Adding a field to an existing table

[kellyboy]

This seems so simple but I am not too advanced so forgive my naivete. I have an existing table for dependents of main clients which contains First Name, Last Name, and Date of birth. I simply want to add a text field called Remarks, which I have done. Problem is, when I enter something in the new remarks field for one child, the same entry appears against all the children. How can fix it so that the new field is linked individually to each dependent? An auto number is generated for each dependent..

 

[John Big Booty]

It sounds like you might need to reconsider your table structure, and get it a little more normalised. Rather than add a field to you existing table you probably need to add a new table that is linked back to your original table via the Child's distinct ID so that individual remarks can be related to the specific child.

 

[kellyboy]

Thank you John. I thought I did reply earlier today, but can't see my message. If I follow you correctly you are suggesting that I create a new table, which would presumably include the three fields of the old table (Name, address, DOB) plus the new Remarks field. Would this replace the old table, and would it retain all the data that has been input to date? If so I may be asking you for step by step on how to do this, but first I will read up on normalizing as you suggested.

 

[John Big Booty]

I'm not sure what your current table structure looks like, so it's hard to be specific. However you may gain some inspiration from one of the data models here.