Please, please, please let somebody know how to do this....

joebaich

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Hi all, thought i would be a smarty pants and import some excel sheets into Access (even though i've pretty much never used access before) in order to create a DB that i could essentially use as a reinventory tool. I created my tables, even nested them as subdata sheets, everything was going according to plan until i went to test it. My original plan was just to change the font color before i started so that any values i updated would be in red, while the rest of the values stayed black, pretty much how a spreadsheet would behave, but to my suprise, all the values turned red. So, my question to you all (keep in mind that i'm completely new to access) is how can i get access in datasheet view to only change the font color of the values i update? or even something similar so that when i get back to the office i can easily see which values i've changed?

Thanks,
Joe
 
You have run into the big difference between a relational database and a spreadsheet:)

In a spreadsheet, the data and presentation layers are merged - i.e. The data and formatting instructions all in the same cell.

In a relational database, they are separate. Tables hold data only. Forms and reports display it. Therefore, if there is something that would indicate what color you want a control to be, it is data and would need to be stored in the table in a separate column.
 
Have a look at Conditional formatting. I would guess you would need a date / time field that records when changes are made and then you can conditionally format one field based on the date time / something was updated.

And yes as per Glaxiom this would be done in the form design rather than in the datasheet view.
 
but there are different ways of achieving this in access, in ways that are very difficult to achieve in excel

given an existing access table, and a new version of the data - you can compare the two, and easily identify

- rows that are the same
- rows that are changed
- new rows
- rows that are no longer there

- given appropriate date stamps, you can establish rows changed or created between any gicen data ranges

- access works more like a superflexible excel auto-filter in this respect. one important difference is that although a table LOOKS like a spreadsheet, it isn't. An access row is a discrete entity. if you reort a column, access resorts entire rows. because if these features (and this is important and critical) access has NO concept of a next or previous row. Excel caclulations that assume a given row order have no place in access, although they can be simulated.

because of these sort of features - the other thing you would not normally get in access is the sort of thing you get in excel, with separate spreadsheets for each weeks data.

if that is what you need, then in access you construct the tables in such a way that you can extract the data as at any particular point in time. The fact that all the data is in one place makes searching and historical analysis in access far more flexible than it does in excel.

anyway, good luck
 
hey guys, thanks for the enlightenment... i can't seem to find a conditional formatting anything in my ribbon? so if i understand correctly, could i make duplicate tables that would hold the original data, then use some sort of conditional formatting or something to compare the origian table vs the table containing the potentially modified data and highlight my changes that way? if this is correct, how might i make this happen?

Thanks,
Joe
 
or can i make datasheet style forms and nest them the same way that i have the tables nested so that it has the same effect? (subdata sheet effect?)
 
Open a form or report in Design view. Right click on a field or control and scroll down the pop up ribbon. I use this a lot on both forms and reports.

Whew I hope this helps. My first opportunity to maybe help someone in return.
 

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