Forms - Saving to 2 Tables and Printing Issues

[DKF]

Hi. I am new to IT, database development and Access. Please be kind...

I have created an employee data form to update information (called actions) like personal changes, employment changes, etc. On this form I need a Save button and a Print button.

With the Save button - I want 2 things to happen - when the save is hit the employee table is updated with the change AND I would also like the info saved onto another table that will keep a running list of every "action" entered & notes/comments. That way I can generate a report to see the history of a single person. My test updated the employee table - but not my 2nd table.



With the Print button - (I know printing is preferred for reports) - but in this case there are times employee actions require a director's signature - I want to be able to print out the form.
How do you set it so only the 1 page form prints? I printed my form and 6 pages came out - a header page, part of the form - cut off, and 4 other. I set up the form to be 8.5 by 11 - and am now thinking you can't to that b/c it is wider than the pre-set margins. I tried to adjust margins but it would not stay.

Any suggestions on these 2 issues?

[Access_Blaster]

Hi DKF,
Hi. I am new to IT, database development and Access. Please be kind

I'm going to try and be kind here

With the Save button - I want 2 things to happen - when the save is hit the employee table is updated with the change AND I would also like the info saved onto another table that will keep a running list of every "action" entered & notes/comments. That way I can generate a report to see the history of a single person. My test updated the employee table - but not my 2nd table.

There is almost never a good reason to duplicate a table or data ever.
I understand that you want to generate a certain history report from your data. The way you accomplish this is to query your table AT the time you need the information. And then display the information in a form or report.

With the Print button - (I know printing is preferred for reports) - but in this case there are times employee actions require a director's signature - I want to be able to print out the form.
How do you set it so only the 1 page form prints? I printed my form and 6 pages came out - a header page, part of the form - cut off, and 4 other. I set up the form to be 8.5 by 11 - and am now thinking you can't to that b/c it is wider than the pre-set margins. I tried to adjust margins but it would not stay.

Any suggestions on these 2 issues?

Again to print a form so you can have a signature is a fundamental mistake. It would look a wee bit more professional to create a report with the information you need and have a label near the footer like below.

Date:______________ Signature:_______________

Regards

Richard

[DKF]

Thanks for your reply - I still have concerns.

Save button issue: If the information is saved in the table - it replaces the old information - how do I keep a running history for each individual that is easily managed each time any update occurs?

Print button issue: Once this database (w/forms and all) is up and running the individuals working with this program are typical basic computer users - they just want a simple step to get the job done. Telling them they first need to enter it via a form and then generate a report will not go over well. I need to simplify this process.

[Access_Blaster]

Thanks for your reply - I still have concerns.

Save button issue: If the information is saved in the table - it replaces the old information - how do I keep a running history for each individual that is easily managed each time any update occurs?

If you input new records into your database nothing is over writen... new dates, new information maybe about the same subject but its still a new record...you can then query the table to bring up all the history about a certain subject right?

Richard

[DKF]

In some cases we will look up an employee and enter the new data in the form then update - so basically the new data will be written over the old.

Only when a completely new employee is entered in to the system will a new record be generated.

That is how the old system works (Lotus Approach) - and (I am assuming here) how it would work on this one too.

Offline till tomorrow - will check back then. Thanks.

[Access_Blaster]

DKF,

There are way to track changes to records, here is just one example:
http://home.comcast.net/~cccsolutions/accesstips.html This sample show date of creation and date of last edit. But if your having trouble getting your user to use a form and a print button your going to have nothing but problems.

individuals working with this program are typical basic computer users - they just want a simple step to get the job done. Telling them they first need to enter it via a form and then generate a report will not go over well. I need to simplify this process.

Regards,

Richard