RecipeTable Options for listing ingredients

[iam]

I am creating a table that is being used to collect recipes.
Each recipe has a varying list of incredients.

Are my only two options

A Combo Box
A Memo Field

I want to be able to lookup all recipes that include a particular
ingredient AND eventually be able to import the database into
Word in order to print out cookbooks.

I do not want to get too complicated in the design as I want this to
be a quick painless project.

 

[Rick B]

You know there is a recipe database template on the Microsoft website that
you can download for free?

 

[LeAnne]

I am creating a table that is being used to collect recipes.
Each recipe has a varying list of incredients.

Are my only two options

A Combo Box
A Memo Field

I want to be able to lookup all recipes that include a particular
ingredient AND eventually be able to import the database into
Word in order to print out cookbooks.

I do not want to get too complicated in the design as I want this to
be a quick painless project.

This is one of those things that human brains can do more efficiently
than Microsoft brains. ;-) I mean, think of your typical, old-fashioned
recipe file...if you're really organized like my grandmother, you have a
file box of 3x5 index cards with the RecipeName, RecipeIngredients, and
Directions all written out. Right? However, this doesn't always
translate well to a properly relational database. Say you want to search
your entire recipes db for all recipes with Spam as an ingredient. It
*can* be done using a memo field:

SELECT *
FROM Recipes
WHERE Ingredients LIKE "*spam*";

This will return all records from the Recipes table where the
combination of letters "spam" appears ANYwhere in the Ingredients field.

You could even turn this into a Parameter query if you want:

SELECT *
FROM Recipes
WHERE Ingredients LIKE "*[Type Ingredient Name]*";

But queries start getting more difficult if your search criteria are
more complex. Questions like

"Show me a list of all recipes and all ingredients for recipes that have
Spam as an ingredient."

"Show me the recipes that have Spam or chicken."

"List all the meats and the count of recipes each meat appears in."

"List all recipes that require more than 3 hours of cooking."

"Show all dessert recipes."

can start to get gnarly when translated into query-speak if your db
isn't properly normalized...Access can't handle very many "Like
"*<criterion>*".

I guess the bottom line is, it all depends on how you plan to use your
database. A simple, less-than-relational database may suit you just
fine. But if you plan to ask more complex questions of your database,
it's better to go with a more normalized design. If you are using A97, a
Recipes template shipped with the product; if A2K or later, you'll have
to download it from the MS Template gallery as Rick suggests (find it at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx)

hth,

LeAnne

 

[iam]

You know there is a recipe database template on the Microsoft website that
you can download for free

Yeah, I found that after I wrote the question. And I can modify it to
do what I want to do which is much simpler in some respects than what
MS created.

I do have one other small question though.

I saw another piece of software that had a screen design that
somehow when the Recipe Name was filled in and saved that data record
showed up with the recipe name as the Page Header as well as in the
normal input field.

Recipe Name (In about a 24 Font)


Recipe Name
Ingredients
Time
Et
Et
Et

I know how to get a single text field to fill in but not how to get
the Title to create On Save or On Enter


Thanks to both of you for your suggestions