Please help

[Bobrosss]

I have a imgur link listed in my last post that shows 3 photo links I shared on my imgur acct

[Micron]

I know. My point is that since some won't or just can't access such links. Then there is the lack of permanence - the quality of the thread is diminished when such private links are no longer valid.

To add to that, in order to eliminate distortion (e.g. moiré effects) and convergence and preserve contrast I'd suggest you use screen captures, not photos of your screen. I'm pretty confident that what you show can be built.

[Bobrosss]

Today 10/11, I was able to mock up a working database. You guys are welcome to critique this if you want, as I am sure I did some super rookie things that probably will lead to mistakes or failures in the future.
I created the evening news table and the operator relief log table and placed all the style fields I wanted (yes/no, dates with the =date() function, and drop down menues with preselected options and in some cases strict options so you can't type in a field).
I then created my evening news form and my operator relief log form and tailored them to suit my needs.
Then, I built a query and dragged both tables in. I mean all the fields except the auto number. Once they were in the lower half of the query builder (operations? ), I clicked on the E totals button at the top, which gave me a totals option. For the evening news date and the operator relief date, I set them to max and the rest of the fields to last. I ran the query abs did not get the result I was looking for. What happened was, the query pulled the top row. I wasn't sure of what to do next, so I switched the date column to sort from newest to oldest and it worked. I got the info I had put in last. I was pretty psyched, but always skeptical that it may fail on me. So I saved everything and closed the database, reopened and both forms save to the query as needed.
Then, I built a report, based on the query and spent a good amount of time tailoring the report to look just as I had envisioned. I did some more testing and it also worked. I had a few issues with the forms not opening empty, but those were easy issues to tackle and they now open blank and update the tables on close or save.
I then created the Central Hub form (I can hear triumphant music playing in my head). I opened the form and nothing. I just was worried that the second I tried to put a report onto a form, the program would not allow it and I would be stuck. I tried it anyway and the report planted right on the newly created form. Eureka... I spent time tailoring this form with my needs. Placing buttons and web links to pull my excel sheets in that we use. I was able to get rid of several desktop icons because they were all now in one location.
All in all, it works and I can now present it to our I.T. guy (who is busier than anyone I have ever known), to get his pointers and hopefully finalize things so it can be published and shared across the department.
Thanks for your help

[Micron]

The only possible trap I can think of after reading that is that Last isn't always when it comes to Access. It will be the last of something in a set of records but it's been reported that Access can re-arrange records in a table because it may retrieve that data from different sectors of a disk. I'd say the likelihood of that happening where a sort order is applied to a table field is pretty much nil. That's one reason why I tend to use queries as recordsources because you can force sorting easily. I expect it could be OK where you're using MAX to get what presumably will be a value from the last entered record. You'd want to make sure that this MAX will always be just that.

I think you were asking about critiquing your post comments and not a db because you didn't post one. You could zip and post your example if you want to take this further. If not, we wish you good luck with your project!

[Bobrosss]

You didn't think it would end there did you? My higher ups liked the program I built so much, that they asked me to incorporate more into it. So I am back at it again.
Is there a way to create a control source ("materials") and then make 2 drop boxes from that control source so they have different (or potentially the same) materials in their respective fields?
Let me explain. I made a material transfer page that had a table connected to it. I then put on the form "material to" and "material from", but when I go to the form view and populate the form, and select the info from the drop box, it immediately populates both fields. Changing either field just mirrors in the other box. Would it be easier to make a toMaterial and fromMaterial drop boxes, or is there a more standard work around that access savvy creators use?
Just trying to make it so it's easy to work with and with the least amount of long term issues.
This will end up being a split form, so the user can view previous movements in a table view, with a blank form when they open it.

[orange]

Bob,

Might be better if you showed us/provide a copy of the database version that the "higher ups liked". Always good to see the issue/opportunity in context.
As for moving material from on location to another, you reminded me of an old thread that may not be related to your issue.

[Bobrosss]

Am I right in thinking I need to make a related table with a foreign key referencing the primary key of the materials table?

[Bobrosss]

Ahh, just saw your post after I sent my previous post. Let me see if I can figure out how to share it. I.T. limits our capabilities quite a bit here

[orange]

You can make a copy and remove confidential/private info. Then provide a few records with names like Porky Pig, Polly Ester and materials like material1, rubbish6 or other that meets your formatting criteria. Readers do not need real data per se. They need some sample data to work your queries, forms etc.

[Micron]

Why do you think you need a split form? I've yet to grasp the point of 2 views of the same records and know that several responses to threads are not favourable towards them. In fact, others have gone to some length to emulate the split form to get around its issues. If I used them enough I would be able to say what those are but it's one of those things where you don't know much about a problem because you avoid it.

[Bobrosss]

I can't disagree with you on the split form thoughts.
How can I safely make a copy of a database that will not mess with the original? In other words, I would like to make an exact copy and tear it apart to my content. I don't want to have to go back and update the original to a previous version. I know it sounds simple enough, but when I go into the "save as" tab, there are many options. Is it as simple as "save as">database files type>access database(*.accdb) and then give it a name and location I want? Just would hate to mess up older databases.

[mike60smart]

You can just use File Explorer to navigate to the Database File Location.
Click once on the File to select it and Then Right Click and select Copy.
Then deselect the file and Right Click and Past and it will give you a copy of the Database.

Or as you said - Select File - Save As
Navigate to where you want to save the File
Then just give it a New name

[Micron]

NOTE if your db is split, don't make the mistake of thinking you've got yourself a copy of the linked tables because you don't. If you edit/delete records in your playing db, you will affect the same tables that are linked to the "master" db. You would have to copy the main db containing the tables into a new folder (or a new name) and link those to your copied db.