Tim K. wrote:
Howdy,
I'm looking for only a few hints - I need to figure as much of this out on
my own as possible so I'll learn it.
I'm doing a field study on a mosquito impoundment on some mangrove islands
in Florida and instead of taking the easy way out and just using Excel I'd
like to do this in Access. What I'm doing is doing belt transects across a
dike and sampling vegetation, stem diameters and line intercept.
Here's the physical data: Transect Number, Transect Length, 2 sets of GPS
coordinates, a water depth reading. I'm thinking that in one table and link
it to another by Transect Number. Then another table for line intercept
data with plant species in a dropdown and then pairs of lengths along a tape
measure, say black mangrove goes from 20cm to 45cm and also from 355cm to
500cm. I need it to subtract to determine each intercept and then sum them
(15+145=150 in the above example). Yet another table for stem densities for
each species, each stem diameter is measured twice and averaged. Then that
will need to be summed.
Any hints/suggestions would be greatly appreciated - not the answer, enough
where I can (hopefully) figure out the answer for myself.
Thanks!
I doubt if many people here know what a belt transect is. Same with a
line intercept. You state "I need to figure as much of this out on my
own as possible so I'll learn it." That may be very correct....to much
forest, not many trees.
You need to look at table structures. I believe that in your case the
key to all tables should be an autonumber field (I rarely create a key
in a table that is not autonumber). I recomment you never use spaces in
your field name. I recomment that you create field names with each word
capitalized. Ex: Transect Number is TransectNumber is the table field name
Now, figure out where the fields go. You might have TNID (autonumber),
then TransectNumber, then water depth. I guess I'd also store the GPS
coordinates in the record since it is related to that TNID.
I would create a table, lookup, to store the various types of
vegetation. VeggieID and VeggieName.
I would create a table, lookup, to store the various types of Species.
SpeciesID (autonumber) and SpeciesName.
Then I'd have a TransectVegetat ion table. This would store your. TVID,
TNID, VeggieID, and the 4 line intercepts.
Then I'd have a TransectSpecies table. This would store your species
info. TSID, TNID, StemInfo fields.
I think that's what you need. Just guessing. You get the gist.
Now create a form based on the Transect number table.
Next, create a form based on the Transect vegetation table.
The VeggieID field would be a combo box linked to the Veggie lookup table.
Next, create a form based on the Transect Species table.
The SpeciesID field would be a combo box linked to the Species lookup table.
Now, open the main form for Transect table and select from the toolbar
the subform control. Select the form TransectVeggie. Link the two
forms to the TNID. Do the same for TransectSpecies .
You now have a form/subform. You enter the transect table info and then
select the vegetation from the combo in the subform and enter the 4 line
intercepts.
