RE: more than 255 fields

Hi. Yes, I understand, and actually I set up the database the way you propose
to begin with. However, I need to make it as easy as possible for staff to
enter in the data. That's my real problem with the correct database structure.

Is there any way, that if I have a list box for countries on my form that
chooses from my 'countries' table that lists all the country names, that the
list box will change for each new record like this: say for the first record
the list box starts with 'Algeria', then for the next record it starts at the
alphabetically next country 'America', then for the next record the box's
first listing is 'Angola'? etc. until the last record, it's Zimbabwe and
stops.

If this is possible, then I could make the list box narrow enough to show
only one country name make it appear to automatically enter the successive
country name. That way the staff would continue entering the next succesive
country without any effort at all. (Using Autofills helps but not enough, as
my staff do not speak English well and do not really know the alphabet well
enough).

Do you understand what I'm getting at?
"mnature" wrote:

Generally speaking, if you think you need more than 255 fields in one table,
you are probably doing something wrong. Access is a relational database, not
a spreadsheet. It sounds as if you are trying to make the tables look like
spreadsheets.

First off, you probably need a table that just lists the countries. You
have 82 countries, so you will have 82 records in the table. There will be a
primary key field, and a country field. That is all you need in your country
table.

Then it sounds as if you are trying to collect information about how many
people have stayed in a guesthouse, what nationality they are, and how long
they have stayed. So you need a Guesthouse Table. This table will have
fields that will include a primary key, NumberOfGuests, NationalityGuests,
LengthOfStay. I assume that the nationality is what relates back to your
country table, so that would be a number field, and would tie back to the
country table in your relationships chart. Each record would then reflect a
particular stay, and would give you numbers, nationality, and length of stay.
You would then use queries, forms and reports to sort out this information.

As far as entering the country, you would do that on a data entry form,
probably as a pull-down combo box that gives you a list of all countries, and
you just choose the one you want.

"PAULinLAOS" wrote:

What do you do if you want to have more than 255 fields in 1 table? Is there
some trick to making one, or is it impossible?

Is it a bad structure to have that many fields? OK, my data entry form must
look like this:

ID Country 1Day 2Day 3Day 4/moreDay Total
1 America 4 0 2 4 10
2 Armenia 1 0 0 0 1
3 Brazil 0 2 1 0 2

This form has 82 countries on it. The columns stand for length of stay at a
guesthouse. It's used to collect data from guesthouses on how many people
stayed, their nationality and length of stay.

I started making a table like this:
Field1 Field2 Field3 Field4 Field5 Field6
....
Amer1day Amer2day Amer3day Amer4day Arm1day Arm2day....

This would allow me to make a data entry form that looks just like the
pencil and paper one. But too many fields! With 82 countries that's 328
fields.

I tried a different database structure where I put all of the country names
in one table and another table that would record the country ID and have 4
columns for the lenght of stay like this:

ID CountryID 1Day 2Day 3Day 4/moreDay Total
1 1 4 0 2 4 10
2 4 1 0 0 0 1
3 3 0 2 1 0 2

But when making a form, I have to enter in, via a combo box, the country
name, which makes data entry very long.

Any ideas? It seems like a simple problem but one that I really can't figure
out.

PaulinLaos

.

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