List boxes

[Somchit Thor]

Hi all,

This is probably a really simple thing to do but I can't seem to figure it
out from the Help. I want to have a field in a table where I can choose
multiple items from a list.

For example, lets say I have a field named Fruits in Table1. In another
table Table2, I list a bunch of fruits: apples, pears, oranges, grapes,
bananas. Back in Table1, in the Fruits field for one record, I want to
choose pears, grapes, and bananas--all for this record.

Is there a way to do that?

Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions.

Som

 

[John Vinson]

Hi all,

This is probably a really simple thing to do but I can't seem to figure it
out from the Help. I want to have a field in a table where I can choose
multiple items from a list.

For example, lets say I have a field named Fruits in Table1. In another
table Table2, I list a bunch of fruits: apples, pears, oranges, grapes,
bananas. Back in Table1, in the Fruits field for one record, I want to
choose pears, grapes, and bananas--all for this record.

Is there a way to do that?

It's neither possible nor desirable. A field in a Table should be
"atomic" - have one and only one value!

If you have a many (items) to many (fruits) relationship you need
THREE TABLES: your current table (with no fields dealing with fruits
at all); a table of Fruits; and a third table related one to many to
each of these tables, with an ItemID and a FruitID field. If Item 123
concerns pears, grapes, and bananas, this third table would have three
records for Item 123 in it.

You're using a relational database. Use it relationally! For some
online tutorials in doing so, here are a few refs:

ACC2002: Database Normalization Basics
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=283878

Database Normalization Tips by Luke Chung
http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/genaccess/databasenorm.html

Data Normalization Fundamentals by Luke Chung
http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/datanorm/index.html

324613 - Support WebCast: Database Normalization Basics
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=324613

 

[Somchit Thor]

Thanks for the info.

It's neither possible nor desirable. A field in a Table should be
"atomic" - have one and only one value!

If you have a many (items) to many (fruits) relationship you need
THREE TABLES: your current table (with no fields dealing with fruits
at all); a table of Fruits; and a third table related one to many to
each of these tables, with an ItemID and a FruitID field. If Item 123
concerns pears, grapes, and bananas, this third table would have three
records for Item 123 in it.

You're using a relational database. Use it relationally! For some
online tutorials in doing so, here are a few refs:

ACC2002: Database Normalization Basics
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=283878

Database Normalization Tips by Luke Chung
http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/genaccess/databasenorm.html

Data Normalization Fundamentals by Luke Chung
http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/datanorm/index.html

324613 - Support WebCast: Database Normalization Basics
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=324613