How can I track meeting attendance?

This is probably something simple, but I'm such a novice I don't know where
to start. I want to track my attendance at monthly meetings. I have five
defined (don't know if that's the right term) plus numerous miscellaneous
meetings I attend every month. I would like to be able to track them by date
and category and see a running total of each category for the year. I would
also like to be able to integrate new categories of meetings in as they come
along.

I don't know if this is enough info to help me get started or if this
question even makes sense, but thanks for your help!

If you're a novice then you're in one of the best places to be asking
such questions. When you're just getting started, NOTHING in Access
is simple.

For what you are trying to do I'd use 3 tables to get going:
tblMeeting, tblMeetItem, tblCategory. You may find yourself
continuing to develop and add forms and reports.

If you're taking notes just for yourself then hide your work.
Otherwise, others will see what a neat thing you have created and
they'll want a copy for their use (or ask you to email them copies of
the meeting notes - "since you already have them"). Kinda' like mama
Chicken and making the bread. :-)

tblMeeting doesn't have much to do. It will record the What, When and
Where of things: the fields might be MeetingID, Autonumber & Primary
Key, MeetingTitle, text ~50; Category text 50; MeetingDate, Date
only; StartTime, hh:mm; EndTime, hh:mm; Meeting notes, text 250.

tblMeetItem will capture the individual items presented during the
meeting. the suggested fields a MeetItemID, Autonumber & Primary
key, MeetingID, Long Integer and is known as the "Foreign Key" of
tblMeeting that identifies these records as children of tblMeeting;
Sequence Integer; PresenterName; text 50; Subject text 50; ItemNotes,
Memo. I hadn't mentioned Sequence before but I've found it to be
pretty handy for keeping things in order even if you didn't initially
recall them in order. Changing the sequence number can change the
order of the items in the form and in your reports.

tblCategory would have two fields: Category, text 50; and
CategoryDescription, text 250. Once you've completed the table
design, design a simple form for entering the categories and their
notes. The easiest way to get a form design started is to select the
table in the Database|Tables window and click on the Autoform wizard.
Play with it for a while and then move on to the next step. These are
things you can do iteratively. Name that form "frmCategory". You can
experiment with turning header and Footer on and off. You'll probably
leave a header. Later, if you add your own navigation controls you
may want to put them down in the footer.

Put as many categories as you can think of into tblCategory. Add
descriptions as you feel are necessary. Note that once you enter the
category name and description and step off the record, that
information is saved immediately into tblCategory.

Your main form will be based on tblMeeting. Again, the easiest way to
get a design started is to select the table in the Database|Tables
window and click on the Autoform wizard. Play with it until
satisfied that it's about what you want. Before leaving it, stretch
the bottom of the form (not the footer) so that there's as much empty
space in the main body of the form as there is space used by controls.

The next step is to design a form based on tblMeetItem. This will
eventually be a subform so its design should have no header or footer.
The ideal is to design the form to be as small as practical. It will
require several iterations to get it just right. While the other
forms should have been left to display just a single form, frmMeetItem
should be "continuous forms". Save your form.

Go to the Relationships window. Display only tblMeeting and
tblMeetItem. Click on tblMeeting.MeetingID and drag a line to
tblMeetItem.MeetingID and release it. Now doubleclick on that line
and interact with the dialog box to establish the one-to-many
relationship from tblMeeting to tblMeetItem. Do establish Referential
Integrity and enable Cascading Deletes.

That should get you started. Be aware that Access has a long steep
learning curve aggravated by the fact that most people learning Access
are using it as the vehicle for learning Relational Databases. I warn
you not to scare you but that so you'll be aware that it really is
difficult. You haven't suddenly become stupid. I encourage people to
make the effort. There are lots of resources, high among them are
these newsgroups. One outstanding resource is www.mvps.org/access
It's worth going there to lurk and pick up lots of the lore. There
are links to other sites there and there are other sites not listed
but you may notice in the signature lines of the MVPs.

Good luck. Post back as issues arise.

HTH
--
-Larry-
--

"craezer" wrote in message
...
This is probably something simple, but I'm such a novice I don't
know where
to start. I want to track my attendance at monthly meetings. I have
five
defined (don't know if that's the right term) plus numerous
miscellaneous
meetings I attend every month. I would like to be able to track them
by date
and category and see a running total of each category for the year.
I would
also like to be able to integrate new categories of meetings in as
they come
along.

I don't know if this is enough info to help me get started or if
this
question even makes sense, but thanks for your help!

Wow, that is a lot of great information! I was hoping to build a Ford Pinto
but you've given me the blueprints for a Ferrari. Thank you so much!

"Larry Daugherty" wrote:

If you're a novice then you're in one of the best places to be asking
such questions. When you're just getting started, NOTHING in Access
is simple.

For what you are trying to do I'd use 3 tables to get going:
tblMeeting, tblMeetItem, tblCategory. You may find yourself
continuing to develop and add forms and reports.

If you're taking notes just for yourself then hide your work.
Otherwise, others will see what a neat thing you have created and
they'll want a copy for their use (or ask you to email them copies of
the meeting notes - "since you already have them"). Kinda' like mama
Chicken and making the bread. :-)

tblMeeting doesn't have much to do. It will record the What, When and
Where of things: the fields might be MeetingID, Autonumber & Primary
Key, MeetingTitle, text ~50; Category text 50; MeetingDate, Date
only; StartTime, hh:mm; EndTime, hh:mm; Meeting notes, text 250.

tblMeetItem will capture the individual items presented during the
meeting. the suggested fields a MeetItemID, Autonumber & Primary
key, MeetingID, Long Integer and is known as the "Foreign Key" of
tblMeeting that identifies these records as children of tblMeeting;
Sequence Integer; PresenterName; text 50; Subject text 50; ItemNotes,
Memo. I hadn't mentioned Sequence before but I've found it to be
pretty handy for keeping things in order even if you didn't initially
recall them in order. Changing the sequence number can change the
order of the items in the form and in your reports.

tblCategory would have two fields: Category, text 50; and
CategoryDescription, text 250. Once you've completed the table
design, design a simple form for entering the categories and their
notes. The easiest way to get a form design started is to select the
table in the Database|Tables window and click on the Autoform wizard.
Play with it for a while and then move on to the next step. These are
things you can do iteratively. Name that form "frmCategory". You can
experiment with turning header and Footer on and off. You'll probably
leave a header. Later, if you add your own navigation controls you
may want to put them down in the footer.

Put as many categories as you can think of into tblCategory. Add
descriptions as you feel are necessary. Note that once you enter the
category name and description and step off the record, that
information is saved immediately into tblCategory.

Your main form will be based on tblMeeting. Again, the easiest way to
get a design started is to select the table in the Database|Tables
window and click on the Autoform wizard. Play with it until
satisfied that it's about what you want. Before leaving it, stretch
the bottom of the form (not the footer) so that there's as much empty
space in the main body of the form as there is space used by controls.

The next step is to design a form based on tblMeetItem. This will
eventually be a subform so its design should have no header or footer.
The ideal is to design the form to be as small as practical. It will
require several iterations to get it just right. While the other
forms should have been left to display just a single form, frmMeetItem
should be "continuous forms". Save your form.

Go to the Relationships window. Display only tblMeeting and
tblMeetItem. Click on tblMeeting.MeetingID and drag a line to
tblMeetItem.MeetingID and release it. Now doubleclick on that line
and interact with the dialog box to establish the one-to-many
relationship from tblMeeting to tblMeetItem. Do establish Referential
Integrity and enable Cascading Deletes.

That should get you started. Be aware that Access has a long steep
learning curve aggravated by the fact that most people learning Access
are using it as the vehicle for learning Relational Databases. I warn
you not to scare you but that so you'll be aware that it really is
difficult. You haven't suddenly become stupid. I encourage people to
make the effort. There are lots of resources, high among them are
these newsgroups. One outstanding resource is www.mvps.org/access
It's worth going there to lurk and pick up lots of the lore. There
are links to other sites there and there are other sites not listed
but you may notice in the signature lines of the MVPs.

Good luck. Post back as issues arise.

HTH
--
-Larry-
--

"craezer" wrote in message
...
This is probably something simple, but I'm such a novice I don't
know where
to start. I want to track my attendance at monthly meetings. I have
five
defined (don't know if that's the right term) plus numerous
miscellaneous
meetings I attend every month. I would like to be able to track them
by date
and category and see a running total of each category for the year.
I would
also like to be able to integrate new categories of meetings in as
they come
along.

I don't know if this is enough info to help me get started or if
this
question even makes sense, but thanks for your help!