Autofill records because data is repetitive

[Sherry]

Is there a way to automatically, or by using say a function key,
call/paste into a current table or query's field the same value entered

for the same field in the immediately preceeding record, when values
for a
given field are often repetitive? I have a record with 7 fields that
will be the same of all the records, only 2 fields (id number & amount)
will differ. I am trying to save the client unnecessary keystrokes.
Thanks,
Sherry

[Tim Dunne]

It sounds to me that you would want to create a form based on the
constant information. Create a subform on that form that has only the
two fields that are changing. However, if you are entering the same 7
fields for every record into one table, you have a larger issue with
normalization and I would rethink the structure of the database.

I really hope my two cents helps.

Sherry wrote:

Is there a way to automatically, or by using say a function key,
call/paste into a current table or query's field the same value entered

for the same field in the immediately preceeding record, when values
for a
given field are often repetitive? I have a record with 7 fields that
will be the same of all the records, only 2 fields (id number & amount)
will differ. I am trying to save the client unnecessary keystrokes.
Thanks,
Sherry

[Jamey Shuemaker]

Sounds like you may have some normalization issues here, as Tim
mentioned, above. If data is ALWAYS, or in some cases, OFTEN, the same
in multiple fields then those fields are not truly unique to the record
you are creating. Depending on the structure of your tables, you may
want to further normalize your data by storing some of the fields in a
table further up the relational structure.

For example:

If you have an Order table that lists the OrderID and the OrderDate
with a subordinate OrderItem table containing each item ordered by
OrderItemID and OrderItemQuantity, you wouldn't want to store Order
specific information like DeliveryAddress, RequestedDeliveryDate,
BillingAddress, and VendorID in the OrderItem table.

However, if each OrderItem can have a different DeliveryAddress or
RequestedDeliveryDate, you may need the structure you seem to infer.

You would have to ensure that you don't have data that belongs to an
Order entity in your OrderItem table to properly normalize such a
structure. If everyone of your repetitive fields may or will have
different data for different order types, then you will need to follow
Tim's advice and either reset the default values for consecutive
records or provide values via coded variables.

[Kc-Mass]

This seems like a request to emulate the "Set Carry On" feature of the old
XBase programs.
I saw a subroutine to do this where I believe the current values of the form
fields were stored to variables when those records were committed. The
variables were then used to initialize the fields on the next iteration of
the form. It could carry 1, 2,3...or all the values of the form.
"Sherry" <db****@comcast.netwrote in message
news:11*********************@m73g2000cwd.googlegro ups.com...

Is there a way to automatically, or by using say a function key,
call/paste into a current table or query's field the same value entered

for the same field in the immediately preceeding record, when values
for a
given field are often repetitive? I have a record with 7 fields that
will be the same of all the records, only 2 fields (id number & amount)
will differ. I am trying to save the client unnecessary keystrokes.
Thanks,
Sherry

[Bas Cost Budde]

Hm; you don't need variables for that. I usually do, in the afterupdate
event of a control named ctlField:

ctlfield.defaultvalue = ctlfield.value

if the control is a text, that must read

ctlfield.defaultvalue = "'" & ctlfield.value & "'"

Kc-Mass schreef:

This seems like a request to emulate the "Set Carry On" feature of the old
XBase programs.
I saw a subroutine to do this where I believe the current values of the form
fields were stored to variables when those records were committed. The
variables were then used to initialize the fields on the next iteration of
the form. It could carry 1, 2,3...or all the values of the form.
"Sherry" <db****@comcast.netwrote in message
news:11*********************@m73g2000cwd.googlegro ups.com...

>Is there a way to automatically, or by using say a function key,
call/paste into a current table or query's field the same value entered

for the same field in the immediately preceeding record, when values
for a
given field are often repetitive? I have a record with 7 fields that
will be the same of all the records, only 2 fields (id number & amount)
will differ. I am trying to save the client unnecessary keystrokes.
Thanks,
Sherry

--
Bas Cost Budde
Holland
www.heuveltop.nl/BasCB/msac_index.html

[Sherry]

Thank you all for your advice. I'm not sure I was very clear in what I
wanted to accomplish. I need to create a file of transactions for a
college class. Each student in the class shares similar information
(class name, class day, class time, number of hours, etc) What is
unique about each record is the student's id & the student's phone
number. The end result of the data base file is my transaction file
which will be uploaded to the mainframe and will be an input file to an
existing process. The existing process expects all the records to have
all the necessary values. I was hoping the client would enter ALL the
data on line one and from line 2 to the last line, she would only have
to put in the student's id & phone number. However, each record when
written would contain ALL the data (the two unique data items plus the
data which is the same for each student.
Sherry

Bas Cost Budde wrote:

Hm; you don't need variables for that. I usually do, in the afterupdate
event of a control named ctlField:

ctlfield.defaultvalue = ctlfield.value

if the control is a text, that must read

ctlfield.defaultvalue = "'" & ctlfield.value & "'"

Kc-Mass schreef:

This seems like a request to emulate the "Set Carry On" feature of the old
XBase programs.
I saw a subroutine to do this where I believe the current values of the form
fields were stored to variables when those records were committed. The
variables were then used to initialize the fields on the next iteration of
the form. It could carry 1, 2,3...or all the values of the form.
"Sherry" <db****@comcast.netwrote in message
news:11*********************@m73g2000cwd.googlegro ups.com...

Is there a way to automatically, or by using say a function key,
call/paste into a current table or query's field the same value entered

for the same field in the immediately preceeding record, when values
for a
given field are often repetitive? I have a record with 7 fields that
will be the same of all the records, only 2 fields (id number & amount)
will differ. I am trying to save the client unnecessary keystrokes.
Thanks,
Sherry

--
Bas Cost Budde
Holland
www.heuveltop.nl/BasCB/msac_index.html