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#1
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Initial Check Box Setup
Hello.
I am in the process of designing a database that, in addition to having the members name, address, etc., will have a group of check boxes. The check boxes will allow the inputer to associate a number of different expertises to the member. It will look as follows: Member Name Expertise 1 Expertise 2 Expertise 3 ----------------------------------------------------- John Doe x x Jane Doe x x Scooby Doo x x x How do I go about intially setting up the table(s) for a database design such as this one? Any help would be appreicated. Thanks in advance, m. |
#2
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Initial Check Box Setup
Mike,
From the very brief description you provided, I would say you are starting off with a very un-normalized design which will do nothing but cause you grief down the road. With what you have: a single table containing an employee name with columns representing some number of individual skills, you can design forms, queries and reports. But what happens when it's determined that an additional skill must be added to those that are already in the table? Not only will your table have to be modified, but so will the queries and forms that you use. And, that is only the beginning... What you should be looking at is: Table: tblEmployees PK - Autonumber LastName FirstName other fields directly relating to employee. Table: tblEmpSkills PK - Autonumber EmpID (Long Integer - links to PK in tblEmployees Skill additional field for Skill Level ?? I strongly recommend that you take a look at the following two links which discuss normalization - the second link shows an example which bears some resemblance to your current table. http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa080501a.htm and http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa081901a.htm In addition, here is an Amazon link to one of the better books on database design: "Database Design for Mere Mortals", Hernandez http://tinyurl.com/2uona -- Cheryl Fischer, MVP Microsoft Access Law/Sys Associates, Houston, TX "Mike C." wrote in message ... Hello. I am in the process of designing a database that, in addition to having the members name, address, etc., will have a group of check boxes. The check boxes will allow the inputer to associate a number of different expertises to the member. It will look as follows: Member Name Expertise 1 Expertise 2 Expertise 3 ----------------------------------------------------- John Doe x x Jane Doe x x Scooby Doo x x x How do I go about intially setting up the table(s) for a database design such as this one? Any help would be appreicated. Thanks in advance, m. |
#3
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Initial Check Box Setup
Thanks for the response.
Unfortunetly, I am still having some problems. I still am not sure on how to set up the tables and then set up the form with the actual check boxes on them. Any further assistance would be greatly appreicated. m. -----Original Message----- Mike, From the very brief description you provided, I would say you are starting off with a very un-normalized design which will do nothing but cause you grief down the road. With what you have: a single table containing an employee name with columns representing some number of individual skills, you can design forms, queries and reports. But what happens when it's determined that an additional skill must be added to those that are already in the table? Not only will your table have to be modified, but so will the queries and forms that you use. And, that is only the beginning... What you should be looking at is: Table: tblEmployees PK - Autonumber LastName FirstName other fields directly relating to employee. Table: tblEmpSkills PK - Autonumber EmpID (Long Integer - links to PK in tblEmployees Skill additional field for Skill Level ?? I strongly recommend that you take a look at the following two links which discuss normalization - the second link shows an example which bears some resemblance to your current table. http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa080501a.htm and http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa081901a.htm In addition, here is an Amazon link to one of the better books on database design: "Database Design for Mere Mortals", Hernandez http://tinyurl.com/2uona -- Cheryl Fischer, MVP Microsoft Access Law/Sys Associates, Houston, TX "Mike C." wrote in message ... Hello. I am in the process of designing a database that, in addition to having the members name, address, etc., will have a group of check boxes. The check boxes will allow the inputer to associate a number of different expertises to the member. It will look as follows: Member Name Expertise 1 Expertise 2 Expertise 3 ----------------------------------------------------- John Doe x x Jane Doe x x Scooby Doo x x x How do I go about intially setting up the table(s) for a database design such as this one? Any help would be appreicated. Thanks in advance, m. . |
#4
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Initial Check Box Setup
The beauty and utility of a normalized design is that you can have an
unlimited number of skills assigned to each employee; this, therefore, renders having a fixed number of checkbox controls on a form (subject to redesign whenever a new required skill is added) unnecessary. Take a look at the Northwind.MDB database which ships as a sample with Access. Open the Orders form. Notice that for each order there can be multiple line items in the order. This is a parent-child relationship, similar to the relationship that would exist between a single employee/person in your database and that person's multiple skills. Notice that you can add new line items to an order by using a combo box to enter the product name, thereby making data entry more accurate and fast. It is very easy to look at the rich design environment of an Access form and begin picking out the controls one wants to use before creating appropriately normalized tables and defining their relationships, putting the cart before the horse (so to speak). Once you have designed each of the tables your database needs and made sure that the data is normalized, you'll find that the forms generally "design themselves", as Access forms and controls are designed to work their best with normalized data. -- Cheryl Fischer, MVP Microsoft Access Law/Sys Associates, Houston, TX "Mike C." wrote in message ... Thanks for the response. Unfortunetly, I am still having some problems. I still am not sure on how to set up the tables and then set up the form with the actual check boxes on them. Any further assistance would be greatly appreicated. m. -----Original Message----- Mike, From the very brief description you provided, I would say you are starting off with a very un-normalized design which will do nothing but cause you grief down the road. With what you have: a single table containing an employee name with columns representing some number of individual skills, you can design forms, queries and reports. But what happens when it's determined that an additional skill must be added to those that are already in the table? Not only will your table have to be modified, but so will the queries and forms that you use. And, that is only the beginning... What you should be looking at is: Table: tblEmployees PK - Autonumber LastName FirstName other fields directly relating to employee. Table: tblEmpSkills PK - Autonumber EmpID (Long Integer - links to PK in tblEmployees Skill additional field for Skill Level ?? I strongly recommend that you take a look at the following two links which discuss normalization - the second link shows an example which bears some resemblance to your current table. http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa080501a.htm and http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa081901a.htm In addition, here is an Amazon link to one of the better books on database design: "Database Design for Mere Mortals", Hernandez http://tinyurl.com/2uona -- Cheryl Fischer, MVP Microsoft Access Law/Sys Associates, Houston, TX "Mike C." wrote in message ... Hello. I am in the process of designing a database that, in addition to having the members name, address, etc., will have a group of check boxes. The check boxes will allow the inputer to associate a number of different expertises to the member. It will look as follows: Member Name Expertise 1 Expertise 2 Expertise 3 ----------------------------------------------------- John Doe x x Jane Doe x x Scooby Doo x x x How do I go about intially setting up the table(s) for a database design such as this one? Any help would be appreicated. Thanks in advance, m. . |
#5
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Initial Check Box Setup
Mike, you are heading for "multo problemos" if you are even thinking about
your forms at this stage! The first stage in developing a competent, working database is to design the table structures using the principles of database normalization. That stage is not concerned with user-interface things like forms or reports. If you design a properly normalized database, you will be able to write whatever forms & reports you may want - later! Start here for a dry, but instructive read: http://support.microsoft.com/support...es/Q100139.ASP HTH, TC "Mike C." wrote in message ... Thanks for the response. Unfortunetly, I am still having some problems. I still am not sure on how to set up the tables and then set up the form with the actual check boxes on them. Any further assistance would be greatly appreicated. m. -----Original Message----- Mike, From the very brief description you provided, I would say you are starting off with a very un-normalized design which will do nothing but cause you grief down the road. With what you have: a single table containing an employee name with columns representing some number of individual skills, you can design forms, queries and reports. But what happens when it's determined that an additional skill must be added to those that are already in the table? Not only will your table have to be modified, but so will the queries and forms that you use. And, that is only the beginning... What you should be looking at is: Table: tblEmployees PK - Autonumber LastName FirstName other fields directly relating to employee. Table: tblEmpSkills PK - Autonumber EmpID (Long Integer - links to PK in tblEmployees Skill additional field for Skill Level ?? I strongly recommend that you take a look at the following two links which discuss normalization - the second link shows an example which bears some resemblance to your current table. http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa080501a.htm and http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa081901a.htm In addition, here is an Amazon link to one of the better books on database design: "Database Design for Mere Mortals", Hernandez http://tinyurl.com/2uona -- Cheryl Fischer, MVP Microsoft Access Law/Sys Associates, Houston, TX "Mike C." wrote in message ... Hello. I am in the process of designing a database that, in addition to having the members name, address, etc., will have a group of check boxes. The check boxes will allow the inputer to associate a number of different expertises to the member. It will look as follows: Member Name Expertise 1 Expertise 2 Expertise 3 ----------------------------------------------------- John Doe x x Jane Doe x x Scooby Doo x x x How do I go about intially setting up the table(s) for a database design such as this one? Any help would be appreicated. Thanks in advance, m. . |
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