Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Choosing from a list in Access

by annemariegrrr Feb 26, 2007 10:25PM PST

Hi,

Please bear with me as I explain what I'm doing in Access. I'm a newbie--have patience!

I am creating a database of nonprofit organizations in the community. One of the fields I'd like is "need identified," that is, a particular area in which that group needs help. The problem is that the 255 character field restriction is a hindrance.

Any suggestions? What I'd like is to create another table or list of those "Needs" to somehow link into this table, or choose from a drop-down list or something, so that the database is searchable by "Needs." For example, if my office finds we have resources in Database Management (ha...), it would be nice to search the database according to that to find the organziation that would most benefit. Ideas? Thanks,

Anne Marie

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

- Collapse + Expand Details

- Collapse -

Re: Access

by Kees Bakker Feb 27, 2007 4:46AM PST

Anne Marie,

I don't see why a single need (like "Database Management") should need more than 255 characters. Could you explain?

If organisations have multiple needs and a need belongs to more than than one organisation, that's a classical example of a socalled n:n-relationship. And the solution that's as classical as the example is to break it down into 2 1:n-relations.

If you need more help than this basic theory, let me know in a reply.

Kees

- Collapse -

I agree..

by entrecon Mar 1, 2007 3:42AM PST

I agree the database should have a list of needs that can be chosen from so that a search can be done. If, however, you require that a text file be available that has the needs spelled out in Parapgraph form, I would link out to a Word document that could be referenced/printed out as needed.

Back to Office & Productivity Software forum