Question Am I Expecting Too Much? (1 Viewer)

[mrsashtondennis]

I'm totally new to Access and trying to teach myself as best I can. I've got the basics of creating fields and forms and reports and so forth, but now I'm wondering, can this program really help me achieve what I'm picturing in my head? I'm sure it can, but need some help getting there.

I work in a library and I’m trying to better track the repairs we make on our books. Here’s what I have so far. One table is for the repair record:

• record #
• pertinent book information (title, call #, barcode, etc.)
• damage to the book
• repairs made
• date the book is checked in/out
• cost of repairs
• who authorized the release of the book to the conservator.

The next table is for the following:

• barcode number to uniquely identify the book
• status of the book (checked in/out)
• repair record numbers associated with each book (books can be sent out multiple times)

When all is said and done I want to be able to do the following:

• pull up a report that shows me (by barcode number) all of the repair records associated with each book so I have a complete history of each book
• when a check out/in date is entered in one table I want the status of the book to be automatically updated accordingly
• when a repair record is created, I want that record number to be automatically added to the status record for the associated barcode (so that I can create the report mentioned above)

Does any of this make sense? Am I going about this all wrong? Am I expecting too much of myself and my limited abilities with this program? Help!

 

[Galaxiom]

You are mixing up the data in the two tables.

All the static information about the book such as Title etc should be in a Book table. No information about repairs or movements should be in this table.

The Repair table has multiple records for the movements and the nature of the damage and repairs, cost etc. The repair record should only refer to the book by its Primary Key field which might be its barcode number but doesn't have to be.

The Status can be calculated on-the-fly from the movements and should not be stored anywhere.

 

[AJordan]

My quick answer is that you should get a an Access book and either read through it or use it as a reference book to guide you in your development of your database. I would suggest the "Missing Manual" series of books to help you in your task.

Once you read up, you will see that Access can handle exactly what you want AND even examples of similar databases. You will also find out several different ways to accomplish your described scenario