Drop down for both attendee and department

[cougardoogan]

Hello all.

I am new to this form, but not new to access - not a novice in it, but not an expert either, I would say intermediate - intermediate/advanced.

Anyway, My office provides training for different departments (companies), and I downloaded the template "Event management database" (found here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...ai:TC001017829|) and customized it here and there to keep track of who has been coming to the training, what department they're from, and what training they've been to and when. I added a drop down menu to the top of the Attendees form to be able to find the participants easier when their supervisor calls/emails to register them for an event.

It seems to be working good, except when we have to enter new participants. Sometimes we can get a stack of new particpants, anywhere from 3-10, and we have to put them in the system. For each participant, we have to manually type in their department, department address, contact, phone number, etc. - information that is the same for all the contacts.

I'm wondering if there is an easy way this can be updated, such as another drop down menu that would list all of the department names, and then automatically fill in their addresses, phone numbers, and contacts.

The real trouble I'm having is that a particular person will type in the department name, but abbreviate it, and when I print out reports, it will show the department twice, the abbrivated way and the spelled out way (this database is only updated by myself an another person)

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

[June7]

Have a table for the department info and then just select the DepartmentID and save that in the participants table. No need to repeat the associated department data into the participants table.

[Missinglinq]

I agree with June7's approach, for this particular scenario, but FYI, to 'carry Values forward' to the next New Record, you can use the AfterUpdate event of the Control holding your data to set the DefaultValue for the Field. From that time forward, until you either manually change the data or close your form, the data will be entered automatically in each New Record.

Private Sub YourControlName_AfterUpdate()
   Me.YourControlName.DefaultValue = """" & Me.YourControlName.Value & """"
End Sub

You’ll need to do this for each Control that you want to ‘carry forward.’

Note that this code/syntax can be used for any Datatype.

Linq ;0)>

[cougardoogan]

I read both of your responses, which I'm greatful for, but still have a puzzled look on my face on how to go about doing it in the main form. My main thought is associating the participants with the department, but still being able to use the drop-down menu to find the participants... I'm not able to wrap my head around it fully right now, maybe if I come back to it in a couple days...

Thanks for your help, though!

[June7]

Maybe a review of this tutorial on relational database principles will clarify my suggestion http://forums.aspfree.com/microsoft-...es-208217.html