Combo box or many-to-many relationship - data entry problem - TechRepublic
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April 25, 2009 at 06:08 PM
eckardtk

Combo box or many-to-many relationship – data entry problem

by eckardtk . Updated 17 years, 2 months ago

Hi, I am creating a contacts database using ACCESS 2003. I hoped this would be a simple enough task suitable for my level of Access knowledge. As usual, it turns out to be more complex.

Currently, I have 4 tables: Contact Details, Call Log, Event Schedule, Event Attendance.

The problem is with Contact Details table. This table has a field called Contact Type. Originally, I had planned to make it a combo box/ lookup field on the data entry form where I would enter a short list of choices into the Wizard.

Now, it turns out that 1 person (contact) can belong to several contact types. For instance, the person (contact) can be board member, a donor and an expert (in how to assist victims of domestic violence).

As far as I know – ACCESS 2003 – Combo boxes let you select only one value and, you do not want more than one value in a single cell of the table anyway.

The only solution I can think of is an extra table Contact Type plus a Junction Table. But how would I make that work within the confines of a basic data entry form ?? Currently, there is one text box called Contact Type.

Any suggestions ?

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