Fields in a table (Max Amount allowable)

[patentinv]

What is the maximum amount of filds/columns a table can hold in access 2003?

And what do you do if you have a form and its record source is a table that has run out of fields/columns?

If I remember right in access 97 it was 256 or 257 fields/columns was the max allowed. And it seemed to me it was quite common to run out of fileds.

I'm currently waiting for my access 2003 upgrade disk to arrive and I'm
anticipating issues that might occur.

Thanks--Any help is much appreciated.

 

[mresann]

You can have 255 fields in an Access table.

However, a table with that many fields usually indicates an improper database design in the first place. What type of data will you be processing?

I myself have never had a database with more than 25 fields. Check to see if you have repeating patterns of data, such as Event1, Event1Date, Event2, Event2Date, Event3, Event3Date, etc. Those tables need to be normalized into more than one table. Read up on normalization in Access Help.

 

[patentinv]

O.K. I do believe i need to read up on the correct way to store data in tables. Thanks.

I've personally never designed a database. I'm actually a cne in novell networking and have worked around db designers.

I actually had one of them design me a db for my business in access 97 quite a few yars ago. I kind of watched and learned as much as possible. I'm trying to re-make it in access 2003 by my self.

I have a primary_Master form that is filled with combo and text boxes and its record source is called the Prim_master table and it is almost full w/hardly any fields left and I want to add more combo boxes and text boxes to this form once I re-make the db.

Doesn't each form have only 1 table as its record source. And if not how do you give it more than 1 record source.

The way I see it, I may have to create more than 1 form there by separating the program into multiple form. So I can get more fields.

If you have a combo or text box on a form doesn't the field
that will be its control source have to be in the forms record sources table?

Thanks-- Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[neileg]

It sounds like a monster! I agree with mresann, any database that is running with that many fields in a table is almost certainly badly designed.

It is good practice to base your forms on a query. A query can retrieve data from more than one table.

If you give us some idea of the purpose of the database, we may be able to give you some hints.