Selecting Items from a Combo Box

Hi John

I will give it a try and let you know how i get on.

"One nitpick question: can you in fact assume that a Recording is all of one
genre? Or is the category better considered an attribute of a track?"

No it is an attribute of a track however, (unless it's a compliation album)
it is easier to class an album as one genre as opposed to each track.

If you could suggest how i could break it down further than by all means.
At this point, and after all the issues i have encounteted, i have been
focusing on getting a basic prototype working before i start entering the
large volume of music i wish to capture.

Adrian
"John W. Vinson" wrote:

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:30:01 -0700, adrian007uk
wrote:

I have

Tracks_Table
Track ID (PK) auto number (1)
Track Number
Track Title
Recording ID (Number) (Many)

Artists_Table
Artist ID (PK) Auto Number (1)
Artist Name

Performances_Table
Track ID (PK) Auto Nuber (Many)
Artist ID (PK) Number (Many)

Recordings_Table
Rcording ID (PK) Auto Number (1)
Title
Music Category ID Number (many)
Label
Year
Number of Tracks
Notes

Music_Category_Table
Music Category ID (auto number) PK (1)
Music Category

I think the problem is Recordings_Table as i can't get any of the fields to
go into a form when adding the fields from the other tables in Form Design
(if that makes sense).

Nope. You don't just throw all the fields in all your tables onto a form!

A form can be based on one table, or on a Query. Multitable queries are often
not updateable, and you would certainly NOT create One Great Master Query of
all your tables. I'd see this being set up with a Form based on Recordings, a
Subform based on Tracks_Table, a sub-subform based on Performances_Table with
a combo box based on Artists_Table. There'd be a combo box on the mainform
based on Music Category ID.

One nitpick question: can you in fact assume that a Recording is all of one
genre? Or is the category better considered an attribute of a track?
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:26:01 -0700, adrian007uk
wrote:

Hi John

I will give it a try and let you know how i get on.

"One nitpick question: can you in fact assume that a Recording is all of one
genre? Or is the category better considered an attribute of a track?"

No it is an attribute of a track however, (unless it's a compliation album)
it is easier to class an album as one genre as opposed to each track.

If you could suggest how i could break it down further than by all means.
At this point, and after all the issues i have encounteted, i have been
focusing on getting a basic prototype working before i start entering the
large volume of music i wish to capture.

It's probably your best bet to get the table design right FIRST - with the
help of entering a decent amount of real data! - rather than putting in two
hundred disks and then realizing you need to change the structure.

Genre categorization... well, it's really up to you. Will you need to deal
with multigenre disks (might a disk be classified as "Folk" and "Folk-rock"
and "Rock", or as "Blues" and also "R&B")? Will putting the genre in the
Tracks table rather than the Albums table help or hurt? That depends on how
you view the data and how you'll use the database, and it's just one example
of the kind of decision process that keeps professional database designers in
business!
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

Hi John

I have managed to make the form to enter the data as you explained so thanks
for that.

When i made the combo box for music category and placed it on the main form
i usually select the 'Remember the Value for later use'. However, to get
this combo box to work properly i had to use 'Store that value in this field'
and selected Music Category ID. Could please explain why i had to do this?

Also is there anyway on the Performances_Table Sub-Sub form to hide the
track ID and artist ID from view and just have the artist Combo Box.

I did not realise you were a profesional data base developer as well as
being really good with accces so thanks for taking the time to help me.

Adrian

"John W. Vinson" wrote:

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:26:01 -0700, adrian007uk
wrote:

Hi John

I will give it a try and let you know how i get on.

"One nitpick question: can you in fact assume that a Recording is all of one
genre? Or is the category better considered an attribute of a track?"

No it is an attribute of a track however, (unless it's a compliation album)
it is easier to class an album as one genre as opposed to each track.

If you could suggest how i could break it down further than by all means.
At this point, and after all the issues i have encounteted, i have been
focusing on getting a basic prototype working before i start entering the
large volume of music i wish to capture.

It's probably your best bet to get the table design right FIRST - with the
help of entering a decent amount of real data! - rather than putting in two
hundred disks and then realizing you need to change the structure.

Genre categorization... well, it's really up to you. Will you need to deal
with multigenre disks (might a disk be classified as "Folk" and "Folk-rock"
and "Rock", or as "Blues" and also "R&B")? Will putting the genre in the
Tracks table rather than the Albums table help or hurt? That depends on how
you view the data and how you'll use the database, and it's just one example
of the kind of decision process that keeps professional database designers in
business!
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 07:08:02 -0700, adrian007uk
wrote:

Hi John

I have managed to make the form to enter the data as you explained so thanks
for that.

When i made the combo box for music category and placed it on the main form
i usually select the 'Remember the Value for later use'. However, to get
this combo box to work properly i had to use 'Store that value in this field'
and selected Music Category ID. Could please explain why i had to do this?

"Remember for later use" can be useful... IF you then do something with the
value in the combo in your code. If you don't do anything with it, it goes
away and is forgotten when you close the form. The whole IDEA of putting the
combo on the form is to associate a particular DVD with a particular genre, by
storing the genre in a table. Data is stored in tables, and ONLY in tables,
not on forms.

Also is there anyway on the Performances_Table Sub-Sub form to hide the
track ID and artist ID from view and just have the artist Combo Box.

I'd change the subforms from the default datasheet view to Continuous Forms;
then you can include or exclude fields however you like. It's certainly not
necessary to display them.

I did not realise you were a profesional data base developer as well as
being really good with accces so thanks for taking the time to help me.

Most of the MVP's and other frequent volunteers here make at least part of
their living designing databases. Volunteering here is a way of "paying
forward" all the help I've gotten over the years!
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]