book publishing database--design question about tabbed forms

[Erin]

I work for a small, university-style press. We publish about 12 to 15 books
per year, and I've been trying to build a database for us to keep track of
five different categories of information pertaining to our publications
(general publication details, acquisitions, marketing, editorial/production,
and rights/permissions). The way I set it up initially was as five separate
tables (with book title as the primary key for all five). From these five
tables I created a query--bringing all the fields together--out of which I
created a tabbed form, so that for each book entry you can access all five
categories of information in one place.

There have been a couple of glitches along the way, mostly having to do with
the query, such that I've started to doubt whether I've gone about designing
this database in the right way. The tabbed form seems ideal for our purposes,
but I don't know if having five separate tables is the best choice (maybe I
should just have everything in one table, and create the tabbed form out of
that, so I can bypass having to use the query as the middle man?) Or maybe
there is another design possibility that I'm just not aware of (my Access
skills are by no means vast).

If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. I'd also be happy to discuss
the particulars of my database in more detail, if that would help.

Thanks so much,

Erin

 

[Steve]

What do you think of this design .......

TblBook
BookID (autonumber)
BookTitle
<etc>

TblGeneralPublicationDetail
GeneralPublicationDetailID (autonumber)
BookID
<detail fields>

TblAcquisition
AcquisitionID (autonumber)
BookID
<acquistion fields>

TblMarketing
MarketingID (autonumber)
BookID
<marketing fields>

TblEditorialProduction
EditorialProductionID (autonumber)
BookID
<editorial/production fields>

TblRightPermission
RightPermissionID (autonumber)
BookID
<rights/permissions fields>

Where you are using Title as the primary, each record in each table depends
on accurate typing of the title. A typing error would result in an error in
the record. Access creates autonumbers and thus would eliminate this
possibile error in your database.

Your data entry form would consist of a form with 5 tabs. The main form
would be based on TblBook and each tab would contain a subform based on one
of the other 5 tables. The Linkmaster/LinkChild properties of each subform
would be BookID. In this arrangement, you would navigate to a selected book
on the main form with the navigation buttons at the bottom left and then
click a desired tab. At each tab, you would find only the records for the
selected book in the main form.

Steve
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Erin]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your advice. I think the design sounds good. But the question
then becomes: how easy is it to change the structure of a database once it's
already underway? If I have the book title as the primary key in all five
tables, will I be able to change to autonumbers without much complication?
Are there any potential pitfalls to watch out for while making sweeping
structural changes? (Just recently I experimented with reconfiguration, and
as a result of deleting a few table fields ended up creating a situation in
which my query and tabbed form became essentially read-only--unable to be
updated/edited. I still haven't fully solved that one...) In your experience,
is there anything like this that I should be aware of as I proceed?

MANY thanks for your help.

Erin

 

[Steve]

Response in email I sent you.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your advice. I think the design sounds good. But the question
then becomes: how easy is it to change the structure of a database once
it's
already underway? If I have the book title as the primary key in all five
tables, will I be able to change to autonumbers without much complication?
Are there any potential pitfalls to watch out for while making sweeping
structural changes? (Just recently I experimented with reconfiguration,
and
as a result of deleting a few table fields ended up creating a situation
in
which my query and tabbed form became essentially read-only--unable to be
updated/edited. I still haven't fully solved that one...) In your
experience,
is there anything like this that I should be aware of as I proceed?

MANY thanks for your help.

Erin

 

[Gina Whipp]

Erin,

Building a database is like building a house... Once you have the walls up
modifications become very *expensive* so you really want to get that
foundation right in the begining. Here's a few places to look that might be
of help:

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP):
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials

As for autonumbers, no you can't change them as you desire they have a job
to do and they do which is count. However, they are subject to skipping for
various reasons sooooo, if you care about that Autonumber then best to
create your own, ie: DMax("YourPrimaryKey","YourTable") + 1

All in all you REALLY want to get that foundation right. So after you build
your tables you might want to come back and post what you've done, just to
be sure. But like all good plan, you should start with a pencil and papre,
large eraser and the above links!

--
Gina Whipp

"I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors
II

http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Response in email I sent you.

So you are now harrassing the posters directly?



These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support.
There are many highly qualified individuals who gladly help for free. Stevie
is not one of them, but he is the only one who just does not get the idea of
"FREE" support. He offers questionable results at unreasonable prices. If he
was any good, the "thousands" of people he claims to have helped would be
flooding him with work, but there appears to be a continuous drought and he
needs to constantly grovel for work.

A few gems gleaned from the Word New User newsgroup over the Christmas
holidays to show Stevie's "expertise" in Word.


Dec 17, 2008 7:47 pm

Word 2007 ..........
In older versions of Word you could highlght some text then go to Format -
Change Case and change the case of the hoghloghted text. Is this still
available in Word 2007? Where?
Thanks! Steve


Dec 22, 2008 8:22 pm

I am designing a series of paystubs for a client. I start in landscape and
draw a table then add columns and rows to setup labels and their
corresponding value. This all works fine. After a landscape version is
completed, I next need to design a portrait version. Rather than strating
from scratch, I'd like to be able to cut and paste from the landscape
version and design the portrait version.
Steve


Dec 24, 2008, 1:12 PM

How do you protect the document for filling in forms?
Steve


One of my favourites:
Dec 30, 2008 8:07 PM - a reply to stevie
(The original poster asked how to sort a list and stevie offered to create
the OP an Access database)

Yes, you are right but a database is the correct tool to use not a
spreadsheet.

Not at all. If it's just a simple list then a spreadsheet is perfectly
adequate...




John... Visio MVP

 

[Keith Wilby]

This is highly recommended reading if you're thinking of doing business with
a tout:

http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html

 

[Erin]

Hi all, thanks for the comments (and warnings). I'm not looking to hire
anyone for this database, though, so hopefully that will settle things.
Thanks, Gina, for the helpful links. Much appreciated. Will keep you all
posted as I move forward--I'm sure there will be more questions!

Best,

Erin

 

[Gina Whipp]

Erin,

You're welcome and.... we'll be waiting!

--
Gina Whipp

"I feel I have been denied critical, need to know, information!" - Tremors
II

http://www.regina-whipp.com/index_files/TipList.htm