I run a sports program where i have a master roll of who is in which class in excel. I want to link this to a database in access that stores the other information about each athlete, e.g. address, parents name, school, medical details. I want to be able to add names to class in the excel speadsheet and have this automatically generate a record for that person in access. There also needs to be some failsafe for athletes that are in multiple classes. I was also doing class roles as pivot tables out of the access database so i need to code for classes and also have this allow for athletes in multiple classes/disciplines.
+3
A:
It is easy enough to update an Access table from Excel via ADO, after that it is very much about your tables and indexes. If you are not familiar with relational databases, you might like to read http://r937.com/relational.html. That being said, it would be a lot easier to work in Access and output to Excel when necessary.
Remou
2010-02-13 15:59:49
I agree, much better to have all the info in Access, then export to Excel for reports.
guitarthrower
2010-02-13 17:17:34
Access wont show the full master roll the way excel does, so i need to work in excel with access having the additional information, otherwise i would need to run a report everytime i had a class inquiry....
Mel
2010-02-14 06:18:24
Eh? What do you mean by "Access won't show the full master roll the way Excel does"?
David-W-Fenton
2010-02-14 20:04:13
A:
I agree I think this is a classic case of trying to get excel to do something its not best for. If you try to create some kind of hybrid system with excel pushing data into access then it will end in tears at some point.
The best thing in this case would be to port the whole thing to some kind of database. If the number of uses and the usage falls into the range for access/jet then that would be a great choice. If more users/higher usage is going to be needed then maybe look to SQL express to hold the data and access as a front end.
There was a thread a few days ago about someone being sick when maintaining an access DB, he wanted to rewrite it in .net. The point of that thread boiled down to using the correct tool for the correct job. No one can blankly say “Access sucks, everything should be in SQL server/.net” because if used in the correct way and for the correct projects access is a great tool.
So to bring it back to this thread it looks like you have “outgrown” excel and should be looking at some kind of database with access being a strong candidate
Kevin Ross
2010-02-15 10:53:52
A:
If you want to display the data in Excel (so you can do sorts, filters, etc.) then you could store the data in Access as has been suggested, then instead of exporting a report every time you want to use it, link your Excel file to Access using a Database Query.
In Excel 2003 go to Data->Import External Data->New Database Query and create a new data source to your Access mdb. That way your data is stored in a much better way, whilst still having the Excel viewability that everyone(?) loves.
oharab
2010-02-15 12:23:30