Table problem

[George]

Good night,



table "instructor" has a field called "InsName"
Table "Course" has a field called "CourseName'
Table "TimeSheet" has columns "CourseName" and "InstName'; CourseName takes its values in a combo box from "CourseName" in "Course" table; "InstName" take its values in a combo box from "InstName" in the "Instructor" table.

Problem: If the tables "Instructor" and "Course' are deleted all the values in the "Course" field of the "timesheet" table suddenly turn into numbers and the values in the "InstName" remains the same.

Why is this so.

This presents a problem in the query on the "TimeSheets" Table even if there are no deletions. A query is successful on the "InstName" field but any query on the "CourseName" field returns all blank unless numbers are entered.

Can this phenomenon be explained?

Thanks in advance.

[June7]

You are probably saving the autonumber primary key, not the descriptive text.

Do you have lookups set in tables? I NEVER do that. Review http://access.mvps.org/access/lookupfields.htm

[George]

yes I am using lookups

[June7]

Regardless of the value showing in the table because of the lookup alias, the actual value is the autonumber primary key that was saved as foreign key. Use that value in query criteria. This is why I never set lookups in tables. I want to see the actual value when I view tables. Set lookups in comboboxes on forms.

[George]

I fully understand what you are saying, but I need to have a dropdown list in the table facilitate easy entry of data. Also can you explain why a query can be done on the values in the InstName field and not on the CorseName field when both are lookups in the table?

[June7]

I don't allow users to interact with tables and queries. That's what forms and reports are for.

If you want to provide db for analysis, follow instructions at bottom of my post.

[George]

Thanks very much for your advice. I truly understand what you are saying and I tried it for the first time - it worked and now this principle would guide the development processes of my future databases.

George

[George]

Pleas mark this as solve - I can find the button
Thank you

[June7]

It's the Thread Tools dropdown above the first post.

[George]

Thank You for the information and marking as Solved