Question about Button and Time Stamp

[euroclyde]

I'm a very novice user with a problem. I'm trying to add a few fields to the generic "Contacts" database that comes with Access 07. In the "Contact List" form, I need a field that will time stamp ALL contacts at the beginning of an exercise. I then need a button associated with every individual contact that, when clicked, time stamps each's response time. ideally, after each person has responded, they will be hidden from the list so people become easier to find.



Here's my major problem: when i read examples of anything to do with Access that has code, I'm totally clueless. I have no idea where to put that code. Please, if you take the time to respond (and I thank you in advance), please be very specific about what I need to do.

Thanks for you time.

David

[NTC]

well; button's are not associated with individual contacts - - so leave that idea to the side.

it sounds like you need a new field in the underlying table, and then of course the form with a name like ContactStartTime or something like that (do not use just 'Time' or 'Date' as those are reserved words.

when you set that field up be sure to set it up as the type date/time field that you want.

you could then of course simply have the user manually type in that field

an alternative is when setting up the field in the table you can put into the 'default' value: Now()
that will then auto supply the current date/time with every new record added (doesn't add it to existing/past records)

one could use a button on the form to auto enter the value but involves a tiny bit of coding and I don't see the value of this approach.

[euroclyde]

thanks, ntc, for addressing my question. however, here's a little more detail into my concern.

i've added the appropriate fields to the table and form. when i open the form, only the last line (the "new" line) is updated to reflect the current time. this is problematic for several reasons:

1. once i get all the contacts in the database, i will seldom have to add more.
2. when i add contacts, i don't need a time associate with that
3. i need the "start time" field to be updated on demand, at the beginning of the exercise. the point is to monitor how long it takes for them to respond
4. the user will not have time to manually enter times. there will be too many contacts. all of the contacts "start time" field must be activated at the same time.
5. their end time must be customized. it also can't be entered manually because the user will not have time to manipulate anything other than a quick mouse click in order to create the time stamp on the record.

perhaps i should use 2 forms- the first being a "start clock form" that initially hacks everyone's "start ex" field and a second, that enables the user to pull up an individual when they call in and click at button that stamps their call.

yesterday, i was able to get a form that, when opened, put the current time in everyone's "start ex" field but would not actually write those time to the table. for some reason, that function went away sometime yesterday when i was trying to figure out why the values weren't being input into the table. now, all i have is the current time in the "new" field on the form and the previously, manually entered time values in the contacts. any suggestions?

thanks,
david