one table or lots

[Shazza]

Can anyone tell me if it is better to create one table to hold all the data
and several different forms to input it or several tables. I am trying to
design a database to hold student information the tables i am about to create
are delegate info, college info, lodging info, Expected start and finish
dates, course levels,course details and costs, completion dates, college
fees, and accomodation type. I dont know if it will be best to group them
together or keep them all seperate

 

[John Spencer]

Several tables are implied from what you posted.

Colleges
Delegates (Students?)
Courses
Lodgings

Joining tables
DelegateCourses (which delegates are taking which courses)

Once you have table structure figured out you can control entry by using
forms and subforms. For instance you might have a main form with Delegates
on it and all the information about the delegate (firstname, Last Name, Home
Address, which lodging the delegate is staying in). On this form you might
have subform based on the DelegateCourses so you could list/select all the
courses for this delegate.


--
John Spencer
Access MVP 2002-2005, 2007-2008
Center for Health Program Development and Management
University of Maryland Baltimore County
..

 

[Golfinray]

Get on the internet and google articles on database normalization. As a rule,
you always want your tables divided according to these rules, meaning you
would need several tables. Also, read the help files on relationships. Your
tables need to be related properly. Normally, you would want each of your
tables to have the same primary key, that is some way of identifying the
unique data in each table and a way to relate each table to every other
table. You can find relationships under the Tools menu.

 

[John W. Vinson]

Can anyone tell me if it is better to create one table to hold all the data
and several different forms to input it or several tables. I am trying to
design a database to hold student information the tables i am about to create
are delegate info, college info, lodging info, Expected start and finish
dates, course levels,course details and costs, completion dates, college
fees, and accomodation type. I dont know if it will be best to group them
together or keep them all seperate

Sit down with a pad of paper, a pencil, and a good eraser.

Identify the types of Entities - real-life persons, things or events, such as
Students, Colleges, Courses, lodging facilities, etc. Each type of entity has
its own Attributes - students have FirstName, LastName, Birthdate, contact
information, etc.; Courses have course name, one or more instructors, level,
etc.

Each type of Entity becomes a Table. Each of that entity's attributes becomes
a Field in that table.

Then you need to think about relationships...

See the following for some tutorials and guidelines:

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP):
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials