New at this and unsure

[Phlipper via AccessMonster.com]

Hi All,

I'm designing my first app for my business. I publish 12 separate monthly
magazines and have various advert sizes. I have begun designing my app, am
having a few issues and I'm wondering if I've gone the best way about it. Is
there some way to post my app here for you guys to check?

I have two tables: Table1 (which records orders) and customer_details

I input data to customer_details via a form, save it and then open a 2nd form
'ORDERS'

The ORDERS form has 12 separate Yes/No checkboxes to represent each title.
I have a list box with 1 to 12 (representing the number of months the order
is to run for). This is counted down automatically with a 'Month End'
procedure.

I have lots of queries and reports happening, so I think it would be easier
if someone actually looked at the app working to see if I've taken the best
route. I also generate invoices from the app, but so far this is very basic
and I haven't sorted this out fully.

My reports generate lists for the magazine being worked on, contact lists for
customers with expired orders etc. etc.

Any takers?

 

[Klatuu]

Phlipper,
We are all volunteers here, helping other Access users resolve specific
problems. It is certainly good that you want to optimize your current app
and lean for the future, but few of us would have the time to review a full
application.

I can tell from your post you have some issues with your data design. For
example, where you have check boxes to identify titles, you should actually
have only one field identifiying the title. If a client is advertising in
more than one title, then you would have one record for each client/title.
And, it may be that a record reflects one ad and how long it runs, so you may
also need a field to identify the issue when the ad starts and another field
to show how many issues the ad runs.

This would not require any month end processing to update your information.
As you have it now, an error in month end processing could throw you
information off and present incorrect information.

I suggest you look for a book called "Database Design for Mere Mortals". It
is an excellent book for leaning the basic theory of database design.

Best of Luck.

BTW, if you have specific questions, you will get more specific answeres.

 

[Phlipper via AccessMonster.com]

Hi Klatuu,

I understand.

I also understand what you say about the separate titles and the checkboxes -
but I chose this after a lot of soul-searching. I know exactly how the
operation runs here (I don't actually do the order processing myself), and I
know from long experience how difficult it is to ensure accurate data in this
place (I am not in a position to enforce vigilance, believe me I would if I
could, so the main reason for this app is so that I can ensure as far as
possible that the data is recorded properly - i.e. I've built the app to
address weaknesses, rather than enforce rules).
Thanks for taking the time to respond - I'll keep an eye out for that book.

 

[Keith Wilby]

Hi All,

I'm designing my first app for my business. I publish 12 separate monthly
magazines and have various advert sizes. I have begun designing my app, am
having a few issues and I'm wondering if I've gone the best way about it.
Is
there some way to post my app here for you guys to check?

I have two tables: Table1 (which records orders) and customer_details

I input data to customer_details via a form, save it and then open a 2nd
form
'ORDERS'

The ORDERS form has 12 separate Yes/No checkboxes to represent each title.
I have a list box with 1 to 12 (representing the number of months the
order
is to run for). This is counted down automatically with a 'Month End'
procedure.

I have lots of queries and reports happening, so I think it would be
easier
if someone actually looked at the app working to see if I've taken the
best
route. I also generate invoices from the app, but so far this is very
basic
and I haven't sorted this out fully.

My reports generate lists for the magazine being worked on, contact lists
for
customers with expired orders etc. etc.

Any takers?

Not unless you have a big bag of money. If you're the only user and it
does what you want it to do in a timely fashion then I'd stick with it. If
there are any specific queries that you think are running slowly (for
example) then post the code here.

Regards,
Keith.
www.keithwilby.co.uk

 

[Phlipper via AccessMonster.com]

Nope, it'll be others that use it, not me. That's the problem I suppose

If I had a big bag of money I'd be paying you guys to do this for me!!

Thanks

Keith Wilby wrote:
If you're the only user and it

 

[Keith Wilby]

Nope, it'll be others that use it, not me. That's the problem I suppose

If I had a big bag of money I'd be paying you guys to do this for me!!

I don't think you'll get anyone to review the whole app for free but, as
I've said, if you post specific problems or issues then I'm sure there'll be
no shortage of help forthcoming.

One thing I would say is that multi-user apps ought to be split and each
user should have their own copy of the front end file. More info here:

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/splitapp/index.htm

Regards,
Keith.
www.keithwilby.co.uk

 

[Phlipper via AccessMonster.com]

Amazing! I'd just been reading about that somewhere else!!