Adding new compulsary fields to an existing database - Best practice?

[HockeyNut]

Overview:
For a workplace and college project I have been tasked with sorting out a pretty naff flatfile database for logging application form submissions and the payment associated with them.

Problem:
I need to add several fields which I would like to make compulsary. Obviously previous data won't have these entries and I imagine would throw a bit of a wobbly?
Is there a standard way of doing this kind of task?

Most of the fields would only have to 2 options, YES or NO. Is my best option to just add No as the entry for the old one or something like?

Also quite important to me (for college write-up purposes) I was wondering if there was an industry "accepted/best practice" way of doing this type of task?

Thanks,

David

 

[FoFa]

You can make the fields mandatory from your form, but adding the data to the current DB will require certian things. Y/N fields will have to have a default, what ever is best for the old data. Numerics are pretty easy, usually zero. Strings have to be NULL when you add the field, then you can either leave it at that, or set them all to a known value for the old data. This is pretty much driven by the requirements, after system requirements are addressed. As an example, you can add a text field to the existing database, make it required, but Access won't let you save it because the current data does not exist, hence it breaks the required rule.

 

[HockeyNut]

Thanks a lot FoFa and Pat.
Both of your comments help a great deal. Cant beleive I didn't already think of doing it the way you described Pat. I must have suffered from brain freeze. Oh well. They should work a treat for me now.
Thank you both again.

David