I seem to always have these headache issues!
A team im helping had an existing database that was created in all the wrong ways possible. It was not split, not indexed, UI was atrocious, and no real data controls or validation. The database was a basic inquiry type set up, someone calls the counselor and they enter the data into a form and hit the save button on the record selector bar. There was no way to query this data on any level, so when a counselor wanted to see the data they used the record selector to go through the thousands of records each of them had created. I was given two requirements: Make it better, make it so at least 3 people can use it at the same time (easy huh?)
Long story short I created a new database with a proper fron end and back end. While I was developing I created and excel spreadsheet for them to use (all drop downs matched table values i was creating) and I exported the old table and reviewed the data. I noticed that a lot of the data they were putting in was actually cut off and to my to my error didnt think enough of it. Apparently the original counselor who created the database knew enough to be dangerous and made the notes field "Memo".
I happily completed the database and when we they set out to test it a counselor realized they were now restricted to 255 characters (i a text field for notes). I let them know from a datatable POV they were always limited to 255 even though on the input form they wrote more. So what I did as a favor to help out has become a nightmare because of this issue.
Simply using a memo field wont work because on the query page and reports I created for them, only the truncated data is returned. I'm thinking about using an OLE object but that may be more trouble than its worth when it comes to user understanding. Any suggestions on how I can overcome this challenge. Any suggestions?
A team im helping had an existing database that was created in all the wrong ways possible. It was not split, not indexed, UI was atrocious, and no real data controls or validation. The database was a basic inquiry type set up, someone calls the counselor and they enter the data into a form and hit the save button on the record selector bar. There was no way to query this data on any level, so when a counselor wanted to see the data they used the record selector to go through the thousands of records each of them had created. I was given two requirements: Make it better, make it so at least 3 people can use it at the same time (easy huh?)
Long story short I created a new database with a proper fron end and back end. While I was developing I created and excel spreadsheet for them to use (all drop downs matched table values i was creating) and I exported the old table and reviewed the data. I noticed that a lot of the data they were putting in was actually cut off and to my to my error didnt think enough of it. Apparently the original counselor who created the database knew enough to be dangerous and made the notes field "Memo".
I happily completed the database and when we they set out to test it a counselor realized they were now restricted to 255 characters (i a text field for notes). I let them know from a datatable POV they were always limited to 255 even though on the input form they wrote more. So what I did as a favor to help out has become a nightmare because of this issue.
Simply using a memo field wont work because on the query page and reports I created for them, only the truncated data is returned. I'm thinking about using an OLE object but that may be more trouble than its worth when it comes to user understanding. Any suggestions on how I can overcome this challenge. Any suggestions?
