Charlotte Foust
charlotte.foust at gmail.com
Fri May 27 11:55:56 CDT 2011
The YYYYMMDD date format always sorts in appropriate date order, regardless of the regional settings on your machine. That's why. You needn't even save it as a date, just a number or string. Charlotte Foust On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 7:35 AM, John Clark <John.Clark at niagaracounty.com> wrote: > > >>>> "Darrell Burns" <dhb at flsi.com> 5/26/2011 3:53 P >>> > 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. > > *** You bring up good points, but this is all the info I have to work with. But, I will probably change to include more of the first name, and maybe even the last name too. > > *** I do use the autonumber in the table; I am just using this one for searching and tracking purposes. > > *** If '49 was entered for the birthday it would kick it out, because the person is too old for the survey. But, I understand your point, and in my case it is a minimal risk of error...there is immediate feedback on age, so it would probably stick out, if it weren't close. And, I may build in some validation features as well. > > *** the adoption...or change of use of MI...did occur to me, but I really don't have many other options. > > And the DOB should always be in > YYYYMMDD order. > *** Why? Seriously...I am not challenging your claim, but I'd really like to learn about this. What does the order really matter? It isn't a big deal to change this, but before I do things like this I like to know why...so w/I am asked I don't just confess to being a blind follower. > > 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. > *** Thank you...I did not know this and it was driving me nuts. > > HTH, > Darrell > > ----- > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >