally, I would like to have each unique participant [CLIENT ID] stored in its own field within tblGroupSessionLog. If there were 20 participants in the subform then each row value from the first column/field [CLIENT ID] would be passed to the corresponding field within tblGroupSessionLog ([ClientID1] thru [ClientID20])
I am relatively new at this. Even asking the question was difficult.
I am not sure what else I can provide to help you wizards with the solve, but let me know and I will.
Thoughts? Ideas?
Access 101 : You have a many to many relationship You should look that term up but in short it means clients can belong to many groups and each group can have many clients. (so bang your data into a normalized structure similar to the following:
First tip make sure to add the relationships under database tools (you should look that up). Access needs to know how the tables are related to manage the keys behind the scenes and sometimes access makes better decisions about automatic form creating when it already knows the relationship structure. Once your data is properly structured access makes it easy to produce functional if much less than styling data entry forms which can also be used as even worse search forms. For instance Click on any table and hit create form on the ribbon and access will create the data entry form form you.
Basic Style tip 1: Always delete primary key fields like ClientID from the form. The field is still there in the form's record source being managed by access. Users almost never need to see any table keys. This gives you a basic data entry form which you can also use to scroll through any clients you have entered using the record selector circled at the bottom of the frmClients.
Play around with the record selector to see how it works. In particular go past the last record and you will find you can enter new clients and access will automatically give them a ClientID. You can also cycle through your Clients and update them using this form it just isn't stylish. In the same way we can make a form for the groups table.
You make a form for the frmGroupSessions table in the same manner as the others but add a step. Replace the text boxes holding ClientID and GroupID with human readable comboboxes. Here is a link to help with that: https://www.google.com/search?q=access+change+text+box+to+combo+box&oq=access+change+text+&aqs=chrome.0.0i457j0l2j69i57j0j0i22i30l2.7503j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_r0sFYJ7vBcfY5gLz2aTgBw15
Becomes:
At this point play around to learn. Use the Record Selector at the bottom of frmGroupSessions to add and modify data. Play with the Tables and see what happens. Start messing with the form properties in particular the default view. Soon you will have ideas about how the form could be better and you can start figuring out how to style them.
Related
I'm trying to create a small MS Access database to ease up my everyday job. The problem is I'm a noob when it comes to databases. I'm trying to prevent the user from accidentaly updating the wrong record.
I have a table of records, some of which are not 100% complete.
I created a query that lists only these incomplete records.
On a form, the mentioned query is fed into a listbox.
I want the user to be able to pick an incomplete record from this listbox and fill in some of the remaining parts of the record in a bunch of text boxes. What I don't like is that the record gets updated as you fill in the form fields (they're bound to the table) WITHOUT any request for confirmation. If the user picks a wrong record at the start, the records are gonna get messy with every text box filled. Or that's what seems to be happening.
Here's my idea of the user form:
Is there a correct way to do this? I could force it all with VBA but I'd rather avoid that and use a more native (correct) solution.
Thank you for any answers.
Table constraints are an important part of database design. Any grouping of elements that together are required should be in their own table. This way the required fields must be entered for every record in that table.
For each data entry step you will have one or more tables representing the required data of that step.
If you are following database normalization best practices this should be simple to achieve because your data will already be broken down in to small elements that can have required fields to complete each record.
If you have a record that contains fields that are filled out at different steps then that is a design smell that indicates your table is not properly normalized.
In MS-Access, the forms will follow these rules set in the tables. You will not be able to save a record that has required fields missing.
I have an access database that holds medical information. It holds quite a bit of information so i have grouped like fields together into individual tables and linked them using a common primary key. I have created a tab style form with subforms on each tab.
Some of these subforms contain fields from only one table, however there are a few subforms where i have included fields from more than one table.
For example, i have a table that holds blood transfusion data and a table that holds patient characteristics. Some Fields from the blood transfusion table and patient characteristics table are in the same subform, but I also have fields from both these tables in other subforms.
When i try to insert data into the sub-forms with fields from multiple tables i get the following errors..
update or cancelupdate without addnew or edit
and
The changes you requested to the table were not successful because
they would create duplicate values in the index, primary key or
relationship. Change the data in the field or fields that contain
duplicate data, remove the index, or redefine the index to permit
duplicate entries and try again.
From researching the problem i gather this is because access is trying to create a new record for both tables, but if a record has already been created with that primary key (from inserting data into a previous subform) it won't edit the existing record.
Does anyone know how to get access to edit the existing record in this instance instead of trying to add a new record? I have basic skills in VBA but this is a bit past my level of experience.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I used have a whole long response about split forms instead but I was having a horrible time getting it to work. So here is my new and improved answer for using subforms.
Here is a link with sub form info if you want to brush up for your purposes https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-form-that-contains-a-subform-a-one-to-many-form-ddf3822f-8aba-49cb-831a-1e74d6f5f06b
Step 1
Make sure your main form is bound to the right table.
For my purposes I used a single combo box on my main form to search with. Make sure all the field parameters on your combo box are correct. This includes making sure the Row Source is correct and that you DO NOT have a control source entered.
Step 2
Don't press enter after making a selection in the combo box. To prevent people from hitting enter I created a dummy button at the bottom that says "Save and Refresh" but all it does it create a message window that pops up with "Save Successful". I find hitting enter creates the first error you keep getting. I'm not sure how to address this in a more sophisticated way yet.
Anything else that comes up I will add later.
I'm building a risk and issues tracker and have become stuck after some good initial progress. I'll explain my setup now.
Tables
A table containing all open projects
A table containing all open
risks and issues
Relationships
A one-to-many relationship between with project ID (Primary Key in the project table) to the risks and issues table
Queries
A query that will filter results from the projects table that have been selected in a combo box
Forms
One form containing a combobox that allows the user to select a project. There is also a text box, which will be populated based on the selected project. The text box is populated using DLookUp on the above query, and I have chosen a field to be populated from that. This all works fine.
I am able to select a project and see a little information about it using the above set up. The next step for me is to be able to add a risk or an issue.
What I would like to happen is to have a create Risk / Issue button, which will pull across the Project ID (primary key) from the selected project, and add a new record in the **risks and issues* table. I will also need to add in additional information about the risk, dates, owner etc.
Also, by having the project primary key tied to each risk, I should be able to pull in any additional info about the project that I require.
I can write more if required - I'm not really sure which information is needed. Also, the form 'sits on' my projects table which could well have been the wrong way of doing things, however I still don't know how to bring in the data from two different tables.
I appreciate any effort and patience put towards this.
From my understanding of the question it sounds like your trying to update your risks and issues table with a single form that is bound to your projects table. If you're adding a record to risk issue table with a bound form it needs to be bound to that table.
My best answer would be to start fresh with a new form created by the wizard.
Make sure you have all the fields you want in your form in the risks and issues table.
Create a form based on this table using the wizard.
Change the Project ID control to a combobox by right clicking and selecting change to, combobox.
Set the row source to take project id and project from the project table and then make sure project id is the bound field and project is the displayed field(by adjusting column widths and bound column properties).
After doing this you should have a form that updates your risk and issues table while selecting the project from your project table. If this is not what you were asking or you wanted to do it a different way let me know I'll see if I can help.
We are rebuilding an asset database with Access 2013. We have 1 table with a Primary Key (Serial number of asset), and 22 other fields. We're designing a form to be used with the table so that we are not manually editing the table. The 'Status:' field explained later does not exist in the table; it is a user friendly way to show if the record exists or not.
The end goal is to have a form that will two cases. A user will enter a PK and hit the tab key. Then:
If the PK exists, it will pull the info from the other 22 fields and put them into the fields on the form (1:1) and update 'Status:' to 'Existing'.
If the PK does not exist, it will change the 'Status:' to 'New' and make all of the fields blank.
Most of the fields on the form will be Combo boxes. There will be a couple text fields and 1 date/time field.
Once a user is done with the form and has made any necessary changes, there will be a 'Save' button at the bottom that will write whatever is in the forms to the row indicated by the PK.
I have found partial solutions with the LostFocus() event in Access 2013 on the PK field of the form. I have little experience with MS Access, moderate experience with DBA, and no experience with VBA programming. I'm sure this solution can be done, my question is: can it be solved in a way other than hard coding the solutions? I also looked around for form building, but I couldn't find anything that worked how we need it so if there is a tool that can accomplish this, that is acceptable.
You might consider a form that contains a subform. Basically, you would design a form that has your PK input box and a subform. When the user hits tab (or a "Search" button), a query would run to search the table and display that record in the subform, or you could insert a new record if not. You may need to use a few queries and macros to link it all together, but it can be done code-free.
I'm designing an Access 2010 web database, and I'm trying to create a subform that will display data based on joined tables. It displays alright, but I can't modify the data. The two tables are called Consortiums and PrincipleInvestigators. There's a many-to-many link between them, so I have a ConsortiumsPrincipleInvestigators join table.
I have a "consortium" form which displays the data related to a specific consortium, and has a subform within that form that displays the principle investigators part that consortium. I was able to successfully all the PIs, but when I try to add a principle investigator within that subform, it gives me an error: "Cannot add record(s); join key of table 'PrincipleInvestigatorsConsortiums' not in recordset. What gives? I imagine it's because I need to update both the PrincipleInvestigators table and the join table. (Also, MS, why can't I just use standard relational database stuff instead of this silly lookup field business?) Here's some screenshots of my table layout and my join table:
http://i.imgur.com/j4RJQ.png
Bleh. I feel noobish although I've done a decent amount of database projects, but the lookup fields and query builder is throwing me off. Does anyone know of any good tutorials on how to design queries?
There is really nothing that changes in terms of building a relationship between two tables. The fact that you use a GUI, a SQL DLL command, or now some relationship wizard changes nothing.
I mean who cares what the process is much to setup a relationship between two tables?
I mean, in client based you could type in something like this:
ALTER TABLE Cars
ADD CONSTRAINT MyColorIDRelationship
FOREIGN KEY (ColorID) REFERENCES Colors (ColorID)
So, now you use some wizard that is a few mouse clicks and this is some big deal? Really, who cares! No big woopy here, all we care is that you execute some command, or some wizard, or something here and you at the end of your day the result is your beloved relation between the two tables.
Check out the following video of mine where I "hook up" some existing related data into a web database. And I ALSO share how you can printout the related tables using the Access relationship window for a web database:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL27E956A1537FE1C5&feature=plcp
So, at the end of the day, no need to get twisted up in some details of having to use some DDL sql command, some GUI relationships window, or some wizard. All you are doing as the above video shows is hooking up some tables and setting up a relation – nothing more, nothing less to worry about.
As for how to add child records that are to be related to a parent record? Well, in the past for the last 18 years, quite much every bird, dog, and beetle using Access would simply do this:
a) Create a main form based on the ONE main parent record table. There is NO NEED to build a query here, and in fact NO need to build a query that is a join of the two tables – this was never required and is not required. All you do is build a form based on the one simple table. We are done this part "a".
b) Create a form based on the ONE child table. There is NO NEED TO build a query here, and in fact NO need to build a query that is a join of the two tables – this was never required and is not required. All you do is build a form based on the one simple table.
c) open up first form (the form based on parent record table) and then in layout mode, now drag + drop in the child form from the nav pane.
The above a,b,c steps is how virtually EVERY parent to child setup in Access I seen done, and this long time forever setup CONTINUES to work 100% in web based applications.
In both cases (web or non web), the setup remains the same, the setup does not involve building quires, and the setup does not require ANY coding on your part.
As long as the link/master child settings are correct in the sub form control, then you are free to add child records to the child form and Access will do the rest of the dirty work of setting up and maintain the relation for you by setting the FK column in that child form for you.
So, how the basic setup works here has not changed in 18 years of using Access, and as such this does not change when building a web form here.
You don't need a query based on more than one table, and in fact JUST like in the past, the two forms will as a general rule will have their data source based only on the one table.
So in most cases there was never a need to even use a query for that one table that the form is going to be based on. This long time basic approach and setup has not change for web forms either.
In your case I would assume the main form is Consortium. You child form could be a continues form based on Principleinvegiartors. And in place of having to manually enter some PrincipleInvetigaor ID, you use a combo box based on table PrincipleInvetgioars. However, again in all cases, we are simply building forms that are based on a single base table.
For this situation, you should choose one of your tables for the main form and the junction table for the subform.
For example:
Main Table
Consortiums
Subform
ConsortiumsPrincipleInvestigators
Link Child and Master Fields ConsortiumID
ComboBox on subform
Principal investors
Row source: SELECT InvestorID, InvestorDetails FROM PrincipalInvestors
Control Source: InvestorID
Bound Column: 1
Column Count: 2
Column Widths: 0,2
Some notes on Not In List
DoCmd.OpenForm "AddSomething", , , , , acDialog, AddData
If Forms!AddSomething.Tag <> "" Then
frm(cbo).Undo
frm(cbo).Requery
frm(cbo) = Forms!AddSomething.Tag
AddCombo = acDataErrAdded
Else
AddCombo = acDataErrContinue
End If
DoCmd.Close acForm, "AddSomething"