Re: Concatenate and Null Values -- Features

Hoopster, this is a lot of stuff being tossed your way, but it is really
good stuff. The people who have added to this thread since you posted the
table structure are very skilled and knowledgeable (excepting this posting;
I can claim only that I am making decent progress for a relative beginner,
but I know good advice when I see it). I urge you not to be daunted by all
of the new information. Once you start to get the hang of relational
databases you will have a powerful tool at your disposal.

"Tom Wickerath" <AOS168b AT comcast DOT net> wrote in message
news:DB56881F-C5DB-4A05-9489-BD7EA30602A3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To add some to what Duane and Crystal have provided, here is a good
selection
of database design links on Access MVP Jeff Conrad's site:

http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie/resources.html#DatabaseDesign101

You should spend some time gaining an understanding of database design and
normalization before attempting to build something in Access (or any RDBMS
software for that matter). Here are some links to get you started. Don't
underestimate the importance of gaining a good understanding of database
design. Brew a good pot of tea or coffee and enjoy reading!

http://www.seattleaccess.org/
(See the last download titled "Understanding Normalization" in the
Meeting Downloads page)

<Begin Quote (from page 23 of document)>
"The most important point for you to remember is that you will always
re-introduce data integrity problems when you de-Normalize your
structures!
This means that it becomes incumbent upon you or the user to deal with
this
issue. Either way, it imposes an unnecessary burden upon the both of you.
De-Normalization is one issue that you'll have to weigh and decide for
yourself whether the perceived benefits are worth the extra effort it will
take to maintain the database properly."
<End Quote>

Something for you to memorize:
"Fields are expensive; Records are cheap"

In other words, your database should be designed in such a way that you
can
track additional grommets, or whatever, by simply adding records. Your
multifield design requires you to add a new field to accomodate more of
the
same type of data. You then need to modify any queries, forms and reports
that use this data. That's why we say fields are expensive.

Also available from Jeff is the CSD Documenter add-in tool. You can easily
document many aspects of your database, including table structure, with
his
free add-in:

http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie/csdtools.html


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html


.

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