Please help me - I'm new here!!

[Total Newbie]

Just checked - and in my "Customer Table:Table" the ID is just called "ID" so I guess that's right!



I could put the financial info in in the main customer table, but that would mean I could only have 1 invoice detail per customer record, which isn't right for what I need to do.

[orange]

I recommend that you work through this tutorial from RogersAccessLibrary to get a better understanding of tables and relationships. It seems you are guessing at what you should do and/or what fields are involved.
You need a plan, and you really need to clearly understand the "business" you are trying to automate.
Good luck.

[Total Newbie]

Thank you.

I will read it, trouble is with my brain, I can watch and learn, but struggle to read and learn if you see what I mean. Therefore having a step by step is handy.

[Total Newbie]

Had a read of that, and understand a bit more - so what I have between my two databases is a One - Many relationship - i.e. One customer can have many invoices (In reality it won't be more than 3 or 4 ever.

However each invoice can ONLY relate to one customer.

So is that what I've created? And if so, why doesn't it seem to be working?

[Total Newbie]

Also, I know how to pull ALL the data from a table, and use it to create a mailing list in Word - I usually export the table to Excel, then use that to do a mail merge in Word.

I want to push ONE customer detail (the record I am in at that time) OUT to a pre-written and saved word document or excel spreadsheet. So eg. when Mr Smith signs up for an order, I want to hit a button that says "Raise confirmation Letter" and bang, Word opens, with his confirmation letter and all his details already in it, I can just read it through to check it and then hit "Print".....

How do I do that?

[ItsMe]

Also, I know how to pull ALL the data from a table, and use it to create a mailing list in Word - I usually export the table to Excel, then use that to do a mail merge in Word.

I want to push ONE customer detail (the record I am in at that time) OUT to a pre-written and saved word document or excel spreadsheet. So eg. when Mr Smith signs up for an order, I want to hit a button that says "Raise confirmation Letter" and bang, Word opens, with his confirmation letter and all his details already in it, I can just read it through to check it and then hit "Print".....

How do I do that?

I did not read the entire thread. However, if you need to link a DB and use one of its Query Objects to link to a Word Doc with Merge Fields, this thread may help.
https://www.accessforums.net/reports...tml#post276399

[ranman256]

then you have not tied the subform to the master record.
the masterID field set on the subform property...
set the LINK MASTER FIELDS will be: [masterID]
set the LINK CHILD FIELDS will be: [masterID]

or whatever you call the fieldname.

[orange]

It seems to me you are still guessing about things

Had a read of that, and understand a bit more - so what I have between my two databases is a One - Many relationship - i.e. One customer can have many invoices (In reality it won't be more than 3 or 4 ever.

You also seem to be "playing " with a number of Office products, and unfortunately each has its own rules and syntax --which may lengthen your learning curve.

Have you tried writing a clear, concise description of what you are trying to do in plain English with no jargon? It's an interesting exercise - often more difficult than expected - but it will make you think about what you are doing and can help clarify things.

Good luck.

[Total Newbie]

Fair point, however I have no choice but to "play" as I can't afford to pay someone to write this - plus I like a challenge (Although this is becoming frustrating).

So here it is in plain English.

I will have many customers (hopefully) - who will all need data recording - this Table is currently called Customer Table: Table
This is working perfectly, I enter data in the boxes on the form and it saves it in the Table.

Each customer may have several invoices - if for example they have 3 separate jobs done. I would like each of these 3 invoice details (Cost, VAT, Total, Deposit etc) stored. Each customer may have several invoices, but each invoice will only relate to 1 customer (if that makes sense). SO I need to store these invoices in a separate table which I believe needs to be linked to the first, HOWEVER, does each customer need a SEPARATE table to store multiple invoices or not? Let us say I had 100 customers each with 3 invoices, would I need 300 tables, or would 1 table be able to do that?

Once I can get these two relationships to work, then I will move on to my next challenge which is to get access to be able to push the current displayed customer record into a word mail merge to generate a letter or similar.

[Total Newbie]

I have just looked at another database that is for something different. In it's Table that stores the invoices, it has the unique ID no, then the next column is a Customer ID - which is the same number as the ID number in the 1st Table (the customers details table) - is this where I am going wrong?

Even if that is an issue, I still don't see how to link the two tables together in the right way.

[ItsMe]

Perhaps this YouTube video will give you some ideas. Apparently, you need to take a step back and take in the big picture. Access is unique. It may be beneficial if you understand how it is unique. Learning about relational databases and how to create a simple relational database would be a start in learning what Access is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fQ-bRllhXc

[Total Newbie]

I just feel totally out of my depth here!!!

This should be simple - with most Office products I can work them out, but this is impossible to work out - you just have to be taught, and then practice practice practice I imagine.

Have got hold of another database that pretty much looks to do what I want, but it's totally incomprehensible to me and I couldn't modify it if I tried!

Why is it so un-user friendly?

[Total Newbie]

Watched the video - whilst I understood some of it, some made my brain fail......

I get how the tables need to link - I just don't have a clue how to actually do it!!

[orange]

Stop what you're doing and spend 45 minutes on the tutorial I suggested in post #17.
If you work through it (it includes the steps to go through, and a solution), you will learn.
If you work through it, you won't say this

Had a read of that, and understand a bit more - so what I have between my two databases is a One - Many relationship - i.e. One customer can have many invoices (In reality it won't be more than 3 or 4 ever.

Reading through it is not enough. You have to work through it --Do It.

This

I have just looked at another database that is for something different. In it's Table that stores the invoices, it has the unique ID no, then the next column is a Customer ID - which is the same number as the ID number in the 1st Table (the customers details table) - is this where I am going wrong?

is what results when you normalize tables and establish relationships. The tutorial teaches how and why.
Here's a link specific to Normalization of tables. There are 4 parts.

Here is another link that identifies some videos all related to designing a database. All videos use the same business problem to illustrate the various steps involved in design. The video quality is not the best, but they do discuss and describe the concepts.
https://www.accessforums.net/access/...tml#post221691

Good luck.

[Total Newbie]

Thank you Orange.

I think I'm getting the relationships, its actually what to click on etc in Access to create the relationships I want to.....