how can i increase the number of fields in a form, i need 55

[ChrisD1949]

I am trying to create a form from two tables. The first table gives me two
fields, the second 53. They are linked on a common field, site name. When I
try and create the form I get an error telling me I have to many fields. Is
there a way to increase this. The form will be used to display work schedules
for a number of sub contractors on a monthly basis.
Thanks in anticipation
ChrisD

 

[John Vinson]

I am trying to create a form from two tables. The first table gives me two
fields, the second 53. They are linked on a common field, site name. When I
try and create the form I get an error telling me I have to many fields. Is
there a way to increase this. The form will be used to display work schedules
for a number of sub contractors on a monthly basis.
Thanks in anticipation
ChrisD

What is the ACTUAL error message? You can have over 700 controls on a
Form. And how are you creating the form?

If there is a one to many relationship between sites and your second
table, you may want to consider using a Form based on the Sites table,
with a subform based on the other. Also, a 53-field table is getting
*very* wide; are you certain that it's properly normalized? If you
have repeating fields (e.g. January, February, May, or
ConstructionContractor, PlumbingContractor, ElectricContractor, etc.)
you may want to step back and normalize your table structures first.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[Klatuu]

I had a similar problem with a report. It was not the number of controls,
but actually a problem with the number of fields. It may be because of the
way the OP is joining the tables.

 

[John Vinson]

I had a similar problem with a report. It was not the number of controls,
but actually a problem with the number of fields. It may be because of the
way the OP is joining the tables.

Interesting! There's a 255-field limit in Tables, and I believe also
in queries - but I don't see how a simple join of a two-field and a
53-field table could push this. Perhaps Chris can post the SQL of the
query and we'll see.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[Klatuu]

Douglas J. Steele and I discussed this at length at the time it happend. The
recordset for the report had (as I remember) 38 fields. Because of the
complexity of the report and 7 levels of groups, there were including lines,
lables, etc, about 520 controls on the report. The report would save just
fine, but it would get the too many fields error on execution.

The only way I was able to resolve the problem was remove one level of
grouping which removed about 50 controls. Neither Douglas nor I could figure
out why this was happening. I think we finally decided there must be some
behind the scenes data manipulation that ran out of fields attempting the
sorting and grouping.

The report works fine now. It even allows the user to make selections that
through VBA alter the order of the sorting and grouping. It was fun figuring
out how to do that. To make it even more fun, the form that runs the report
has 7 multi select cascading list boxes.

 

[ChrisD1949]

Hi
I'm using the 'Create a Form' wizard.
The steps I am taking are as follows,
Create Form Wizard
Select 'Client form Client Table'
Select 'All fields from PPM Table'
Select 'Tabular'
Name Form 'Client Work Schedule'
Select open form to view or enter data
Error Message
The wizard is unable to create your Form or Report because you chose to many
fields.
Try again with fewer fields.
Select 'OK' then exits
I have checked the relationship between the two tables and it is set to only
use fields where both are Equal.
I hope this helps.
ChrisD

 

[Klatuu]

Since I don't use the form wizard, I haven't seen this problem before;
however, I just tried, based on your description of using tabular form
wizard, to create a tabular form using the wizard for a table with 38 fields
and got the error you are experiencing. I tried it with a table with only 4
fields, and it worked fine.

I am using 2003 SP1 on XP

I don't know if there is a bug here or there is some limit because of the
width of the form. The tabular form wizard wants to create a continuous form
with all fields of a record on the same row. My guess (it is only a guess)
is that depending on the number of fields, it is exceeding the maximum width
of a form, which is 22 in. (55.87 cm).

The wizard also assigns control widths, but it does not appear to use the
control default. My default for text boxes is set to 1", but the controls
were all wider than that.

So, the net of it is that I think you will have to create the form manually
and use a format other than tabular.