[AccessD] miracle required apparently

[Stuart McLachlan]

There is a very simple solution to your stated problem, but I don't think that is what you 
want. :)    I'll leave you to work it out.

But I assume there is another unstated limitation:
No two participants can participate  together in more than one event.

Yes?




On 17 Oct 2023 at 1:22, Steve Schapel wrote:

> Hi all
> 
> I'm trying to do something that I initially thought would be
> reasonably easy.  But alas, so far success has eluded me.  Any
> insights accepted with much gratitude!
> 
> The goal:  Assign a number of Participants to a number of Activities
> over a number of Sessions.
> 
> Very simple example:
>      4 Sessions
>      4 Activities
>      8 Participants (therefore 2 per Activity)
> 
> To illustrate:
> Let's say the sessions are 9am, 10am, 11am, 12pm.
> Let's sat the activities are chess, tai chi, bowls, diving
> Let's say the participants are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H
> 
> The stipulation is that each participant should do each activity one
> time.
> 
> By trial and error brute force, I know that there is at least one
> solution, namely:
> 
>                       chess       tai chi       bowls        diving
>    9am           A & E        C & F        D & G        B & H
> 10am           C & G       A & H       B & E         D & F
> 11am           D & H      B & G        A & F         C & E
> 12pm           B & F       D & E        C & H        A & G
> 
> HOWEVER, I have tried multiple angles of looping through nested (and
> sometimes randomised) recordsets based on the core data elements
> (sessions, activities, and participants), to write the assignments to
> the available slots in a schedule table, and to my shock (and horror)
> we always reach the point in the procedure where it gets stuck, due to
> trying to assign a participant to two activities in the same session,
> but with no valid alternative slot available.
> 
> There is no problem if the model calls for the super simple option of
> only one participant for each activity.  But otherwise, no dice, so
> far.
> 
> There MUST be a way to make this work?  Surely?
> 
> Thanks a lot.
> 
> Regards
> Steve
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