Hi,
I am an access newbie and wanted to get a design check to see if I
have done the right thing or if there is a better way.

I don't like the Yes/No field option in a table. I want to have the
actual Yes or No data in a text box. To accomplish this, I created a
new table with one field. There are just two records in the table,
Yes and No. I build a Drop Down box control on a form, linked it to
this new table, and everything works just fine. I can see the Yes or
No options and when I select one or the other, the data is properly
entered in my main database table.

So, this works...but is it good database design?

I heard that lookupfields are bad (Access MVPs -- your site is
great!). I didn't accidentally create a lookupfield, did I? I should
be able to sort by this Yes/No field just fine, right?

Thanks!
Zack

Zack wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi,
> I am an access newbie and wanted to get a design check to see if I
> have done the right thing or if there is a better way.
>
> I don't like the Yes/No field option in a table. I want to have the
> actual Yes or No data in a text box. To accomplish this, I created a
> new table with one field. There are just two records in the table,
> Yes and No. I build a Drop Down box control on a form, linked it to
> this new table, and everything works just fine. I can see the Yes or
> No options and when I select one or the other, the data is properly
> entered in my main database table.
>
> So, this works...but is it good database design?
>
> I heard that lookupfields are bad (Access MVPs -- your site is
> great!). I didn't accidentally create a lookupfield, did I? I should
> be able to sort by this Yes/No field just fine, right?[/color]

No, this is not the dreaded Lookup field (unless you've chosen to link
these tables with the Lookup wizard). Yes, you can sort.

The table with a Yes and a No record is a little overdone; for a
combobox, you can select "Value List" as rowsourcetype, and have
"Yes;No" as rowsource.

As long as Yes and No will be the only possibilities for the field, you
can safely choose a Yes/No field. Any time you use output from that
table, you can format it the way you like.

The only real disadvantage I can come up with for your approach is that
it is language specific. A table with a so-called boolean field will
still mean yes/no (or true/false) in other countries. "Yes" certainly
conveyes hardly meaning to a Hungarian, for instance.
--
Bas Cost Budde
http://www.heuveltop.nl/BasCB

Thanks Bas Cost Budde!

Now that I have seen a better way, my approach was indeed overdone. I
did what you said and it works perfectly. Thank you very much!

Zack




Bas Cost Budde <bas@heuveltop.org> wrote in message news:<bvoqsd$qvv$1@news2.solcon.nl>...[color=blue]
> Zack wrote:
>[color=green]
> > Hi,
> > I am an access newbie and wanted to get a design check to see if I
> > have done the right thing or if there is a better way.
> >
> > I don't like the Yes/No field option in a table. I want to have the
> > actual Yes or No data in a text box. To accomplish this, I created a
> > new table with one field. There are just two records in the table,
> > Yes and No. I build a Drop Down box control on a form, linked it to
> > this new table, and everything works just fine. I can see the Yes or
> > No options and when I select one or the other, the data is properly
> > entered in my main database table.
> >
> > So, this works...but is it good database design?
> >
> > I heard that lookupfields are bad (Access MVPs -- your site is
> > great!). I didn't accidentally create a lookupfield, did I? I should
> > be able to sort by this Yes/No field just fine, right?[/color]
>
> No, this is not the dreaded Lookup field (unless you've chosen to link
> these tables with the Lookup wizard). Yes, you can sort.
>
> The table with a Yes and a No record is a little overdone; for a
> combobox, you can select "Value List" as rowsourcetype, and have
> "Yes;No" as rowsource.
>
> As long as Yes and No will be the only possibilities for the field, you
> can safely choose a Yes/No field. Any time you use output from that
> table, you can format it the way you like.
>
> The only real disadvantage I can come up with for your approach is that
> it is language specific. A table with a so-called boolean field will
> still mean yes/no (or true/false) in other countries. "Yes" certainly
> conveyes hardly meaning to a Hungarian, for instance.[/color]