Key Field?

[bobbieexcel]

I am creating a student database. Is it better to create one huge table with all the information, and use different forms and reports to organize the information, or use several smaller tables with specific information? If I need to list of all of my students, do I have to enter each student for each table? I am sure this has to do with setting the key field. or is there a way to pull from a master table that will update each of the other table when a new student enrolls or student drops from registration? I certainly don't want to enroll or drop from each table. Pleae help!

Thanks,
Bobbie

 

[Dugantrain]

Woah. Bobbie, I don't want to sound discouraging, but it sounds like you should probably get some basic Access/relational database tutoring or maybe buy a Beginner's book. The first thing that you'll need to do is to forget spreadsheet logic when attempting to build a database; data should be stored completely differently in Access tables than Excel spreadsheets. Access is referred to as a "relational" database for a reason; data is stored in different tables and then those tables relate to each other. For example, in your project, you'd have a table just for the students, maybe a table just for courses, and then you'd probably tie these tables together in a third table so that one student can have many courses and one course can go to many students. You'd also have to think about how you're going to do class capacity, counting how many students are in a class so that you don't get overflow, etc. Sorry man, but it sounds like a bit too much to cover in an online forum.