Andy Lacey
andy at minstersystems.co.uk
Mon Dec 15 04:12:13 CST 2003
To Darren and Robin Thanks for the ideas but my original proviso was that the system is too big to contemplate visiting every place where customers are involved and altering combos, queries, reports or whatever. Yours are both good ways to achieve what I'm after, but only if I'd been designing for this from scratch. But the system is now too wide-ranging (see earlier posts) to contemplate going through and changing the FE like this. The solution must, therefore, I think, address the data rather than the FE, which is why I like Gustav's "scrambling the data" approach. But thanks for the interest in my little problem. -- Andy Lacey http://www.minstersystems.co.uk --------- Original Message -------- From: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Subject: RE: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not Date: 15/12/03 08:54 Andy, Probably in a bit late on this - what I would do would be to add a yes/no column to your customers table - add the condition to your combo query - you can then enable or disable the customers who will display in the combo. You could make this table accessible from a form for the operator to change the selection as he goes to different customers... Rgds Robin Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Andy Lacey Sent: 14 December 2003 12:41 To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not Hi Susan and Martin Actually I'm really happy with Gustav's suggestion to scramble the other data, so there's no rewite involved but to clarify. To access the main customer screen with the customer's basic details one needs to identify the customer. Ok you can enter his unique code but who's going to remember all of those? No, what you do is pull down the combo, enter the start the start of his name and navigate to the right entry. And being as a single customer name (imagine a large conglomerate) may appear many times because each subsidiary is a customer you need to be looking out for the right company name and location. Then customers have orders, they have projects, they have invoices, they have contact names, quotations, contracts, manufacturing jobs and so on and so on and so on. So, to give an example, to display a contract's details (without going via the main customer screen which you can do but don't hve to) one can, if one knows it, enter a contract number, but no-one does, so what the user does is pull down a combo which again shows customer and enough details to identify the contract. And this kind of exercise is repeated over and over again in order to give users rapid access to the screens and/or reports they want. And the info on the combos varies according to the type of data being sought (financial, production, quality, distribution....). So it ain't easy - but I think a variation on Gustav's approach (encrypting and de-encrypting the data) will work great, and thanks to everyone who contributed their ideas. Cheers Andy Lacey http://www.minstersystems.co.uk > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Martin Reid > Sent: 14 December 2003 09:05 > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not > > > Could you drop the combo and have them key in the company > name then do a filter? > > Open a blank form? > > Just bouncing ideas to avoid a rewrite > > Martin > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andy Lacey" <andy at minstersystems.co.uk> > To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> > Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 7:41 AM > Subject: RE: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not > > > > No Martin that's just not so in this case. How, for example, do you > > use a combo to select something without displaying the > records around > > the one > you > > need? It's not a training issue. > > > > Andy > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > > > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Martin > > > Reid > > > Sent: 13 December 2003 15:26 > > > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > > > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not > > > > > > > > > Of course the simple appraoch is to train up the users. > > > > > > Martin > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Andy Lacey" <andy at minstersystems.co.uk> > > > To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" > > > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> > > > Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 5:44 AM > > > Subject: RE: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not > > > > > > > > > > No, but if I encrypt (ie scramble in a structured way) > then I can > > > unencrypt > > > > that one and encrypt another customer afterwards. > > > > > > > > Andy > > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > > > > > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of > > > > > Gustav Brock > > > > > Sent: 13 December 2003 12:02 > > > > > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > > > > > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi Andy > > > > > > > > > > I see. But my idea wouldn't work if the sales person was > > > > > visiting several clients per day - except if all > customers were > > > scrambled and > > > > > he brings a list telling which real customer, say, "McAllen & > > > > > Daughters Ltd." represents. > > > > > > > > > > /gustav > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Not sure what you mean by "mixed up" Gustav. Take one of > > > > > many screens. > > > > > > Here you can select a financial period and year; select a > > > > > customer or > > > > > > a customer group or leave blank for all customers, hit > > > Print and a > > > > > > report will show the orders for those criteria, a > summary of > > > > > > expenditure, render it into GBP if it was export and so on. > > > > > And that's > > > > > > just one of many, many examples. Now the pitfalls are > > > that a) the > > > > > > sales person may/will drop down the combo to choose the > > > customer, > > > > > > thereby showing other customers or b) may inadvertently > > > select the > > > > > > wrong customer and print the report (and hand it > over to his > > > > > > client before he realises his mistake - aargh!) or c) hit > > > > > > Print without selecting a customer and therefore list > > > activity for all > > > > > > customers. This is the sort of thing I'm talking > about. And as > > > > > > I > > > > > stressed right > > > > > > from the start there are oodles of such situations in > > > the system > > > > > > so attacking each one individually is not an option. > > > > > > > > > > > At the moment I like your idea Gustav of deliberately > > > > > "corrupting" the > > > > > > rest of the data so that it's there but unrecognisable. If > > > > > I did that > > > > > > to selected fields (names, addresses, phone nos, email > > > > > addresses and > > > > > > so - not too many I don't think) I think that would do > > > > > nicely. I guess > > > > > > I could even do it by encryption so that it's reversible. > > > > > That way my > > > > > > on-the-road salesperson could "corrupt" all but one > > > customer, then > > > > > > un-corrupt all after first meeting and re-corrupt all > > > but a second > > > > > > customer when they get to the next place. > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > Andy Lacey > > > > > > http://www.minstersystems.co.uk > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------- Original Message -------- > > > > > > From: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" > > > > > > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> > > > > > > To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" > > > > > > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> > > > > > > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Sort of like a filter only not > > > > > > Date: 12/12/03 13:44 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi Andy > > > > > > > > > > > Hmmm ... but why are the data initially mixed up? > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > AccessD mailing list > > > > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > > > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/a> ccessd > > > > > Website: > > > > > http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > 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/a> ccessd > > > Website: > > > http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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/a> ccessd > Website: > http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > _______________________________________________ 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 ________________________________________________ Message sent using UebiMiau 2.7.2