Add a combo box to every record in a table

X

XP

Using Access 2003 and Windows XP;

I would like to add a combo box that will contain about four choices to
every record in a table.

Could someone please explain how this is done or whether or not it is even
possible?

Thanks much.
 
X

XP

Hi and thanks Tina;

What if I add a lookup field to a subform; does that cause issues as well?

(I am unable to look at your link as our system here at work is blocking
that site for some reason...) :>(
 
J

John W. Vinson

Hi and thanks Tina;

What if I add a lookup field to a subform; does that cause issues as well?

(I am unable to look at your link as our system here at work is blocking
that site for some reason...) :>(
Click to expand...

Lookups (combo boxes) on Forms are just fine. It's only in Tables that
people object to them, because they conceal the actual content of your
table from view, encourage the misuse of table datasheets for uses
other than debugging, make constructing queries more difficult, etc.
etc.

If your site lets you through, there's another set of warnings about
lookups at
http://www.mvps.org/access/lookupfields.htm.

John W. Vinson [MVP]
 
T

tina

John supplied the link that you'd have seen in my posted link, so you didn't
miss anything... :)
 
B

bjh29

Hi I am another newbie that saw this warning about lookup fields in tables.
I have a lot of look up fields in tables. Yikes. They currently have a data
type of Number and display control of Combo Box. If I change these, do I
keep the data type as Number and change the display control to text box? I
thought look up fields seemed redundant since all my forms have them and I
usually add criteria. Hmm.

bjh29
 
J

John W. Vinson

Hi I am another newbie that saw this warning about lookup fields in tables.
I have a lot of look up fields in tables. Yikes. They currently have a data
type of Number and display control of Combo Box. If I change these, do I
keep the data type as Number and change the display control to text box? I
thought look up fields seemed redundant since all my forms have them and I
usually add criteria. Hmm.
Click to expand...

You can just use the Lookup tab in the field properties to change the
display type to Textbox. The fields *ARE* numbers, no matter how
they're displayed; textbox is good because it shows you what's
actually there.

The other thing that the Lookup wizard does which you might want to
check is that it creates new Relationships and new Indexes - even when
they already exist. Open the Relationships window and select "View
All" - the icon with all the boxes. Are there extra relationships
between your tables, and table icons with the number 1 (or 2 or 3!!)
added to the tablename? If so, select the join lines (not the table
icon, the line itself) and press the Delete key for each redundant
relationship. You can also open each table's Indexes window and check
to see if there are two or more indexes on the same field; delete the
extra indexes, you only need one.

John W. Vinson [MVP]
 
B

bjh29

So how does this affect the data that is displayed in reports based on these
tables? And in my relationships, what if I link to two different tables from
one field? Do you mean that I should delete one of those as well? For
example, I have a parents table linked to students table and payments table
both linked by the same ID.
 
J

John W. Vinson

So how does this affect the data that is displayed in reports based on these
tables?
Click to expand...

Shouldn't affect it at all. If it does, you may need to tweak the
report; typically a Report would be based on a query joining your main
table to all the lookup tables that you need to display the
user-meaningful information.
And in my relationships, what if I link to two different tables from
one field? Do you mean that I should delete one of those as well? For
example, I have a parents table linked to students table and payments table
both linked by the same ID.
Click to expand...

Sorry, should have been more explicit! No, only delete the *duplicate,
redundant* relationships (if any). That is, if you have a relationship
that you defined in the relationships window, joining
Payments.StudentID to Students.StudentID, and you ALSO have a Lookup
Field combo box in the payments table for the StudentID, then it's
very likely that the lookup wizard has duplicated your effort, and
created a second, duplicate relationship from Students to Payments.
It's that duplicate relationship that you can delete.

John W. Vinson [MVP]
 
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