Need a little guidance (beginner)

[pestul]

I'm quite new with Access so please bare with me. I'm pretty sure what
I'm looking for will require the integration with VB to function
properly.

Here's what I have:
Portfolios for inviduals who have taken part in courses at this
department.

Information includes:
Name (First/Last)
Phone (Work/Home/Cell)
Address (#, street, postal code, city)
Position/Classification
Exercises completed

What I need to accomplish:
I need to create a front-end/database whereby an individual can input
searches based on: Name, location (city) or exercises(preferably a
drop-down menu for the last two).

The output for Name would result in thier contact information/position
being displayed as well as the exercises they have completed. It
doesn't have to use 'Like' to acheive this because I can specify that
the exact first/last names be inputed.

The output for Location (again preferably a drop down list).. would in
theory optimally give me a list of individuals from that location by
name. The names could then be selectable leading to the output from
the name search criteria above.

The output for Exercises (drop down selection) would give a list of
names of individuals who have completed that exercise. This would work
as above and be a selectable interface.

I know this sounds like a daunting task for a beginner, but I have had
some experience with VB/Access in the past and I'm sure I'd pick up on
it quickly. There's no real deadline for this database, just something
we've been wanting to do for a while.

If you could point me to where I can find resources or examples
similiar to what I'm requesting that would be great.

Thanks,
Nate

[pestul]

I should probably also note that there are no distinct primary key
references I can assign for each individual (ie. no course reference
#s, no personal id numbers). All I have is the text information I
listed in the first post.

Thanks,
Nate

[pietlinden]

I might do this as a standard students-classes database.

student--(1,M)--ClassRoster--(m,1)--Class

Exercise--(1,M)---ClassRoster(you may need an alternate PK for that)

Daunting for a beginner, yeah, but surf around for schemas for this. I
am almost positive there's one in Elmasri & Navathe's book if you're
doing this in school or something. Either that or search this NG or
the web for a students-classes schema. Once your db is set up right,
the rest of the stuff you describe is a walk.

[pietlinden]

well, that's a BAD thing. No PK's mean no really easily maintainable
relationships and why use a DB without tables and relationships? I
mean, you *can* query Excel. for some stuff it's great, but for a
database, it aint.