Trouble with Primary key

[dogman01]

I have a table with only 5 fields right now but I am having issues getting a Primary key to do what I want. I have an expression for this field that simply displays the contents of 3 other fields together. The trouble is that I cannot get the field to hold it's data. When I input data into the other 3 fields it show it combined in the field I want as the Primary yet when I tab to create a new record it tells me that it can't save the data because that required field is blank. Any solution? Thanks in advance- dogman01

 

[gemma-the-husky]

see if any of your fields in the table are set as required=true

this has nothing ot do with keys - if data is required, and you leave it blank, access cant save the record

either enter data, or set required=no

note that if you set required=no, with text fields, you may also need to set allow zls to yes

 

[dogman01]

All of the fields are set to "Required"=No. So I went in to the form and added data to the 3 field which then showed up combined in the field I have set as Primary but then when all the fields had data and I went to create new record it still tells me that I cannot add the last record because the field I have as Primary is a null value. It's not recognizing the combined data for the one field as having any data.

 

[Dennisk]

use a compound key instead of assigning concatenated values to the PK.

 

[dogman01]

Thats sounds like it could be the solution but not sure the process to create a compund key. I am investigation now but so far Access 2003 help isn't cooperating.

 

[dogman01]

Figured it out and it works by using 4 fields as Primary key. Thanks

 

[neileg]

Much easier to stick an autonumber as a PK hidden from the user and concatenate your data to produce a user visible ID.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I'm surprised nobody else commented on this.

I have an expression for this field that simply displays the contents of 3 other fields together.

You cannot have an expression in a table. Expressions can only exist in queries, form/report controls, or VBA code.