If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
I work for a small, university-style press. We publish about 12 to 15 books
per year, and I've been trying to build a database for us to keep track of five different categories of information pertaining to our publications (general publication details, acquisitions, marketing, editorial/production, and rights/permissions). The way I set it up initially was as five separate tables (with book title as the primary key for all five). From these five tables I created a query--bringing all the fields together--out of which I created a tabbed form, so that for each book entry you can access all five categories of information in one place. There have been a couple of glitches along the way, mostly having to do with the query, such that I've started to doubt whether I've gone about designing this database in the right way. The tabbed form seems ideal for our purposes, but I don't know if having five separate tables is the best choice (maybe I should just have everything in one table, and create the tabbed form out of that, so I can bypass having to use the query as the middle man?) Or maybe there is another design possibility that I'm just not aware of (my Access skills are by no means vast). If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. I'd also be happy to discuss the particulars of my database in more detail, if that would help. Thanks so much, Erin |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your advice. I think the design sounds good. But the question then becomes: how easy is it to change the structure of a database once it's already underway? If I have the book title as the primary key in all five tables, will I be able to change to autonumbers without much complication? Are there any potential pitfalls to watch out for while making sweeping structural changes? (Just recently I experimented with reconfiguration, and as a result of deleting a few table fields ended up creating a situation in which my query and tabbed form became essentially read-only--unable to be updated/edited. I still haven't fully solved that one...) In your experience, is there anything like this that I should be aware of as I proceed? MANY thanks for your help. Erin "Steve" wrote: What do you think of this design ....... TblBook BookID (autonumber) BookTitle etc TblGeneralPublicationDetail GeneralPublicationDetailID (autonumber) BookID detail fields TblAcquisition AcquisitionID (autonumber) BookID acquistion fields TblMarketing MarketingID (autonumber) BookID marketing fields TblEditorialProduction EditorialProductionID (autonumber) BookID editorial/production fields TblRightPermission RightPermissionID (autonumber) BookID rights/permissions fields Where you are using Title as the primary, each record in each table depends on accurate typing of the title. A typing error would result in an error in the record. Access creates autonumbers and thus would eliminate this possibile error in your database. Your data entry form would consist of a form with 5 tabs. The main form would be based on TblBook and each tab would contain a subform based on one of the other 5 tables. The Linkmaster/LinkChild properties of each subform would be BookID. In this arrangement, you would navigate to a selected book on the main form with the navigation buttons at the bottom left and then click a desired tab. At each tab, you would find only the records for the selected book in the main form. Steve "Erin" wrote in message ... I work for a small, university-style press. We publish about 12 to 15 books per year, and I've been trying to build a database for us to keep track of five different categories of information pertaining to our publications (general publication details, acquisitions, marketing, editorial/production, and rights/permissions). The way I set it up initially was as five separate tables (with book title as the primary key for all five). From these five tables I created a query--bringing all the fields together--out of which I created a tabbed form, so that for each book entry you can access all five categories of information in one place. There have been a couple of glitches along the way, mostly having to do with the query, such that I've started to doubt whether I've gone about designing this database in the right way. The tabbed form seems ideal for our purposes, but I don't know if having five separate tables is the best choice (maybe I should just have everything in one table, and create the tabbed form out of that, so I can bypass having to use the query as the middle man?) Or maybe there is another design possibility that I'm just not aware of (my Access skills are by no means vast). If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. I'd also be happy to discuss the particulars of my database in more detail, if that would help. Thanks so much, Erin |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
Response in email I sent you.
"Erin" wrote in message ... Hi Steve, Thanks for your advice. I think the design sounds good. But the question then becomes: how easy is it to change the structure of a database once it's already underway? If I have the book title as the primary key in all five tables, will I be able to change to autonumbers without much complication? Are there any potential pitfalls to watch out for while making sweeping structural changes? (Just recently I experimented with reconfiguration, and as a result of deleting a few table fields ended up creating a situation in which my query and tabbed form became essentially read-only--unable to be updated/edited. I still haven't fully solved that one...) In your experience, is there anything like this that I should be aware of as I proceed? MANY thanks for your help. Erin "Steve" wrote: What do you think of this design ....... TblBook BookID (autonumber) BookTitle etc TblGeneralPublicationDetail GeneralPublicationDetailID (autonumber) BookID detail fields TblAcquisition AcquisitionID (autonumber) BookID acquistion fields TblMarketing MarketingID (autonumber) BookID marketing fields TblEditorialProduction EditorialProductionID (autonumber) BookID editorial/production fields TblRightPermission RightPermissionID (autonumber) BookID rights/permissions fields Where you are using Title as the primary, each record in each table depends on accurate typing of the title. A typing error would result in an error in the record. Access creates autonumbers and thus would eliminate this possibile error in your database. Your data entry form would consist of a form with 5 tabs. The main form would be based on TblBook and each tab would contain a subform based on one of the other 5 tables. The Linkmaster/LinkChild properties of each subform would be BookID. In this arrangement, you would navigate to a selected book on the main form with the navigation buttons at the bottom left and then click a desired tab. At each tab, you would find only the records for the selected book in the main form. Steve "Erin" wrote in message ... I work for a small, university-style press. We publish about 12 to 15 books per year, and I've been trying to build a database for us to keep track of five different categories of information pertaining to our publications (general publication details, acquisitions, marketing, editorial/production, and rights/permissions). The way I set it up initially was as five separate tables (with book title as the primary key for all five). From these five tables I created a query--bringing all the fields together--out of which I created a tabbed form, so that for each book entry you can access all five categories of information in one place. There have been a couple of glitches along the way, mostly having to do with the query, such that I've started to doubt whether I've gone about designing this database in the right way. The tabbed form seems ideal for our purposes, but I don't know if having five separate tables is the best choice (maybe I should just have everything in one table, and create the tabbed form out of that, so I can bypass having to use the query as the middle man?) Or maybe there is another design possibility that I'm just not aware of (my Access skills are by no means vast). If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. I'd also be happy to discuss the particulars of my database in more detail, if that would help. Thanks so much, Erin |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
Erin,
Building a database is like building a house... Once you have the walls up modifications become very *expensive* so you really want to get that foundation right in the begining. Here's a few places to look that might be of help: Jeff Conrad's resources page: http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/acc...resources.html The Access Web resources page: http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP): http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html MVP Allen Browne's tutorials: http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials As for autonumbers, no you can't change them as you desire they have a job to do and they do which is count. However, they are subject to skipping for various reasons sooooo, if you care about that Autonumber then best to create your own, ie: DMax("YourPrimaryKey","YourTable") + 1 All in all you REALLY want to get that foundation right. So after you build your tables you might want to come back and post what you've done, just to be sure. But like all good plan, you should start with a pencil and papre, large eraser and the above links! -- Gina Whipp "I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors II http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm "Erin" wrote in message ... Hi Steve, Thanks for your advice. I think the design sounds good. But the question then becomes: how easy is it to change the structure of a database once it's already underway? If I have the book title as the primary key in all five tables, will I be able to change to autonumbers without much complication? Are there any potential pitfalls to watch out for while making sweeping structural changes? (Just recently I experimented with reconfiguration, and as a result of deleting a few table fields ended up creating a situation in which my query and tabbed form became essentially read-only--unable to be updated/edited. I still haven't fully solved that one...) In your experience, is there anything like this that I should be aware of as I proceed? MANY thanks for your help. Erin "Steve" wrote: What do you think of this design ....... TblBook BookID (autonumber) BookTitle etc TblGeneralPublicationDetail GeneralPublicationDetailID (autonumber) BookID detail fields TblAcquisition AcquisitionID (autonumber) BookID acquistion fields TblMarketing MarketingID (autonumber) BookID marketing fields TblEditorialProduction EditorialProductionID (autonumber) BookID editorial/production fields TblRightPermission RightPermissionID (autonumber) BookID rights/permissions fields Where you are using Title as the primary, each record in each table depends on accurate typing of the title. A typing error would result in an error in the record. Access creates autonumbers and thus would eliminate this possibile error in your database. Your data entry form would consist of a form with 5 tabs. The main form would be based on TblBook and each tab would contain a subform based on one of the other 5 tables. The Linkmaster/LinkChild properties of each subform would be BookID. In this arrangement, you would navigate to a selected book on the main form with the navigation buttons at the bottom left and then click a desired tab. At each tab, you would find only the records for the selected book in the main form. Steve "Erin" wrote in message ... I work for a small, university-style press. We publish about 12 to 15 books per year, and I've been trying to build a database for us to keep track of five different categories of information pertaining to our publications (general publication details, acquisitions, marketing, editorial/production, and rights/permissions). The way I set it up initially was as five separate tables (with book title as the primary key for all five). From these five tables I created a query--bringing all the fields together--out of which I created a tabbed form, so that for each book entry you can access all five categories of information in one place. There have been a couple of glitches along the way, mostly having to do with the query, such that I've started to doubt whether I've gone about designing this database in the right way. The tabbed form seems ideal for our purposes, but I don't know if having five separate tables is the best choice (maybe I should just have everything in one table, and create the tabbed form out of that, so I can bypass having to use the query as the middle man?) Or maybe there is another design possibility that I'm just not aware of (my Access skills are by no means vast). If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. I'd also be happy to discuss the particulars of my database in more detail, if that would help. Thanks so much, Erin |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
"Steve" wrote in message
m... Response in email I sent you. So you are now harrassing the posters directly? These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support. There are many highly qualified individuals who gladly help for free. Stevie is not one of them, but he is the only one who just does not get the idea of "FREE" support. He offers questionable results at unreasonable prices. If he was any good, the "thousands" of people he claims to have helped would be flooding him with work, but there appears to be a continuous drought and he needs to constantly grovel for work. A few gems gleaned from the Word New User newsgroup over the Christmas holidays to show Stevie's "expertise" in Word. Dec 17, 2008 7:47 pm Word 2007 .......... In older versions of Word you could highlght some text then go to Format - Change Case and change the case of the hoghloghted text. Is this still available in Word 2007? Where? Thanks! Steve Dec 22, 2008 8:22 pm I am designing a series of paystubs for a client. I start in landscape and draw a table then add columns and rows to setup labels and their corresponding value. This all works fine. After a landscape version is completed, I next need to design a portrait version. Rather than strating from scratch, I'd like to be able to cut and paste from the landscape version and design the portrait version. Steve Dec 24, 2008, 1:12 PM How do you protect the document for filling in forms? Steve One of my favourites: Dec 30, 2008 8:07 PM - a reply to stevie (The original poster asked how to sort a list and stevie offered to create the OP an Access database) Steve wrote: Yes, you are right but a database is the correct tool to use not a spreadsheet. Not at all. If it's just a simple list then a spreadsheet is perfectly adequate... John... Visio MVP |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
"Erin" wrote in message
... This is highly recommended reading if you're thinking of doing business with a tout: http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
Hi all, thanks for the comments (and warnings). I'm not looking to hire
anyone for this database, though, so hopefully that will settle things. Thanks, Gina, for the helpful links. Much appreciated. Will keep you all posted as I move forward--I'm sure there will be more questions! Best, Erin "Keith Wilby" wrote: "Erin" wrote in message ... This is highly recommended reading if you're thinking of doing business with a tout: http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms
Erin,
You're welcome and.... we'll be waiting! -- Gina Whipp "I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors II http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm "Erin" wrote in message ... Hi all, thanks for the comments (and warnings). I'm not looking to hire anyone for this database, though, so hopefully that will settle things. Thanks, Gina, for the helpful links. Much appreciated. Will keep you all posted as I move forward--I'm sure there will be more questions! Best, Erin "Keith Wilby" wrote: "Erin" wrote in message ... This is highly recommended reading if you're thinking of doing business with a tout: http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|