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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH.
    Posts
    1

    New to Access and have questions

    Good Afternoon,

    I'm very new to Access and I have a few questions about a project I'm working on if some could be so kind as to point me in the right direction to learn how to do this in Access I would be most appreciative.

    I have a database of 98,000 names, address, city, state, zip... and some of these names are individuals and some are companies

    Do I have to have two separate tables of redundant data, which from what I read is a no no, or can I pull the individuals names by I_Last Name I_First Name and the companies contacts by C_ Last Name and C_First Name if they are designated in the Excel spreadsheets that way? I'm exporting the data from Excel into Access.



    I also need to run a query via with an range of zip codes- is there a good script or online tutorial which will assist me please?

    I'm curious if the field has no data established as of yet such as sales that haven't happened can one develop a table and report without the data?

    Thanking you in advance for your time.

    Sincerely yours,
    Michelle

  2. #2
    cwf is offline Novice
    Windows XP Access 2007
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    SouthEast
    Posts
    9

    Yes, you can do it all.

    First thing you want to ask yourself is, are the companies and the individuals are related? Even if they are then it might be better to keep them in separate tables. They can be linked by “key” fields, and joined together for reports, forms, whatever.

    The easiest way to do it would be to import all fields from your Excel Spreadsheet into one Access table. Then use ‘make table queries’ to separate the data into two tables. I will first assume that when there is data in the C_LastName field there will not be data in the I_Last Name field. This will make it easy, create a ‘make table query’. Select only the fields that pertain to the individual and the C_LastName field. Then the criteria section for the I_Last Name field of the query, put “Is Not Null” and in the same section for the C_LastName field put “Is Null”. So when this query makes the new table for the individuals it won’t pull any company records because of the criteria. Then to create the Company table just reverse the criteria in both fields and it will only pull records that have a company Lname.

    As to your second question about zip code queries, the answer is Yes. The query mechanism in Access is very powerful, and when you get comfortable with it, it’s power has few limits. I wrote a program in Access ver. 2.0 in 1996 that managed a database with over twenty tables. It allowed user input, had query screens for help people to give answers to salesmen on the phone, and compiled all sorts reports. Just one of those tables had over 750,000 records. I did most of this without writing one line of VBA code!

    The answer to your third question about a tutorial. If you plan to do serious (or good) work with Access get yourself a copy of Access xxxx Bible (xxxx being the year of your software. It will look daunting with sometimes over a 1000 pages. But you can read just what you need. Part II in mine (2002) is 178 pages and that will cover database design, datatable design [very important], basic queries, forms and reports. With that you can be well on your way. This book comes with a cd that has program examples that will give you lots of ideas. And the whole book is included in a pdf format (Adobe reader) that you can have on your computer. Learn the fundamentals good and it will save you hours and weeks down the road. The book is well worth the $49.99. Oh! I don’t get any commission.

    The answer to your last question is Yes. You can create a table without any data, build a form to display it and reports to show or print it. You will find it easier to create one or two records so you can see what these objects look like with data in them.

    Good Luck.

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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