Help with coding and setting up a functioning keyword search

[rlemusic]

Hi everybody,

I’m creating a database in Access (I believe it’s 2000) to catalogue items in the archives of a small museum. I’m a total n00b as far as using Access goes, but by looking at some online tutorials and how the museum’s existing collections catalogue is set up in Access, I’ve been able to come up with a basic database that suits the museum’s needs.

My biggest issues right now concern Relationships and Codes. I managed to get a working relationship between the main archives table (tblMainArchives) and a separate table for categories (tblCategories), but my boss also suggested creating separate tables for the storage location of archives as well as for keywords. Basically, we’re trying to make the archives database a bit more functional than the collections database by including a searchable section for keywords so that if, for instance, someone is searching for all letters (keyword) written by Smith (keyword) or all photos (keyword) depicting the interior (keyword) of the museum (keyword), that would be easily doable and then one could either view scans of the material in the database or use the database to find the location of the object in the archives. Hopefully that wasn’t too complicated.

I’m not really dealing with the storage location situation for the time being since we’re still working out how to organize that, but we’re really hoping to get a searchable keywords thing going. Currently I have a field for Keywords in tblMainArchives and I also have a table for keywords (tblKeywords), but I’m not sure if I’ve set up a proper relationship between the two, or if I even need one.

Looking at this site, I’ve found two posts with similar questions regarding a keyword search, but since I have no idea how to deal with code, even after reading some tutorials, I wasn’t really able to use the information in those posts (Search by multiple keywords and Search form with checkboxes and keywords) to help me. What I’d like to create is not only a searchable database, but a searchable keywords section. I’d like each entry to have its keywords viewable in the form (frmArchives) along with all other information such as accession number, title, etc., but I’d also like for the keywords section to be searchable so that other entries with the same keywords entered in a search can also be located. Also, as in one of those previous posts, I’d like the keywords to be located even if it’s out of order (i.e., a search for “Smith, letter” will locate an entry even if it’s entered as “letter, Smith” in the keywords). Does that make sense, and is it possible?

If you’re willing to help out with coding and all that, I’d appreciate it if you could please explain it and dumb it down as much as possible so that I can understand it. Also, if you need any more information, just ask!

Thanks in advance,
Rebecca

[hyperpau]

Hi everybody,

I’m creating a database in Access (I believe it’s 2000) to catalogue items in the archives of a small museum. I’m a total n00b as far as using Access goes, but by looking at some online tutorials and how the museum’s existing collections catalogue is set up in Access, I’ve been able to come up with a basic database that suits the museum’s needs.

My biggest issues right now concern Relationships and Codes. I managed to get a working relationship between the main archives table (tblMainArchives) and a separate table for categories (tblCategories), but my boss also suggested creating separate tables for the storage location of archives as well as for keywords. Basically, we’re trying to make the archives database a bit more functional than the collections database by including a searchable section for keywords so that if, for instance, someone is searching for all letters (keyword) written by Smith (keyword) or all photos (keyword) depicting the interior (keyword) of the museum (keyword), that would be easily doable and then one could either view scans of the material in the database or use the database to find the location of the object in the archives. Hopefully that wasn’t too complicated.

I’m not really dealing with the storage location situation for the time being since we’re still working out how to organize that, but we’re really hoping to get a searchable keywords thing going. Currently I have a field for Keywords in tblMainArchives and I also have a table for keywords (tblKeywords), but I’m not sure if I’ve set up a proper relationship between the two, or if I even need one.

Looking at this site, I’ve found two posts with similar questions regarding a keyword search, but since I have no idea how to deal with code, even after reading some tutorials, I wasn’t really able to use the information in those posts (Search by multiple keywords and Search form with checkboxes and keywords) to help me. What I’d like to create is not only a searchable database, but a searchable keywords section. I’d like each entry to have its keywords viewable in the form (frmArchives) along with all other information such as accession number, title, etc., but I’d also like for the keywords section to be searchable so that other entries with the same keywords entered in a search can also be located. Also, as in one of those previous posts, I’d like the keywords to be located even if it’s out of order (i.e., a search for “Smith, letter” will locate an entry even if it’s entered as “letter, Smith” in the keywords). Does that make sense, and is it possible?

If you’re willing to help out with coding and all that, I’d appreciate it if you could please explain it and dumb it down as much as possible so that I can understand it. Also, if you need any more information, just ask!

Thanks in advance,
Rebecca

As i read your post, I think what you would like to do is a certain
form where the customers could enter a key word, then click a button,
then all matching results would be shown, right?

If yes, then this is where a query would be very helpful
if you want to find a keyword "Smith" and locate records that has "Smith" in it
even if it contains other words or letters, you will just need a wild card which is represented by the % sign on the criteria of your query.
example: Criteria: Like %Smith%

This would return all records that has smith in it.

You may want a form bound to that parameter query and setup the search form to open that results form based on the keywords supplied in the search form.

[rlemusic]

As i read your post, I think what you would like to do is a certain form where the customers could enter a key word, then click a button, then all matching results would be shown, right?

Basically; the database is just going to be used by museum employees, and it's to help us as well as answer any archival questions directed towards us by patrons or whomever, but that's essentially it. Also, it wouldn't necessarily be a singular keyword, but multiple keywords could be searched at one time in order to filter results.

I actually had thought of a query, but since we tend to do seaches and the like in the form view using the binoculars for our existing collections database, I was wondering if it was possible to do a keyword search beyond the scope of the binoculars search for this new archives database.