Creation of "subtable" ?

[Oyster]

I don't even know how to ask this question! Is it possible to do something like this (dotted line is not part of the data):

DNA Primer Set............Reagents.............Initial...............Final

COMBIII.....................Template DNA.........50.....................7
................................PCR Buffer.............10.....................1
................................Nucleotides............10.....................5

I would like to be able to get the the Reagent, Initial, and Final information for each DNA Primer Set without having to create a separate record for each line of information:
COMBIII Template DNA 50 7
COMBIII PCR Buffer 10 1
COMBIII Nucleotides 10 5

Thanks

 

[The_Doc_Man]

If the list of reagents is forever fixed then you can have as many as 255 fields that are invariantly named and allocated in a table's field list. Just define the fields and run with it.

If the list of reagents is variable, you are asking to do something that you don't realize that you don't want to do. This violates normalization rules.

You SHOULD have a many-to-one table pair. The table on the "one" side contains the field for your primer set and any other fields you might have that depend only on the primer set (or other primary key). The table on the "many" side contains your reagent list.

 

[Oyster]

The "reagents", "Initial" and "final" are unique to each "DNA Primer Set". Much in the same way that symptoms of a disease identify a specific disease. It's true that each symptom can belong to more than one disease, but together they identify a specific disease. Though in my case, one "symptom" cannot belong to different "diseases".

I suppose I could put everything in one record. Each record made uniqe by its "Primer Set". That's what you meant by, "If the list of reagents is forever fixed then you can have as many as 255 fields that are invariantly named and allocated in a table's field list. Just define the fields and run with it."?

Thank you for your help.