Updating Existing Forms

[RoofEngCG]

I have a form for new projects that is linked to my contacts table so that when I select the field for client ID it pulls up a list of my contacts and I can select one and it will insert the information into the specific fields I have chosen in my new project form. The problem that I am having is that when I change information in my contacts table the information does not automatically update in my New Project form. Is there a way for me to set it up so that any information I change in one table will automatically update the fields in another table? Any help would be much appreciated.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Updating Existing Forms

Is there a way for me to set it up so that any information I change in one table will automatically update the fields in another table?

Take a look at posting field rules.

[RoofEngCG]

Re: Updating Existing Forms

Thank you for your help. I am still either not understanding something or not being clear on what I am trying to accomplish. I am trying to create a form for the set I created but I don't want to have the embedded browse in the form. So what I did was I cut out the embedded browse and inserted the fields from the child table into the form for the set where I wanted them to be located. Now the fields for the child table just stay blank and don't fill in automatically. I don't understand why this would be. How would I go about setting up this form the way I want? How do I connect my two tables in this set to automatically update whenever I make a change to either table or the set? Thanks so much for the help I really appreciate it.

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Updating Existing Forms

Cassie, a specific answer to your questions is not possible until you supply a copy of your database and a detailed description of how you want a specific form or button to work.

In general terms there are two commonly used approaches that may be close to what you need:

a) In the case where a particular contact person may be involved in multiple projects the designer (you) would store the contact_id in each project table record. This would be filled in using a table lookup field rule in the projects table, using the contacts table as source. A two table set would be used for reports and forms. the link would be one to one based on contact_id fields in both tables. No need to update field values in the parent table at all. Each record there is linked to the corresponding contact table record so the "current" field values are always available. There's no reason in this scenario to store any field values in the projects table except the contact_id value. In this case the key information you need to have availble is the current contact table field values. You don't care what those values might have been at some point in the distant past.

b) In other applications the need exists to "lookup" information from one table, and auto-fill multiple fields in the current table. i.e. looking up a product record to retrive and store current pricing information. In this case a table lookup field rule would be defined to select and autofill several fields in the current table. Changes that occurr later on in the lookup source table would NOT be automatically transferred to previously entered transaction records, since that would overwrite the previous pricing information that was applicable to the transaction when it was recorded. In this case you would not use a set. Just a field rule table lookup. Here, you don't care what the current pricing field values might be in the lookup table, you are only interested in what those field values where when they were looked up and stored in a trransaction record at some point in the past.