Just to clarify something a bit, a bound form may be bound to either a table
or a query. Tables contain fields. A personnel table may contain LastName,
FirstName, Street, City, etc. Each one of those distinct pieces of
information is contained in a field. A query is based on a table or tables,
so a query also contains fields. After the form is bound to a table or
query (the form's Record Source), individual controls such as text boxes may
be bound to fields in that record source. Not all controls are bound.
However, if the information that is entered into a control needs to be
stored in a field in the form's underlying Record Source table or query, the
control mut be bound to that field.
A form may be bound to a record source, and a control to a control source.
The two are different from each other.
It sounds as if there is already a table. Are there records in that table?
How did they get there?
In answer to your specific questions, an Access database starts with tables
and the relationships between them. Only after this structure is built may
queries, forms, and reports be built.
Additional comments inline.
Dorothy said:
Hi! In answer to your questions: The form is not bound to any source,
either a control source or record source. Not even the list box, which
only
has a value list in it that I entered, but doesn't show up on the
datasheet
view, the other fields do, but the list box doesn't.
When you are speaking of the datasheet view, I assume you mean a table or
query. If the intention of the list box is to select information that is to
be stored in the table, then list box needs to be bound to a field in the
form's record source.
So, I gather that I'm
not saving anyting either, since I opened it from the weekend, and none of
the previous data was there.
Correct, you are not saving anything, since the form is not bound to a
record source. A table is the only place where data can be stored.
Remember that if the record source is a query, you are still storing the
data in a table, since the query is based on a table.
Also, the titles on some of the fields in the
datasheet view are different than the ones on the actual form.
Irrelevant. The names of fields are of no consequence to what the user
sees. You should use labels to identify things on the form. A label
caption may be anything at all.
Should I start over, and make a table first, except, I did that, and when
I
went to create the form, the form created a new datasheet view, so then I
had
2.
I don't know what you mean when you say the form created a new datasheet
view. Yes, start with the table. The simplest way to create a form is with
Autoform. Select a table in the database window. That is probably what you
see when you open the database. In contains tabs for tables, queries,
forms, etc. After selecting the table, click Insert > Autoform from the
menu bar. This will create a generic form based on the table. It will give
you the basic idea of how a form relates to a table. After the form is
created (give it a helpful name so that you can remember what it is later),
switch to design view and look at its properties as described in a previous
post. Do the same for the controls (text boxes). You can customize the
autoform by, for instance, changing a text box to a list box.
Or do I just have to connect the form to the datasheet, and then I'll be
able to change the titles of those other columns through table design,
which
I don't have access to at this time.
If by datasheet you mean the table or query, yes, you need to connect the
form to that record source. If the tables have been designed, leave them
alone.
