Just out of curiosity

[chellebell1689]

I have 9 tables and I was wondering, could I make a table just to link all the tables together? In other words could I have one table that listed each of the primary keys and linked them that way? Would this cause problems?...be dumb?...be pointless? I was just wondering, and thought I'd ask.

Ex:
[link table]
link ID (since I have to have a primary key)
memberID (links the member table)
classID (links the class table)
staffID (links the staff table)
(etc)

 

[plog]

What really matters is what point would it serve you? If it helps you keep track of your relationships, then go for it.

However, a better way is to use the Relationships tool (Ribbon->Database Tools->Relationships). That way you can visually set up the relationships between your tables and use it as a reference point when needed.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

if you put 2 tables in a query, and do not link them, then you get a cross product join

each item in table 1 is linked to each item in table 2.

if you do that with all tables, you will end up with biliions of records, although no doubt you will run out of memory first.

 

[chellebell1689]

I was just wondering if it would be better for a large number of tables or if the relationship tool is always better, no matter how many tables you have.

Thanks

 

[gemma-the-husky]

I see what you mean now.

If you define the relationships in the relationships' pane, then access will use those in queries automatically

if you don't it will either not show any, or use matching field names if any exist. These are quite often wrong, in which case you can easily adds your own at the query level.