One to One Relationships ??? 1

[GoinDeep]

I have a table that has 26 - 30 fields in it. Is that to big? Is it ever to big? One third of the table is information that won't be used until that record is completed...ie...TimeCompleted, DateCompleted, Who, Where, When??? Should I split that table, or is it better to keep all possible information fields on one table? If there is a thread or FAQ that covers this, maybe somebody could point me in that direction. Thank you for your time.

-Rookie

 

[dhookom]

I find that this might be too many fields. It is difficult to pass judgement when we don't know the fields and how they are used.

Duane
MS Access MVP
Find out how to get great answers faq219-2884.

 

[nberryman]

You are in the right Forum, let us know what yo want to do and then we can assist with a design.

So something like "I want a database to record manufactured items and when they where made and by who".

This way we can guide yo on the design


Neil Berryman
IT Trainer
neil_berryman@btopenworld.com

 

[GoinDeep]

It is a legal service of process database. The data in this table is the person being served, name, address, phone, residence or business, special instructions, etc...

All this data is printed on a form then sent with a messenger to serve the individual. Once the individual is served then you're are puting the following data:

Date Served, Time, who served, thier relationship, type of service effected, witness fee paid?, description of the individual, etc...

So it is all one "order", but the data is added at separate times. Hopefully that explains it.

 

[dhookom]

It sounds like you might have several different entities in one table such as information about:
-Individuals
-process served
-server individual
It might all still work in a single table but it is hard to tell.

Could you actually type all of the field names into a posting?

Duane
MS Access MVP
Find out how to get great answers faq219-2884.

 

[GoinDeep]

It works. I am just always concerned that the table is to big more than anything. I read in Access help that you may want to split a table into a one to one relationship if it has a lot of fields, or for security reasons (security I am not concerned about). It just doesn't say what a lot of fields is. I mean each order is eventually going to be completed. I guess my question from the start should have just been, "how many fields should be the max in a table?"

 

[dhookom]

Your number of fields probably isn't too many as long as your relationships would all be one-to-one if you split them. One other issue you might want to consider is how the information is entered and edited. If you have fields that might be updated by more than one person, you might want to place them in separate tables. Leaving all the fields in one table with one or more users attempting to edit the same record at the same time will cause issues.

Duane
MS Access MVP
Find out how to get great answers faq219-2884.

 

[GoinDeep]

That helps a lot. Thank you so much.