Hi, James.
I do apologize for my comment, I didn't mean that I was looking for
complete
solutions that I could just copy and paste, but a more complete
explanation
with a little more direction.
At the risk of beating a dead horse, you are asking for help but you are
expecting tech support. The newsgroups you haved posted to are designed as
a peer-to-peer forum for people who have questions to get suggestions and
advice from volunteers who have knowledge of the product. There is no
guarantee that you will get answers -- or even correct answers -- to your
questions. Fortunately, plenty of experts answer questions in the Access
newsgroups, so you are extremely likely to get a correct answer to your
question. However, it may not be the in-depth answer you are looking for,
because after all, participation here is voluntary, unlike a paid service.
If this is not sufficient for your needs, many of the people who answer
questions here are consultants and provide excellent tech support for their
customers, so you may want to hire one of them to fill your specific needs.
And, you have not read all the responses to my
questions to understand what I am referring to.
.. . . Which were the following statements:
I have been
disappointed with the responses received from posting requests for
assistance
with problems. Very few times have I actrually received a response that
actually worked. Almost none of the code examples I received worked.
Very few times? You marked an awful lot of them as answers to your
questions. I've read the responses and, with very few exceptions, you
recieved excellent answers to the good many questions you've already posted:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=5aeeeba4-aff3-4b58-ac8c-cb36dcb250f2
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=06a68fb8-38c4-40c8-862e-067082360131
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=43044558-4746-477a-84ac-50e0c681ed8f
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=dd85854f-fedb-41e5-b4e6-b1a1e01ecb4e
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...ries&mid=1fe56e60-e0bf-4a16-9412-7eae5035fe09
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...ries&mid=e20b2a46-86fb-4d0d-bde4-f8d1ca7e02d0
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=3aa66b18-70b2-438e-ba10-2d9c48c853ab
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...ding&mid=5db5da01-beb6-4cfc-88f4-c238ce3515bf
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=01525393-de16-4195-8ab8-b511cad1c3e6
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=b72dc829-aa8c-4f70-936c-c0ff8a531983
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=2f0de698-e374-4b05-ae27-3323782d9c7c
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=c453e03f-aff4-4496-a9bf-024a77853566
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...ding&mid=c8d76fcb-eb5a-4ad5-a476-b209aaa30818
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=5061ecc3-e324-41bd-9850-d05a55a50e00
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=adaf9d61-63b6-4310-b185-fbbca4b29800
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=ce4d2677-a83b-4c47-8e4e-6a467b8181d0
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=a45a37b5-e3dc-4a7b-97e7-c07e2977786b
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=41074651-ad91-4b4d-bfab-5ef9b36de138
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=8f567eb2-27ad-460d-ba74-3040a65b245d
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=b187816b-b5cd-4124-bd8a-492dbba4f0da
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...orms&mid=9df26b63-8137-4354-bada-9a4c0319c54d
The code examples you received were not intended to be copy/paste/run the
code for instant success. The code examples you received worked, but they
were just that: examples. They needed to be altered to fit your particular
database, because the expert offering the code doesn't have your database in
front of him to tell you the exact code that you need. The responses you
received were also correct, but you did not always understand what the
expert was telling you, and when you didn't apply his advice correctly you
assumed that his suggestions didn't work.
It would help if examples given for code were more complete with
instructions
on where to actually place the code and where to link it too. I am a visual
person and do better with step-by-step instructions and complete code
examples.
Such spoon-fed instructions come from formal courses and tutors, not from
free newsgroup posts. I suggest that you take a few Access classes, or find
someone on the Air Force Base to take the time to teach you what you need to
learn, or hire a tutor. Access has a steep learning curve and the tasks
that you are attempting to accomplish are beyond your current capabilities.
Having someone sit down and show you how to do it and show you the
techniques and tricks for getting the most out of Access will save you
months or years of frustration. And you can in turn pass this knowledge on
to someone else later to save them the frustration you are now experiencing.
(Which is why so many people volunteer to help: they know what it's like
not being able to get an Access application to work. Access can be tough.)
Most of the responses to my
questions have been made under the assumption that I am an experienced
programmer.
You have posted your questions in newsgroups for advanced beginners up
through expert users to developers. Therefore, the answers you receive are
given with the expectation that you know more than how to enter data and
print reports in an application built by someone else.
The "Getting Started" newsgroup is intended for beginners. The answers
posted to questions in that newsgroup give more detail because they're
geared for people who don't yet know their way around Access, nor how to
program. I suggest posting your questions in that newsgroup until you've
taken some courses, or have been tutored, or have read books and
experimented enough with Access to reach the next level. You may subscribe
to the microsoft.public.gettingstarted newsgroup in your news reader or
point your Web browser to the following Web page for new users:
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...at=en_US_e7981988-3566-454b-86f8-58c07ed6b1d7
In other fields like techical writing, the standard is to write
at the eighth grade level and not assume that everyone can read at the
college level. The same standard could apply to this discussion group.
No. It can't. The typical eighth grader may be computer literate, but he's
not yet capable of applying all of the skills necessary for a non-trivial
database application: data modeling, relational database design, ensuring
data integrity and data concurrency, ensuring data security, efficient
application of set theory, algebraic notation, efficient procedural
programming, event-oriented programming with objects, ensuring that the
application meets requirements and is maintainable, computer networking, GUI
design, deploying an application within an organization, et cetera. Think
high school graduate as the minimum level, not eighth grade level, when it
comes to becoming a competent Access database developer.
The Access experts have the necessary skills and knowledge, but they can't
beam them to you in the short code snippets of a newgroup post. You'll have
to go way beyond your current comfort zone in order to fully take advantage
of the mountains of free advice you can get in the newsgroups. The experts
are willing to help you, but you need to come part way if you hope to
succeed.
Good luck.
Gunny
