Darrell Burns
dhb at flsi.com
Thu May 26 14:53:06 CDT 2011
Hi John. Basic rule of database design...don't use intelligent keys. In other words, a key that may change over time (eg, Joe gets adopted and changes his surname) or may be incorrect (eg, Joe's birthday was entered as 49 instead of 94), or could be duplicated (Joe's twin sister Joelle would have the same key). I deal with name/address data all the time and I always create a unique sequential number (eg, Access's Autonumber) as a customer ID. You may want to create a Lookup key, such as the one you proposed, which can be indexed and used for searching. On a fairly small database, you can build an index on the full lastname+firstname+DOB. And the DOB should always be in YYYYMMDD order. As for the full-screen forms, go into Access options (big fat button in upper left corner, then small button on bottom of dialog), select Current Database, then check "Overlapping Windows". At the individual form level, there's a property called "Fit to screen"...make sure it's set to No. HTH, Darrell -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Clark Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 11:57 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: [Spam]8.31 Re: [AccessD] 2 quick questions It is going to be used to track their clients. There are 3 alternate surveys, but I think each one can be given multiple times. They want to track the clients and how their dental visit habits change. So, I asked them if they want to know if these same clients return and they are saying yes. So, if my example Joe T Murphy is entered as a 5 yr old, and they return and take another survey at 10, and then at 15 and finally at 20, they'll need a way to tell that this was the same person each time. >>> "Susan Harkins" <ssharkins at gmail.com> 5/26/2011 2:36 P >>> > 1) > The data for the program I am working on, comes w/no real good unique > identifier, so I'm trying to create my own. The only personal data I am > getting is name (last, first, MI) and DoB. The rest is survey data. This > is a dental survey form, and they want to track clients if/as they go from > infant to adult, so I told them we need some sort of identifier. > > The method I've come up with, to create an identifier is using the 1st 3 > letters of the last name, the 1st 2 of the first name, the middle > initial...if there isn't one, I place an "X" into the ID...then 6 digits > of DoB. > > For example: a client named Joe T Murphy, born on Dec 7th, 1994 would be > assigned an ID of MURJOT120794 > > It is not air-tight, so to speak, but I don't see another way...I'm just > looking for opinions on this... =========Who's going to use this identifier and how will they apply it? If you just need a unique value, just use an AutoNumber. Why are you going to all this trouble? Susan H. -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com