I am reposting this in the correct forum. I have designed a simple data base for my optician son in law. I have attached it for anyone good enough to look at it for me. The structure is a customer details table linked as a 1:M to three tables - rx details, transaction details and payment details. Today it went live and when it came to back up the db one patient details had disappeared altogether but the transaction details were still there. Another patients address details had disappeared but her surname and transaction details were there. Is there anything the operator could have done to cause this? I am grateful for any advice as my reputation with my son in law is at stake! The db was designed in V8 but was opened in V9 with a Vista PC at the practice.
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Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.
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data gone missing!!!
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Re: data gone missing!!!
I've opened it up and looked.
How many records did the customer details originally contain? Currently there are two: Hutton with all other fields blank and a second record with all fields blank.
A quick review of your field rules reveals no obstacles to the removal or editing of customer data.
Let me also observe that customer id numbers are usually protected because changing them destroys the link between parent and child records in the set. You should also pad them so instead of id# 100 you have 00100.Bill Hanigsberg
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Re: data gone missing!!!
This is your record count:
customer_details = 1 record
memo = 0 records
payment_details = 4 records
rx_details = 2 records
transaction_details = 4 records
There are no deleted records. However, if someone packed the tables, any deleted records would be truly deleted.
Does that count match your understanding?
Are you sure the records were originally saved?
BTW: I compacted your db and the trans_set.set went from 6MBs to 2MBs!
Regarding Customer_Id, since you have a 5-char field, set the default value to be "00100", not "100", that way you will get the automatic padding Bill was referring to.
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Re: data gone missing!!!
I'm saying you should think about how much freedom operators should have. My opinion is that they should not be allowed to save a record with a blank lastname field and the cust_no field should not be user modifiable.
Beyond that it is your call and depends on the intended conditions of use. A more subtle approach would be to define two or more classes of user with different powers. Users log on and get the powers which have been assigned to the category to which they belong.
You never said how many records were deleted. If it was a couple somebody probably made a mistake. If it was a couple hundred something else is going on.Bill Hanigsberg
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Re: data gone missing!!!
Originally posted by Peter.Greulich View PostThis is your record count:
customer_details = 1 record
memo = 0 records
payment_details = 4 records
rx_details = 2 records
transaction_details = 4 records
There are no deleted records. However, if someone packed the tables, any deleted records would be truly deleted.
Does that count match your understanding?
Are you sure the records were originally saved?
BTW: I compacted your db and the trans_set.set went from 6MBs to 2MBs!
Regarding Customer_Id, since you have a 5-char field, set the default value to be "00100", not "100", that way you will get the automatic padding Bill was referring to.
2 of the transaction records and one of the Rx records were attached to the missing Customer details record. A record card had been printed which showed all the details so I know it was saved.
To change the default Customer ID to 00100 do I need to re - enter the 2 patient records? I changed the default in Field Rules but when I entered a new record the Customer ID was shown as 102.
This is a brand new computer and I am wondering if it has a fault on the hard drive?
GilGil Smith
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Re: data gone missing!!!
Originally posted by Gil Smith View PostTo change the default Customer ID to 00100 do I need to re - enter the 2 patient records? I changed the default in Field Rules but when I entered a new record the Customer ID was shown as 102.
This is a brand new computer and I am wondering if it has a fault on the hard drive?
So answer this question: did you pack the tables? If not, there is no evidence any records were deleted. It's doubtful that you compacted (which also packs), given the bloated size of some of your dictionaries.
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Re: data gone missing!!!
This may not be relevant to the problem, but:
at least one of your buttons straddles the tabs themselves. Bad idea!
your tabba is transparent. You tend top get flaky graphics w. transparent tabs. May not be relevant, but I suggest solid. In terms of traversing your form, you might want to downsize your giant tabs so that the user does not have to scroll to get to all the tabs.
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Re: data gone missing!!!
Originally posted by whanigsberg View PostI'm saying you should think about how much freedom operators should have. My opinion is that they should not be allowed to save a record with a blank lastname field and the cust_no field should not be user modifiable.
You never said how many records were deleted. If it was a couple somebody probably made a mistake. If it was a couple hundred something else is going on.
The surname is a required field so it should not possible to save a record without a surname. How would I make the Customer ID not modifiable?
GilGil Smith
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Re: data gone missing!!!
Originally posted by Peter.Greulich View Post
So answer this question: did you pack the tables? If not, there is no evidence any records were deleted. It's doubtful that you compacted (which also packs), given the bloated size of some of your dictionaries.
I asked my son in law to tick the " compact the database " box in the backup dialogue so I assumed that is what he did when he backed up.
GilGil Smith
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Re: data gone missing!!!
Originally posted by Gil Smith View PostI asked my son in law to tick the " compact the database " box in the backup dialogue so I assumed that is what he did when he backed up.
Which raises the suggestion - maybe he originally accidentally deleted the records himself? (As a general rule, you want to control the user interface so that users can't inadvertently delete records - e.g. <CTRL>D
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Re: data gone missing!!!
Originally posted by Peter.Greulich View PostThis may not be relevant to the problem, but:
at least one of your buttons straddles the tabs themselves. Bad idea!
your tabba is transparent. You tend top get flaky graphics w. transparent tabs. May not be relevant, but I suggest solid. In terms of traversing your form, you might want to downsize your giant tabs so that the user does not have to scroll to get to all the tabs.
Again thansk for your help.Gil Smith
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Re: data gone missing!!!
In design mode for the form select the cust_no field and in properties for the field check disable. It will be visually clearer to users that the field is not modifiable if you set the background to transparent.
My mistake for missing that surname was required in field rules. In my defense let me note that cust #101 had a missing surname but that is probably another part of the missing-data mystery.Bill Hanigsberg
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