RE: Making one field on a form dependent on another fields results

From: dawnykins (dawnykins_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 03/22/05 

Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 11:51:04 -0800

I think I need to go back to the begginning, because now I am really
confused. I understand what your saying but I don't think I have the
knowledge to carry this out yet. I can say this.

I have my first table, which is my contacts table listed with the fields I
want in it and the primary key code is a autonumber that is assigned to each
new record. I have another table that has autonumbered each position I have
entered in there. I have done this for tables named: position (the one were
talking about), county, organization, and State. So in my contacts form I
have the same fields as my table does and a few combo boxes that have drop
down menus for Position Title, Organization name, State and County names. I
wanted to set it up so that if the drop down menu is a position and we enter
that this person is a fire cheif, I wanted this information to go to the Fire
Chief's database.
I think your saying I don't need to do all this. Should I just keep the one
table and form then. Won't that get real big. I am trying to locate someone
in my very small town I live in that knows Access and can help a bit because
I am confused and this book I have isn't helping too much and it's hard to
understand what your saying. I afraid of putting you through too much trouble
to help me and not understand it.

"Sprinks" wrote:

> OK, before addressing the combo box, and how to display the information
> you're after, you're making this much too difficult. You do not need
> separate tables for Contacts, PoliceOfficers, Professors, Restauranteurs,
> etc.--you only need to distinguish between them with a different value in a
> field. You can then choose any one or several of them easily by selection
> criteria within a query.
>
> The first step in database design is defining your "Things" (Tables) and
> their "Properties" or "Attributes" (Fields). Assign a numeric primary key to
> each table as a unique record identifier. I always, and other application
> developers usually, use an AutoNumber field type for the primary key.
>
> So far, you've defined two things, Contacts and Positions. They are related
> tables, in that each Contact has a Position. The way to specify a position
> for each contact is to use a NUMERIC field for the PositionID that
> corresponds to Positions' primary key, called a Foreign Key. By linking the
> two tables in a query by the common field, the Foreign Key metaphorically
> "unlocks" the Positions table such that you have access to any of its fields
> for displaying on a form, or printing on a report. This allows you to
> *store* an efficient numerical value, yet display the more meaningful data.
> And there's one more big advantage to this approach.
>
> Say you have an Orders table, and you store the name and address fields in
> your Orders table. If your customer changes their name or address, you've
> got to change every Orders record for that customer. Moreover, if you make a
> typo, you might end up with something like the following:
>
> Very Large Company
> VeryLarge Company
> Very Lrg. Co.
>
> all of which are the same customer, but stored under different names. If,
> however, you store only the customer number in the Orders table and a
> customer moves or changes their name, you change a single record in the
> Customer table and you're done.
>
> Getting back to your example, your Positions table should be structured like
> this:
>
> PositionID AutoNumber (Primary Key)
> PositionName Text
> ...any other Position-specific data like salary-class, etc.
>
> and your Contacts table should have a numeric field for the Position.
> However, noone wants to have to remember a code, therefore, you create a
> combo box that displays a list of names, but *stores* the related code in the
> underlying field. They work via these key properties:
>
> RowSource SQL for the fields to include in the combo box. These may be
> visible or not. Each field is a column of the combo box.
>
> BoundColumn The index (1, 2, ...) of the column to store in the
> ControlSource.
>
> ControlSource The field of the form's underlying table in which to store
> the BoundColumn.
>
> ColumnWidths How much horizontal space to allow for display of the column.
> If a column width is set to 0", it does not display at all. After the user
> makes a selection, the first non-zero-width column is what remains showing in
> the box.
>
> In most instances, you don't really care about fields like the PositionID
> code; it's just an efficient storage means. What's normally important is
> displaying meaningful text. To do this in your situation, alter the Row
> Source and Column Widths properties:
>
>
> Row Source: SELECT Positions.ID, Positions.[Position Title] FROM Positions
> ORDER BY Positions.[Position Title];
> Column Widths is: 0";x" (where x is a width arrived at by trial and error)
> Bound Column is: 1
> Control Source is: Position (make this a numeric field)
>
> When a selection is made, the PositionTitle will display, and the code will
> be stored in the numeric field Position.
>
> Now, if you want to show the code for informational purposes, simply add a
> textbox with its control source set to the Position field.
>
> Another way to do it, and this would apply to other combo box cases where
> you wish to display other columns of the selected row, is to use the Column
> property. Unfortunately, the index for this property begins with 0. To
> display the third column of a cbox, you'd set the textbox' Control Source to:
>
> =Me!MyComboBox.Column(2)
>
> Hope that helps.
> Sprinks
>
>
> "dawnykins" wrote:
>
> > Box 1
> > Row Source: SELECT Positions.[Position Title], Positions.ID FROM Positions
> > ORDER BY Positions.[Position Title];
> > Column Widths is: Blank
> > Bound Column is: 1
> > Control Source is: Position (this is the name of my field)
> >
> > Here's what I am trying to accomplish with my database. I want our office to
> > be able to enter a person's name in the database (by the form I call
> > Contacts). From that point I want the information to go to one table with
> > everything, (names addresses, position name....etc..) and if a person is a
> > police officer per say, I want that information also to go to a table for the
> > police officers. Same as another other position going to their perspective
> > tables. I think I have to have the position ID as the primary in all the
> > other tables in my contact table and form in order for the information to go
> > to each table. I am really new to this and all I have to go by is what I find
> > in this discussion and the book access for dummies. So any help is greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > "Sprinks" wrote:
> >
> > > Please post the RowSource, ColumnWidths, Bound Column, and ControlSource
> > > properties. Also, out of curiosity, why do you wish to display the code when
> > > you're already displaying more meaningful text?
> > >
> > > Sprinks
> > >
> > > "dawnykins" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Thank you Sprinks I appreciate it. I have searched and I guess I am not
> > > > getting the right question in there or something. What I have is this: One
> > > > combo box which gives me a choice of choosing the positions I want. By
> > > > positions I mean what a person does for a living. Then I want another box to
> > > > bring up the ID number that is associated with that position that I have
> > > > chosen. Does this make sense. This position ID number is the primary key in
> > > > many of my tables. I do not want this second box to be a combo box. Is this
> > > > possible? I can't find any specifics in my searching. Also, I can't seem to
> > > > get this code thing down in VBA. Your help is greatly appreciated.
> > > >
> > > > "Sprinks" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > It depends on what you're trying to do. If you want to display a calculation
> > > > > in a form control, such as an extended price dependent on the quantity and
> > > > > unit prices, set the control's ControlSource to a valid expression, such as:
> > > > >
> > > > > =[Qty] * [UnitPrice]
> > > > >
> > > > > 99.999% of the time, there is no need to store this value in your table,
> > > > > since it can be calculated on-the-fly in a query. To do so also requires VBA
> > > > > code, since a ControlSource can either be a fieldname, in which case data
> > > > > entered in the control is stored in the field OR a calculation, but not both
> > > > > simultaneously.
> > > > >
> > > > > If you wish to limit the choices of a downstream combo box by a prior field,
> > > > > you change the former's Row Source as appropriate. For example, once having
> > > > > chosen Region, you might want to limit the SalesRep field to those in the
> > > > > region:
> > > > >
> > > > > Me!MyComboBox.RowSource = "SELECT SalesRepID, SalesRepName FROM SalesReps
> > > > > WHERE [Region] = " & Me!MyRegionControl
> > > > >
> > > > > By the way, your question is a frequent one. Be sure that you understand
> > > > > the distinction between a field, which exists in a table, and controls that
> > > > > exist on forms, which may or may not be bound to fields in the form's
> > > > > underlying RecordSource.
> > > > >
> > > > > Hope that helps.
> > > > > Sprinks
> > > > >
> > > > > "dawnykins" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > How do you make one field on a form dependent on what another field's results
> > > > > > are?

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