auto fill values in a table based on a column in the same table

[khengi]

Hi,
I'm a newbie, so I guess this is a question that expresses my total
ignorance, but never the less:
I have an old table into which I want to add a column that will
automatically update based on one of the existing columns. The
existing column contains a text string, and the new one should contain
a part of it, using text trancation functions (such as left, mid,
etc.. with which I'm familiar). Is This possible?
Should this be done using a macro on old records? how about new
records?

Thanks in advance,
Chen.

[DavidB]

On Jun 12, 4:16 pm, "khe...@zahav.n et.il" <khe...@zahav.n et.ilwrote:

Hi,
I'm a newbie, so I guess this is a question that expresses my total
ignorance, but never the less:
I have an old table into which I want to add a column that will
automatically update based on one of the existing columns. The
existing column contains a text string, and the new one should contain
a part of it, using text trancation functions (such as left, mid,
etc.. with which I'm familiar). Is This possible?
Should this be done using a macro on old records? how about new
records?

Thanks in advance,
Chen.

It is possible to do this however what is your objective? Why store
redundant data?

[khengi]

It is possible to do this however what is your objective? Why store
redundant data?

SInce this is an old DB, I think it will simplify future queries I
might need to add, provided this can be utilized in a simple enough
manner.

[Larry Linson]

<kh****@zahav.n et.ilwrote in message
news:11******** **************@ n15g2000prd.goo glegroups.com.. .

>

>It is possible to do this however what is your objective? Why store
redundant data?

SInce this is an old DB, I think it will simplify future queries I
might need to add, provided this can be utilized in a simple enough
manner.

If you could be a little more specific, perhaps we'd have a better chance of
offereing a useful suggestion.

It would be particularly useful if you'd explain in detail what you mean by
"I have an old table into which I want to add a column that will
automatically update based on one of the existing columns." If you intend a
"Calculated Column," calculated based on another column in the same Record,
that's not the way to do it -- you should calculate it in a Query when you
need it.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

[khengi]

Larry Linson :

<kh****@zahav.n et.ilwrote in message
news:11******** **************@ n15g2000prd.goo glegroups.com.. .

It is possible to do this however what is your objective? Why store
redundant data?

SInce this is an old DB, I think it will simplify future queries I
might need to add, provided this can be utilized in a simple enough
manner.

If you could be a little more specific, perhaps we'd have a better chance of
offereing a useful suggestion.

It would be particularly useful if you'd explain in detail what you mean by
"I have an old table into which I want to add a column that will
automatically update based on one of the existing columns." If you intend a
"Calculated Column," calculated based on another column in the same Record,
that's not the way to do it -- you should calculate it in a Query when you
need it.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

Thank you for trying to help.
What you described above is actually what I meant - I need to update
one field based on another field in the same record, say if I have a
textual field A which is always an 8 characters' string, i'd like
field B of the same record to automatically update to represent the 3
leftmost characters of that string.
I have tried doing that using a query to no avail. Could you please
outline the procedure for doing that?

Thanks again,
Chen.