kyle1234567
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- Aug 27, 2012
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Hello, everyone:
I am a fairly basic datebase designer who is learning rapidly. I have been tasked to build a database in Access 2010 for my small department at work that will track legal cases. Designing the forms, tables, etc. is fairly simple, but linking forms to one particular record has been a (conceptual) challenge for me.
First of all, here is the overall database design:
1. One overall switchboard that opens at the beginning on which the user can view all of our cases at a glance, their progress, and can go into the case and edit information about it. This will either be a long list with different sort options, or perhaps just a search box.
2. When the user chooses a case (say, "John Smith") and decides to open it, the database will transport them to a case status form that shows where certain documents are, who is assigned to different tasks, and work that has been done so far. This is similar to a switchboard, but it exists at the level of the individual case.
3. Various buttons on the case switchboard will transport the user to different forms that track different sets of information (e.g., client biographical details, educational history, correspondence with us, etc.) There will always be a button that "back the user out" of a specific form and back to the case switchboard.
I can design these various switchboards and forms, along with their associated tables, with few questions. What I AM wondering, however, is how I can preserve the CASEID (primary key field) as the user clicks "down" through the layers of the database. For example, once they select "John Smith" and go into his case switchboard, how are all the forms tied to his primary key automatically? For example, if I want to edit John's biographical information, how can I automatically set Access to always open *his* record when various forms are opened from the individual case switchboard. I don't want to have a CASEID selector at the top of every form; I want this to happen automatically based on who the user brought up from the very beginning.
Apologies for the many words! Any help or referral to guidance documents would be appreciated.
I am a fairly basic datebase designer who is learning rapidly. I have been tasked to build a database in Access 2010 for my small department at work that will track legal cases. Designing the forms, tables, etc. is fairly simple, but linking forms to one particular record has been a (conceptual) challenge for me.
First of all, here is the overall database design:
1. One overall switchboard that opens at the beginning on which the user can view all of our cases at a glance, their progress, and can go into the case and edit information about it. This will either be a long list with different sort options, or perhaps just a search box.
2. When the user chooses a case (say, "John Smith") and decides to open it, the database will transport them to a case status form that shows where certain documents are, who is assigned to different tasks, and work that has been done so far. This is similar to a switchboard, but it exists at the level of the individual case.
3. Various buttons on the case switchboard will transport the user to different forms that track different sets of information (e.g., client biographical details, educational history, correspondence with us, etc.) There will always be a button that "back the user out" of a specific form and back to the case switchboard.
I can design these various switchboards and forms, along with their associated tables, with few questions. What I AM wondering, however, is how I can preserve the CASEID (primary key field) as the user clicks "down" through the layers of the database. For example, once they select "John Smith" and go into his case switchboard, how are all the forms tied to his primary key automatically? For example, if I want to edit John's biographical information, how can I automatically set Access to always open *his* record when various forms are opened from the individual case switchboard. I don't want to have a CASEID selector at the top of every form; I want this to happen automatically based on who the user brought up from the very beginning.
Apologies for the many words! Any help or referral to guidance documents would be appreciated.
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