Dropdown list dependancy problem

[JQasd]

Can anyone tell me one thing please. I have a database of material All these materials have certain properties saved in excel sheets and I export it using the Access interface.
Please see attached image that there are 3 properties and their sub data types. However, I only want Mechanical property to show if it is available for that particular material. How should I add it in the main table as only one property can be added in one field. What if I have all three properties available for one material.
At the moment my property and data type drop down boxes are not dependant on other combo boxes.

Any idea how that can be done??

Thanks

 

[CJ_London]

you would have a separate table for properties to link them.

Something like

tblMaterials
MaterialPK autonumber
MaterialDesc text
...
...

tblProperties
PropertyPK autonumber
PropertyDesc text
...

tblMatProperties
LinkPK autonumber
MaterialFK long - link to tblMaterials
PropertyFK long - link to tblProperties

 

[JQasd]

Thanks. it means it can't be done via 1 main table.

 

[Minty]

You need to store your data in a normalised fashion.
You will need a separate table to hold the properties for each material. This way you can have as many properties per material as you like.