I have a field with a customer ID that should be in the format of C0000000001, where it has a letter at the start and up to 10 numbers after the letter with leading zeros between the letter and the number. I want the users to be able to put in C1 and have the table save C0000000001 or C1234 and have the table save C0000001234.
I want the restriction to be on the hard data in the table. The table should contain the full customer ID but I only want the users to have to enter the C and the number of the customer when entering/searching for customers. I am using Access 2010.
I believe that the first character will always be a C, but either way, it would only be one alpha character if it wasn't.
I understand what you are saying, but the majority of the data (thousands of records) are going to be from another system that stores them that way. Doing it this way limits my margin of error. Otherwise, exports from the other system will need to be manually changed prior to being imported into the database and vice versa.
Searching would only be on existing records that will be saved in the C0000001234 format, but I would like user to be able to omit the leading zeros when entering the search criteria.
This question, combined with your previous question here, suggest to me that you are trying very hard to have the data structure in your Access database exactly match the legacy system from which you receive bulk updates. That may not be necessary, or even desirable.
For example, instead of maintaining the CustomerId as Text(11) (as in the old system) you could store it in your Access database as
CustomerIdPrefix: Text(1), and
CustomerIdNumber: Long Integer or perhaps Decimal if the numeric part really can exceed 2,147,483,647
Your Customers table in Access could also include a calculated field named CustomerId as
[CustomerIdPrefix] & Right("0000000000" & [CustomerIdNumber], 10)
to give you a single 'C0000012345' value for display purposes.
For searching, your form could have a Text Box for the Prefix (default value: 'C') and another text box for the numeric part. The search could then use a condition like
[CustomerIdPrefix] = txtPrefix.Value AND [CustomerIdNumber] = txtNumber.Value
or, if the user wanted to create a Filter on the Form (or Datasheet View) it would probably be sufficient to just filter on the number part.
If you ever needed to feed information back to the legacy system you could just export a query that includes the [CustomerId] calculated field (and omits [CustomerIdPrefix] and [CustomerIdNumber]) and you'd be fine.
My suggestion would be to use forms with associated queries using the FORMAT function.
You do need to clarify where you want this implemented, but I'm going to assume you have a table set up and that you would like to be able to enter/search data from a form.
I'll create one form for input frmAdd. For the input form, I created a query that would run when a button on the form was pressed. Add two text boxes newID and newOther to the forms which are unbounded but which the user can use to enter data. The query will then pull that data and append it to your table in an altered format. Here's the SQL for that query:
INSERT INTO Customers ( [Customer ID], [Other Field] )
SELECT Left([Forms]![frmAdd]![newID].[value],1)
& Format(Right([Forms]![frmAdd]![newID].[value],Len([Forms]![frmAdd]![newID].[value])-1),"0000000000")
AS Expr1, Forms![frmAdd]!newOther AS Expr2
FROM Customers;
I'm not sure exactly what search functionality you're looking for, but this query would pull up the record data matching that of a frmSearch with a textbox search which would have the format C### or whatever entered in:
SELECT Left([Customers].[Customer ID],1) & Replace(LTrim(Replace(Right([Customers].[Customer ID],9),'0',' ')),' ','0')
AS Expr1, Customers.[Other Field]
FROM Customers
WHERE (((Customers.[Customer ID])=Left([Forms]![frmSearch]![search].[value],1)
& Format(Right([Forms]![frmSearch]![search].[value],Len([Forms]![frmSearch]![search].[value])-1),"0000000000")));
Applying the input mask is just a way to ensure that your data is correct. If you feel the need to use one, go to the table in Design View and click on the Data Type box for the customer ID field. Find Input Mask under Field Properties -> General and click it. Then hit go to the toolbar -> Design tab -> Builder. This will walk you through it.
Input mask is not the answer for this. Input mask forces the user to input the data in a certain manner. What you need is some VBA code to run in the AfterUpdate event on a form. There's no way within the table to force the data into this pattern allowing the input method that you've requested.
There may be a more efficient way to do this, but this does the job.
http://pineboxsolutions.com/access/customeriddemo.accdb
Related
I'm working on an Access 2007 database and I'm having a problem with a query.
I have a table named Vehicles, which contains data such as ID, license plate and fuel type for each vehicle in it.
I'm trying to make a query which will populate a combobox in a Form with each vehicle's fuel type, based on the license plate chosen by the user beforehand.
The thing is, we have some some cars that work with two types of fuel and I cant' find a way to display them separately in the combobox.
So far it kinda works, code follows:
CheckDiesel: IIf([Diesel]="Yes";"Diesel";IIf([Gasoline] AND [Ethanol]="Yes";"Gasoline"+ "Ethanol";IIf([Ethanol]="Yes";"Ethanol";IIf([Gasoline]="Yes";"Gasoline";""))))
If you look at the second IIf, I have a condition for a bi-fuel car. I want to display Gasoline and Ethanol separately, each one in a row.
I've tried using "&Chr(10) Chr(13)&" and "\r\n" but I had no success so far.
Can anyone help me?
Storing multiple pieces of data in a single field rarely ends well. A few options I see
A series of binary fields for gasoline type. So you'd have a True/false for gasoline, ethanol, and diesel. This is easy to show with checkboxes on the form.
If you know there will only be certain combinations, like if there will not be a 'diesel and ethanol' without gasoline, you can build it as a single value combobox.
You will probably need some VBA to do what you need to do. Try something like this:
Dim R as String
R=""
if (Me.Diesel) then R = R & "Diesel;"
if (Me.Gasoline) then R = R & "Gasoline;"
… {add any other types of fuel}
Me.MyComboBox.Rowsource = R
Me.MyComboBox.Requery
This can be added tot he form's OnCurrent event so it will update the combo box every time a new record is displayed.
If your form does not include the various fuel types as fields, either add them as hidden fields or use DLookup to read them off the table.
I would like to select specific columns based on the user checkbox selection.
I can able to achieve it using VBA but is it possible to arrive the fields in SQL itself based on forms checkbox tick status?
Two ideas:
1) create a text box that collects the values of the checkboxes:
= if(checkbox1,"Col1, ","") & if(checkbox2,"Col2, ","") & ...
Create a second one that removes the tailing comma.
Use the content of this second text box to build your SQL string.
2) Solution 1 requires you to hard code the columns in one formula. A more generic way would be to populate a list with the column names of your data source (the table). The changed event of the list would then generate the list of column names for your SQL string.
This solution involves VBA, yes but it's interactive. Guess that's what you're after.
This is specifically for MS-Access Web Databases (requires Sharepoint hosting) which has many limitations compared to their client counterparts, like no VBA, instead you get form macros and data macros to manage data.
I've run into a weird bug on one of my applications. I have a query used to check stock levels against a "minimum stock level" also saved in the table. The query is pretty intense and there are over 4,000 records now to check against. These querys normally take about 75s. So I have made a little label that gets updated every time the form is loaded showing the time and date the query was last run, and the duration in seconds it took. (so users can see how fresh the data is and decide if it needs to be run again)
Now, the weird thing is it works fine in my Access client, but when I sync my changes to the server and try it in a web browser I get a "type mismatch" error. A small table is used to store the start and end times whenever the query is run, that's how I get the timestamp data. These fields are in a "Date/Time" format, obviously. But it seems the problem here is changing the date format to a string format so it can be put in a label on the form. The Access client seems perfectly capable of doing this, while the web client stumbles and falls.
My problem is, how do I change data in a date/time format to a string format in a Web database? I can't figure out how to do this. The tools are so limited. I may have to end up answering my own question here but I'm posting this for others just in case.
To return a value from a data macro as string, you have to format the internal date/time format as a string. In Access an internal date/time value is a double number with the integer part as number of days since 1900, and the “decimal” time part is a fraction of 24 hours. Unfortunately if you simply wrap the date/time in the str$() function we had for 20+ years, then you get something JUST like if you type this into the debug window:
? cdbl(now())
41955.5478587963
The solution is to simply pull out each part. And “nice” is while in few cases a data macro will cast the data type, it does in this case and thus the STR$() command is not required.
The expression you thus can use is this:
Month([d]) & "/" & Day([d]) & " Time = " & Hour([d]) & ":" & Minute([d])
So say to pluck out the VERY LAST start time column from say a invoice table, since we don’t have a dmax(), then we simply sort the table in the order we want and pull out the first row.
Our data macro will thus look like:
Note how in above I simply typed in the SQL and SET the order on the date/time column. I want the MOST recent invoice start date and time. For those new to SQL, then I suggest you build a query in the query builder and specify a query in above lookup feature, since many are not "comfortable" typing in free hand SQL as I did above.
Now, in your browser side (UI) macro, you can use this code:
The above returns a formatted string that you can stuff into a text box, or as per above code change the caption of a label.
Unfortunately with silly problems like this, it becomes a path-of-least resistance thing.
Since my intended result was simply to get "a timedatestamp from a table to show up on a form (so users could see when a query was last run)", this became redesigning my form in Access to be a text field instead of a label. Text fields can be adjusted to accept "Time/Date" formats, so this is exactly what I did, it now pulls the timestamp data directly from the last record of the table and requires no extra formatting to appear in the web browser. I redesigned the text field to appear and function more like a label, and my desired function was achieved.
However, since my question specifically asks, "how do you change a time/date format into a string format in a Web db?", I will leave it here in case someone actually does solve it.
I have a form linked to a table. The form has 4 text boxes: one linked to the autonumber field, and the other three to text fields.
There is also a subform, from which I wish to launch a query (via button and macro) combining results from the subform and a control on the main form. When I specify any of the three text-based controls in a parameter query, this works fine, but asking for the value of the first (autonumber) control results in a symbol being displayed instead of a value.
I wasn't sure what specific information/images would be helpful. Please ask for specific information if you feel it would help.
I've been given the answer elsewhere. I had to implicitly convert the results of the batch field into an int.
INSERT INTO heat_treat_jobs ( card_id, batch ) SELECT atheattreat.id, CInt([Forms]![heat_treat_loads]![batch]) AS Expr1 FROM atheattreat WHERE (((atheattreat.index)=[Forms]![heat_treat_loads]![atheattreat subform].[Form]![index]));
How do I bind a text box with a field, which doesn't belong to form's "Record Source" table, through the Design View?
Example: I have "Order.cust_id" (Record Source=Order) and I want to display "Customers.name". I believe it is trivial but I have no experience with MS Access. I tried to use the text box "Control Source" property but no luck.
One method would be to convert the text box to a combo box. Then set the row source to include both the cust_Id and the Customer.Name from the customer table. SQL statement example
Select Cust_ID, Name From Customer
Order By Name;
By setting the number of columns to 2 and the column widths; the first column as zero (i.e. "0;6") then the foreign key would be hidden from the user and the customer name would be displayed.
Note this method does force you to have limit to list set to true.
Also you do end up with a drop down list which may not be what you want.
You can use DlookUp as the control source of a textbox:
=DlookUp("[Name]", "Customer", "ID=" & Cust_ID)
Syntax: What to look up, table name, where statement
The Where statement should follow the rules for Jet SQL, which means that you must use delimiters if the field is text or date format.
Note that Name is a very bad name indeed for anything. I suggest you rename the field immediately before things get worse.
It can be useful to know the error(s).
You could create a new View (e.g. OrdersAndCustomerNames), select all the columns you want to use in the form, then instead of using the Order table as Record Source, you would just switch to OrdersAndCustomerNames. You say you have no experience with MS Access, so I am guessing you are not building anything huge and overly complicated, so I would do it this way. I am quite sure it can be done more elegantly but this will do for now.