Contact Mgmt fields

What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
the data in its own table. The reason some are doing this is for
convenience, but yours is the better approach from a db design
perspective.
For the user interface you need to think of a subform with two
columns. The form is bound to the Phone table, with a dropdown for
PhoneType (gets its rowsource from the PhoneTypes table) and a textbox
for the PhoneNumber value.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.



"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
the data in its own table. The reason some are doing this is for
convenience, but yours is the better approach from a db design
perspective.
For the user interface you need to think of a subform with two
columns. The form is bound to the Phone table, with a dropdown for
PhoneType (gets its rowsource from the PhoneTypes table) and a textbox
for the PhoneNumber value.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:26:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

That's not very easy to do in a Form, but easy in a Report. This is
because doing so would require an Outer Join which will likely make
your form non-updatable (but try it before you give up on this idea).
And you already figured that the other solution of adding 4 records
for each contact on forehand would defeat the purpose of this pretty
database design.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.



"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
the data in its own table. The reason some are doing this is for
convenience, but yours is the better approach from a db design
perspective.
For the user interface you need to think of a subform with two
columns. The form is bound to the Phone table, with a dropdown for
PhoneType (gets its rowsource from the PhoneTypes table) and a textbox
for the PhoneNumber value.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

This is because doing so would require an Outer Join which will likely make
your form non-updatable

I don't know how to do that. I guess I will have to stick with what I have
or do it the old way (you know phone 1, phone 2...) if I want my form to look
a certain way.

"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:26:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

That's not very easy to do in a Form, but easy in a Report. This is
because doing so would require an Outer Join which will likely make
your form non-updatable (but try it before you give up on this idea).
And you already figured that the other solution of adding 4 records
for each contact on forehand would defeat the purpose of this pretty
database design.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.



"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
the data in its own table. The reason some are doing this is for
convenience, but yours is the better approach from a db design
perspective.
For the user interface you need to think of a subform with two
columns. The form is bound to the Phone table, with a dropdown for
PhoneType (gets its rowsource from the PhoneTypes table) and a textbox
for the PhoneNumber value.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

I think I have provided a solution in the past to either you or someone much
like you with the same question. You could use four text boxes with the
PhoneTypeID hard-coded in the control source. Then use four subforms that
link to the Primary key of the main form and one of the text boxes.

For instance is your PhoneTypeID is 1 for "Business", add a hidden text box
Name: txtBusiness
Control Source: =1
Then use a single view subform with link values:
Link Master: CustomerID;txtBusiness
Link Child: CustomerID; PhoneTypeID
You can add a label with a caption of "Business"
--
Duane Hookom
Microsoft Access MVP


"lmcc007" wrote:

Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.



"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
the data in its own table. The reason some are doing this is for
convenience, but yours is the better approach from a db design
perspective.
For the user interface you need to think of a subform with two
columns. The form is bound to the Phone table, with a dropdown for
PhoneType (gets its rowsource from the PhoneTypes table) and a textbox
for the PhoneNumber value.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

I tried it before and couldn't get it to work. Now since I have taken up
some classes, let me go back over my notes and see if I now understand it.
Thanks!

"Duane Hookom" wrote:

I think I have provided a solution in the past to either you or someone much
like you with the same question. You could use four text boxes with the
PhoneTypeID hard-coded in the control source. Then use four subforms that
link to the Primary key of the main form and one of the text boxes.

For instance is your PhoneTypeID is 1 for "Business", add a hidden text box
Name: txtBusiness
Control Source: =1
Then use a single view subform with link values:
Link Master: CustomerID;txtBusiness
Link Child: CustomerID; PhoneTypeID
You can add a label with a caption of "Business"
--
Duane Hookom
Microsoft Access MVP


"lmcc007" wrote:

Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.



"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:01 -0700, lmcc007
wrote:

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
the data in its own table. The reason some are doing this is for
convenience, but yours is the better approach from a db design
perspective.
For the user interface you need to think of a subform with two
columns. The form is bound to the Phone table, with a dropdown for
PhoneType (gets its rowsource from the PhoneTypes table) and a textbox
for the PhoneNumber value.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP


What is the best or appropriate way of creating my contact mgmt database
regarding phone numbers? Every example and template I look at all have
separate fields for Business, Busines Fax, Mobile Phone, Home Phone... I'm
trying it with a table (PhoneType and PhoneNumber) and only enter the phone
numbers if availalbe.

I'm wondering am I on the right track or should I do like all the examples
and templates I see? And, another reason I created a PhoneNumbers table
because I would like to be able to search for phone numbers. And, I do want
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

Just a couple of ideas.

I would probably use 5 fields in the table, if it were me.
Contact_Phone_ID (autonumber, PK)
Contact_ID
PhoneNum
PhoneTypeID
PhoneNumber

If you have international contacts, you might want to add a field for the
international code, and maybe for the area code as separate from the phone
number?

Dale

lmcc007 wrote:
Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

--
HTH

Dale Fye

Message posted via AccessMonster.com
http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/For...esign/200906/1

Just a couple of ideas.

I would probably use 5 fields in the table, if it were me.
Contact_Phone_ID (autonumber, PK)
Contact_ID
PhoneNum
PhoneTypeID
PhoneNumber

If you have international contacts, you might want to add a field for the
international code, and maybe for the area code as separate from the phone
number?

Dale

lmcc007 wrote:
Thanks!

I created a form with the three fields:

PhoneNumID (Visible = No)
PhoneTypeID (Combo box)
PhoneNumber (Text box)

Is there a way for the form to always display Business, Business Fax,
Mobile, Home whether there is a phone number availble or not?

I am trying to get the form to look like

Phone numbers-------------------------------------
Business 800-123-4567
Business Fax
Mobile 888-888-1111
Home

I like this standard look.

You are doing it right. Database designers call this "normalization"
which is the process of removing "repeating groups" by spinning off
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
my form to always display Business, Business Fax... whether there is a phone
number available for the contact person or not.

--
HTH

Dale Fye

Message posted via AccessMonster.com
http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/For...esign/200906/1

We make and use these. I hate to say it, but IMHO separate colums in the
main table is usually the better choice although searchability by phone
number is one of the minuses, as is reduced flexibility to handle people who
have too many phone numbers, or having to put seldom-used columns in to
accomodate seldom used scenerios. (like secondary cell phone) The
upside is that such would make a lot of other things simpler and easier.


IMHO as long as you follow unique definitions of those phone columns, then
such a structure is not un-normalized. (i.e. "Primary Phone" , " Secondary
Phone" , "Primary Cell" "Secondary Cell" "Fax #" are 5 distinct
attributes/definitions)