Copying Values from One Record to Another

[Iconoclast]

What is the basic process for copying data from a field in one record (say a key) in table A to another record in table B to associate them? For instance, I have a main table with an ID/key for contacts and I want to create a new record in another table with that ID/key so I can then use a query that pulls extended information from both tables to create something else. I realize that a subform with a master/child relationship to a main form would do that trick automatically, but the end table is really a child of another table that is essentially itself unrelated to the main table; however, the records in the end table do need to have a link to the main table so I can draw extended information from that table.



Hope that made sense!

Thanks in advance for any help!

[RuralGuy]

You would need to use Recordsets or queries to accomplish this.

[Iconoclast]

Hmmm... so I can't just say (in essence) "copy this value from this field in this table to that field in that table"?

(BTW, my experience is grounded in dBase/FoxBase from 20 years ago, so that's how I still think; this VB idea is still, well, "different" to me...)

[RuralGuy]

IIRC both dBase and FoxBase had similar constraints.

[Iconoclast]

Well, sure, but whatever language you are working in has some kind of command vocabulary and syntax. In the case of VB I was speaking of the idea of attributes and events vs. simple nested scripts in which the logic is apparent in the structure of the lines within the script; in FB and dB you could essentially understand what a programmer was doing by reading the page and each word on that page had meaning woven into the others.

In any case, I'm still looking for the answer to what basic mechanism or command is used to copy data from X and drop it into Y. It seems like such a simple and obvious task. In FB or dB (IIRC), you could easily navigate to a record programmatically, look for a value, evaluate the value, copy the value, modify the value (if necessary), move to another record (whether in the original table or otherwise) and drop in that value. Is that a foreign idea here?

Thanks.

[RuralGuy]

"Easily" is one of those relative terms that depends on how long you have been using the language. As I said, it will take recordsets and/or queries to do what you want. I've been trying to locate a good example of doing so but have not been successful yet.