I have an Access 2010 database which records items received, modified, and then sent out again. Each intake of items is assigned a Batch Number and each item within that intake is assigned an item number which is a simple extension to the Batch number. E.g a Batch number might be 140 and a single item within that batch would be 140.001 etc. Each batch could contain up to 100 items. The Batch numbers also have a number of dates associated with them – date received, date modification complete, date despatched etc. Obviously these dates also apply to every item within a batch.
I have a Form by means of which I enter the batch and item details. This is very clunky because I have to re-enter the Batch number and all the dates for every item in that batch. This is time-wasting and annoying and of course creates hundreds of duplicates in the batch number field. I have separate queries for items and batch numbers but a single table for all the stored information.
I need to be able to separate out all the items within a single batch for invoicing purposes and I would dearly like to be able to record all the relevant information when a batch is received on a single form.
I have tried very hard to create a single form which enables me to enter a batch number and dates just once plus all the items within that batch. This sounds simple but I can’t get it right. I have tried doing it with a Batch number form and an Item number sub-form with Batch number as the Master and Child fields, but there are two problems: The button to create a new record for an Item is disabled, and as soon as I create a new record form for a new Batch, the sub-form for items goes completely blank (i.e. not only are the contents of the controls blank, but the controls themselves, option frames, and associated labels completely disappears.
