How to create

[my church]

I am trying to create a table list of 24 items to function as a drop-down
list for my data base. However, when I enter the second person and pull from
the drop-down list, if the items are the same for another person I cannot
save the new entry.

The drop-down list will be repeated many times through the database because
the list will be the work areas that I will pull from for each person in
seven fields.

 

[Allen Browne]

You need 3 tables:
- one for persons, with a PersonID primary key;
- one for the list, with a ListID primary key;
- one for the combination.

So, if Fred has 3 items from the list, then Fred will have 3 records in the
3rd table.

You will end up with bound to the Person table, and a subform bound to the
combination table. The subform will have a combo box where the user can
select the item from the list that applies to the person in the main form,
and then another item on the 2nd row of the subform.

The 3rd table is called a junction between the other two. It is the standard
way to resolve a many-to-many relation into a pair of one-to-many. For
another example, see:
Relationships between Tables (School Grades example)
at:
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-06.html

 

[Vincent Johns]

I might need a bit more information here. Is your "drop-down list" a text
box or combo box? Do you get an error message when you try to save the 2nd
entry? Something that might get in your way is an index that requires
entries to be unique, but you'd probably remember having set up an index like
that. However, you might try making a copy of your database (to avoid
messing up your good version), and in the copy change all fields and indices
that specify (No Duplicates), to see if you can save the new entries. If
that's the problem, you can return to your good database and change only what
needs to be changed.