DATABASE HELP

[kdidit]

Ty

 

[Jon]

Welcome to Access World! We're so happy to have you join us as a member of our community. As the most active Microsoft Access discussion forum on the internet, with posts dating back more than 20 years, we have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with you.

We're a friendly and helpful community, so don't hesitate to ask any questions you have or share your own experiences with Access. We're here to support you and help you get the most out of this powerful database program.

To get started, we recommend reading the post linked below. It contains important information for all new users of the forum:

https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/threads/new-member-read-me-first.223250/

We hope you have a great time participating in the discussion and learning from other Access enthusiasts. We look forward to having you around!

 

[theDBguy]

Hi. Welcome to AWF!

I'm on my phone and can't really see the images clearly, but perhaps you would consider posting an Excel file demonstrating your goal too?

 

[mike60smart]

I have a database that I am building based on my contacts and what type of contacts they are which is either Solar generator, or both. I have 3 tables. A contacts table, generator contacts table and a solar contacts table. My relationships are not doing what they should. I will attach a photo of how I have them.

This is what I want the outcome to be.
To sort all contacts based on service type (solar, generator,both) I also have a photo of my goal. Can anyone help?

Hi
Can you upload a copy of your database?

 

[plog]

Your table names are making it hard for me to get my head around your data. [Contacts] I understand, but [Generator Contacts] and [Solar Contacts] really aren't contact tables. What data do those 2 tables hold actually? I mean, based on your relationships--one Contact can have multiple Solar Contacts, that just doesn't make sense to someone outside your organization.

I recommend giving us 2 paragraphs to explain things---one is to just explain what your organization does. Pretend its career day at an elementary school and explain in simple terms (no database jargon) what it is you do. Then in another paragraph with limited database jargon explain what this database will help you accomplish within that orgainization.

With that said, I see some issues with your tables:

1. [Generator Contacts] and [Solar Contacts] should not be seperate tables. All that data should go into 1 table that has all the fields of [Solar Contacts] plus one additional field---[ContactType] which will hold if it is a solar contact or a genrator contact.

2. Only use alphanumeric and underscores in names. All those special characters and spaces make coding and querying harder in the future. [Service Type] should become [ServiceType] and [# Solar Panels] should just be [SolarPanels].

3. Duplicated fields in tables. All 3 tables have [Service Type], [Reminder] and [Reminder Date] fields. Why?

4. What are SolarID and GeneratorID fields doing in Contacts? I assume they form a relationship to some other tables, but you haven't given us any other tables and the relationship isn't in the screenshot.

5. Generic ID fields. [ID] is a poor name for an ID field because once you add multiple tables together it gets confusing where that ID is to. Instead prefix ID fields with the table they are for-- you did this in Contacts, but not the other tables.


Again, 2 paragraphs giving us a better persepective of your organization and your database.