Will it need to be unbound?

[George J]

Hi, totally new to Access and totally out of my depth. I am self-taught in excel and because my bosses were able to use some of the more advanced workbooks i created, they decided i should build a database for them too.

I have been tinkering about with small mock databases to see what the best way of tackling this will be and while i think i have about 90% of the tables worked out, will need to carefully look at the relationships (still not really used to that). The main concern i have though is that lots of people will be using this database and they will know nothing about Access (same as me).

I will probably need to design a form as an interface so that they never need to see anything else - but as they will be inputting data which will add new records, i think this will need to be unbound. And that would mean alot of code for the various textboxes and comboboxes that will be put on there.

Can anyone advise me if i am thinking along the right lines with this? I looked at using subforms and linking the master and child fields (didn't understand it all), but i don't think this will be suitable for inputting data from one form which will be adding records to possibly 8 tables.

The project is to create a database for a surveying company that will allow us to add job details - address of property inspected; whether it's a rent review, valuation, sale, etc; areas of the building; owner/occupier details; client details; surveyor and department...

It's going to be pretty big and if the only way i can do this is with an unbound form then it could take quite a while to code. Before i start on this - would this be the correct approach if i don't want the users to be able to touch anything other than the main form i create for them?

Thanks for any advice and comments.
George

 

[pbaldy]

You are on the right track using forms, but they can probably be bound. Most of us only let users see forms and reports; never tables or queries. Generally a bound form in data entry mode is all that's needed to let users add new records.

 

[George J]

That's great to hear. Thanks.

I had tried to create a small dummy database with tables - staff - salary and department, but couldn't work out how to add a new staff member and their salary at the same time as a record would need to be there to allow the salary to be asssigned properly.

I guess i should do a bit more research on master/child links and queries.

I'm sure i'll be popping up all over the boards with lots of weird and wonderful questions. Good to know that i may be able to do a bound form though - that cuts the learning curve quite a bit.

thanks again.
George

 

[pbaldy]

No problem, and welcome to the site. Master/child links are probably what you're looking for to keep a form and subform in sync with each other.