use access form to edit data from a query result - ms-access

I'm brand new to Access 2010, well to Access in general. I have a query that returns 10 columns (the query is called pending_review, the source is a table called escalations) in the results, some of those fields are blank since they have to be reviewed. One of the resulting columns is the primary key.
So this is my problem: I need a to create a form where I can type the primary key and the fields on the form will populate with the info from that row so I can fill the blank spaces with information that I now have and then update the table.Once the table is updated, that row should no longer show on the query results.
What I have done is that I created the form, but I don't know how to do the part of typing the primary key and everything gets populated. A solution would be to make a combo box that shows me the primary keys of the rows in the query results, so that every time i edit something in one of those fields for the query to be run again and reduce the number of options in the combo box.
Question is, how do i do that? or is there an easier and better way to do it?
Thanks in advance!!

Can you not just create a new form using the pending_review query as a data source? Access makes it very easy--you can just use the form wizard. This gives you a form in which you can edit one row at a time. Presumably the pending_review query has a filter condition that checks for certain fields being blank (null) or not. If you finish editing a result row in the form, and refresh the form, the row should then disappear from the form because it will no longer be returned by the pending_review source query.
Even if you need to do something more complex, this should at least be a good start.

Related

Updating one table in MS Access with data from another

In MS Access 2016 I have a table named Master that periodically needs to gets updated with ‘updated’ data from a table named NewData. Each table has the same fields, except Master has one additional field named OTHER_SOURCES (explained further down). They each have an indexed unique id field named EVENT_ID. I’ve built an update query where the tables are joined one-to-one on the EVENT_ID field. In this query I have the fields in Master getting updated to the new values from the same fields in NewData if the TIMESTAMP field value is different. If the TIMESTAMP values haven’t changed, then those records do not get updated. This part is pretty straightforward and works fine.
However, I have end users that may make occasional changes to the values in the SIZE field of Master that need to be preserved and not overwritten with updated values from NEW_DATA. When a user makes a change in SIZE field, he documents the change with information obtained from other sources, which is stored in the extra field I mentioned earlier: OTHER_SOURCES. Here’s what I need to do, and I just can’t figure it out. Whenever a user has made a change to the SIZE field for a record, I need the update query to not override that value in the SIZE field, but still update the values in all the other fields (again, assuming the TIMESTAMP values are different between the two tables). It seems I need to use an IIF statement, but I’m thinking it needs to be done in VBA where I’m a bit of a hack. See screenshots. I greatly appreciate any help you can offer.
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You can still proceed with the update, but update it to the same value as its previous value:
SET SIZE= IIF(nz(OTHER_SOURCES,'')<>'', MASTER.Size, NEW_DATA.Size)
This assumes that anything present in the MASTER.OTHER_SOURCES column indicates that the user has changed MASTER.Size. Note that MASTER.Size will never be updated from NEW_DATA.Size until someone (end user) removes MASTER.OTHER_SOURCES.

MS Access rookie - Ask for confirmation before updating a record

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.

How to edit an existing record and not create a new one when using subforms in Access?

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.

Lookup tables displaying number instead of text [duplicate]

I am trying to create a report putting a field called contact which has the name of a person. This name is linked directly to another table where I keep all the contacts.
For some strange reason, when I include this name (which in query view displays as the name of the contact), instead of the name appearing, the unique ID number is shown on my report.
As mentioned in the article cited in the above comment, you can use a Combo Box control on your report to do the lookup for you. To see how this can be done, create a new report based on the table containing the lookup field, then drag and drop that field onto the report. That will create a Combo Box control with properties that look something like this:
Row Source: SELECT [Clients].[ID], [Clients].[LastName] FROM Clients;
Bound Column: 1
Column Count: 2
Column Widths: 0";1"
You could use a similar Combo Box control on your actual report to display the client's name rather than their numeric ID value.
Another alternative would be to change the Control Source of the report's Text Box control to have it do a DLookUp() on the table. If the lookup field is named [client] then changing the Control Source of the Text Box to something like
=DLookUp("LastName","Clients","ID=" & [client])
would also work.
I wanted to add to the great answer by Gord:
When using a "web" database (started in Access 2007 I think), you cannot change a report's fields to ComboBox style, nor can you use DLookUp(). (web databases lack a ton of features)
The workaround for this, if you want to create a Web-Report that uses lookup fields, is to create a Web-Query first based on your Web-Table (all the Web-* stuff has a www planet icon over the logo, if you create a new Web-DB in Access 2007+ you'll see what I mean)
So, instead of Table -> Report, you'll have to do W-Table -> W-Query -> W-Report.
Then, the only thing you need to customize to get the data right is the W-Query. Start by trying to reproduce the look in the query to match what you want users to see in the report. Note that here in the query, lookups will work fine (instead of the unique ID's, you get field names like you want). However, this will not carry over to the report. To do that, you gotta get the actual text field name you want into the query:
You should already have one table in your query; start by adding the table that your first lookup field points to. For example, the table I want to print is called Stock_Boards, and it has a lookup field called PCBID_lookup that points to the table Stock_PCBs.
Since you're using lookup fields, there should already be a relationship line between the two tables when you add the second one. If there isn't, something has gone horribly wrong.
Now, see how that line connects two fields on the two different tables? For example, I've got my PCBID_lookup field on my Stock_Boards table, which connects to the ID field on my Stock_PCBs table. If I created a report from this now, PCBID_lookup would be a number, a number that correlates to the ID of a record on Stock_PCBs.
To fix it, I will add the name field I want to show up on the report. In my example, that happens to be a Part Number, rather than the ID. I add the PartNumber field from my Stock_PCBs table to the query, and remove the PCBID_lookup field of the Stock_Boards table from my query.
Since PartNumber is what I want to show up on my report, it effectively replaces the original field (PCBID_lookup)
Repeat for all lookup fields you want in your report.
I had 1 more: I removed the Status field of the Stock_Boards table (which was an ID/Lookup) and added the 'Status' field from the Status table (which was the actual text name)
When finished, your query should look exactly how you want the data to appear, without any special tricks or asking Access to do something unnatural. Save your query, and create a web-report from it. Done!

Access form must be opened twice before combobox values will appear

I have a checklist that is used to perform QC audits. When a reviewer answers a question that requires an exception, a pop-up form will open with the correct exception detail already populated. They then have to provide some further information, which I have set-up in the format of a combobox for a field named 'Condition_Detail.' Some exceptions have only one condition that would be an option in the drop-down whereas others have multiple possible conditions, which is why I don't have that field automatically populated as well. I have a table of possible exceptions and conditions that I have used to create the combobox query. When the database was created, the field the 'Condition_Detail' combobox is dependent on was labeled 'Exception Detail' with a space and in my new table it is called 'Exception_Detail.' I did this because the old data and tables will eventually become irrelevant and I know that it is easier to write code with underscores instead of spaces. I include this information because I had to create a relationship between those two fields in the combobox query so that the database would know they are the same. When I test the database, the form opens as expected with the exceptions already populated (NOT in combobox format - the data appears as text on the form). The issue is that when I select the combobox, it is blank. If I answer the exact same question the same way to trigger the same exception to open in a new record, the combobox does have the correct data in it. I have tried to requery the field both when the form loads and after it updates. It still won't show the combobox values unless I trigger that the form open twice with the same detail populated. An additional piece of information that likely doesn't affect the problem is that the combobox is set-up as three columns so that I can populate two additional fields when the condition detail has been updated. I used the code below to populate that, which works perfectly when I can get the condition detail to appear in the combobox:
Private Sub Condition_Details_Change()
Me.Responsible_Position.Value = Me.Condition_Details.Column(2)
Me.Severity_Description.Value = Me.Condition_Details.Column(3)
End Sub
Thanks in advance for your help!
I figured it out. The relationship I created within the combo box query was unnecessary. The query was searching for values in the table that stored the actual responses/conditions instead of the table that stored the available response options. Because of this, once I had answered the question it knew what to look for, but in the wrong place. Setting up the combo box the usual way with the look-up control value in the form referenced as follows was sufficient to get the combo box to work properly.
Field: Exception_Text
Table: tblPreCloseExceptionDescEnc
Criteria: [Forms]![frmEncompassExceptions].[Form]![Exception Text]