Hi i'm new, need help on a db

[Spidyaj]

Hi i'm new to the forum and also pretty new to access as well. I was wondering if someone could help me out.
I have 3 tables basically, One with a list of customers and their info with customer ID's, Another with Items that customers have bought which contains the customer ID as well as the Item ID, And i have one with an Item List which has what type of item it is and also the item Id.

Basically what i want to do is to be able to sort out what my customers have bought to figure out what products they haven't bought. I'm using an accounting program called PeachTree which has limited report functions thats why i'm trying Access. Can this be done in access?

Like it feels like i have all the information i need i just dont know how to put it together. If anyone could help me out a bit i'd Apreciate it alot thanks.

 

[Guus2005]

Have you ever used queries? Because it is easily solved using a single query.
For a detailed answer and some example code/query please post a sample database.

 

[Spidyaj]

hey thanks for the responce, honestly not too much. I was trying that out right after i posted this, but it didn't work out as i'd like it to. I'm sorry how would i post a sample db here tho? :\ . Do upload an access file some where or yeah..

 

[Mike375]

Click on the Access file name with the right clicker and you will see Send To and you click Compressed Zip Folder.

The resulting zip file will have the same name and be in the same folder and it will have a little folder next to it.

When you make your post click on Manage Attachments which is just below where you type your posting. From there it is straight froward

 

[boblarson]

From the FAQ section:

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=140587

 

[Spidyaj]

ok i think i did it right. Well i made a "sample DB". The real one is a lot larger, Basically i want to be able to know what Each Customer has bought. My main Goal is to see what they haven't bought in order to better promote those products basically. I had fisrt thought this would be done by relaitonships but maybe query might be better. Thanks for the help

 

[jsimo01]

Sample DB

Have you tried the Northwind Sample DB under the Help>Sample Database Menu, it covers everything you need plus you can import the forms, tables and queries into your own database to modify to your own ends. i found it the best place to start and learn about various features.

 

[Mike375]

As jsimo01 said the Northwind Sample is good to look around. To see it, open Access then go to Help and then Northwind Sample Data Base.

Something I would consider is to look at the names you are using for fields. As you progress there will be quite a few times where you type out field names and it is good if they are easy to remember and the way you name them is consistent. For example, you might settle on using one word with with no -, _ or / etc. So LastName, FirstName and so on. Now is the time to make such changes because as you get further down the track it becomes a big deal to change field names as you will have queries and forms dependeing on the names.

If your data base is to be more than a simple collection of lists (tables only) then you have to progress to queries then forms and coding/macros. In and of themselves tables are not active, sort of like the foundations of a house.

For starters, I would suggest making a few simple queries based on one table and to use the Criteria row in the query design grid. This is all about giving the query "the criteria" for which you want it to select records from your table. Then progress to making queries that use more than one of your tables. Apart from learning the basics of queries this will also show up weaknesses you might have in your table structures.