primary and foreign keys?

[themebuddies]

I am new to access and designing databases.



I want to make a database for work that will hold Purchase orders and line numbers. One purchase order can have many line numbers. From my reading, I would think that my database should look like this

tblPurchaseOrders
ordersID
Purchase Orders

tblLineItems
lineID
line Numbers
ordersFK

if I am correct, then the primary key ( ordersID ) should be linked to the foreign key ( ordersFK ) in the lineItems table in the relationships and to enforce referential integrity. This had made me wonder. The primary key field gets populated automatically when you make a new record. Do I then have to enter in that ID into the foreign key field in the lineItems table? I don't want to have to do that. I want it so that the information gets linked automatically. Is this possible?

[June7]

If you establish this relationship in the Relationships window, the tables will be associated and data entry into the subtable will automatically save the PK as FK. However, recommend not working directly with tables and queries. Build bound forms.

Build a form/subform arrangement. Set the subform container Master/Child Links properties. This will synchronize the related records and the PK will automatically save into the dependent record, even if you don't establish Relationships.