* PRIMARY KEY PERPLEXITY *
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Hi - I'm trialling v8 with a serious view to buy. Currently developing a Beta of a little dbase for my oil & gas client. I'm not an I-Techie but have used and designed dbases in a previous life (about 12 years ago).
But I'm stuck on a basic issue and I'd be very grateful for some pointers from my local (UK) community...
--000--
So I'm trying to go the ascetic route in every table of this dbase: each table has as its primary key (well, that's what I'm calling it) a simple self-incrementing number, which is naturally unique, but also without contextual meaning. A bit like a serial number.
OK, then I create a set which neatly links each table using these arbitrary but unique identifiers (keys); great. The problem comes when I enter data into the set using the default form: I obviously need to enter *numbers* to identify the particular records I want to retrieve - not what I'd like at all... Even if I set these key fields to be accessed via a pull-down object (in the form), I will naturally still only see numbers...
If I could link the tables using these numerical PK's BUT get the pull-down object to show the *related* TEXT fields (descriptors) that would be first prize.
I'm probably over-complicating my design, but if any fellow-user can make sense of my plight, I'd be very very grateful!
PS: Does Alpha5 (v.*) have a strong (rigid) sense of primary key?
Phil
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Hi - I'm trialling v8 with a serious view to buy. Currently developing a Beta of a little dbase for my oil & gas client. I'm not an I-Techie but have used and designed dbases in a previous life (about 12 years ago).
But I'm stuck on a basic issue and I'd be very grateful for some pointers from my local (UK) community...
--000--
So I'm trying to go the ascetic route in every table of this dbase: each table has as its primary key (well, that's what I'm calling it) a simple self-incrementing number, which is naturally unique, but also without contextual meaning. A bit like a serial number.
OK, then I create a set which neatly links each table using these arbitrary but unique identifiers (keys); great. The problem comes when I enter data into the set using the default form: I obviously need to enter *numbers* to identify the particular records I want to retrieve - not what I'd like at all... Even if I set these key fields to be accessed via a pull-down object (in the form), I will naturally still only see numbers...
If I could link the tables using these numerical PK's BUT get the pull-down object to show the *related* TEXT fields (descriptors) that would be first prize.
I'm probably over-complicating my design, but if any fellow-user can make sense of my plight, I'd be very very grateful!
PS: Does Alpha5 (v.*) have a strong (rigid) sense of primary key?
Phil
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