advice on starting a database

[GLEberts]

I want to make a database for my company to do a few simple tasks.
As much as I have researched that I should use the theory when developing this that information should not be duplicated in tables. therefore I am working on the following:
(1) Make a table for my customer list
(2) within the customer list I am pulling information from a query "qyCSZ" that is a combo box that I pick the city from the drop down box and then it autopopulates the state and zip - I used "=comboboxname. column(n) for that.
It works on the form but does not save the state an zip in the customer table.
as a begining novice obviously I am setting somthing up incorrectly. Can anyone steer me in the right direction on the proper way to make this?
Thanks for your Help!
Gary

[missinglinq]

One of the cardinal rules of relational databases is, indeed, to redundantly store as little information as possible. It doesn't mean you never store the same bit of data in more than one table; you obviously have to do this in order to have Primary Keys/Foreign Keys, but you do it as little as possible. It's good that you've grasped this basic early in your development career!

What fields are visible in your City/State/Zip combobox? I ask this because, obviously, more than one state can have a municipality named Mechanicsville in it. In point of fact, there may be more than one city/town named Mechanicsville within a single state, so you need to be able to see all three fields to insure that you're picking the right one.

For the data placed in the Zip textbox on you form to appear in the customer table, the textbox must be bound to the field in the table that will hold the Zipcode.

In Form Design View, right click on the textbox, click on Properties, go to the Data tab and look at the property box for Control Source. My guess would be that the box is empty. Click on the dropdown arrow and select the field from the customer table that will hold the Zip. Your Zipcode should now be saved to the table.

Welcome to TheScripts!

Linq ;0)>

BTW,it's a real pleasure to have a newbie ask for direction early in the development process, rather than blundering around like the proverbial bull in the china shop, writing tons of code without any real understanding of what they're doing, then posting a thread that says "What's wrong with this?" I look forward to working with you in the future!

[GLEberts]

Hi Linq,
Thanks for your nice comments. I have many weaknesses but - One of my strenghts is to ask the experts and get the job done right instead of thinking that I know what I am doing when I don't. I am really enjoying spending time doing this and look forward in developing a database for my company. I know it is baby steps.
Let me summarize what I am trying to achevie and you can give me your advice on what is the best steps to take.

I. Make a customer list that I will pull information from to fill in other forms.
II. What I have done so far is make a customer table - tblCustomerList
III. I would like to input all the information except the City, State and Zip
Iv. I would like to make a drop down box for the CSZ that will give me
choices.
V. What I have done so far is make a table = tblCSZ and a form fmCSZ
that has the city, state and zip info available.
VI. I have made a table - tblCSZ
VI. In the form - fmCSZ I have made a City combo box cboCSZ - bound to a
query - qyCSZ

VII. In the form I have made two text boxes for the State an zip code with this in the =cboCSZ.column( n)
VIII. In the form view The information is correct but as you probably already
know the state an zip is not stored in the table.
IX. My thought to do is is because when I make another table = tblAppts that
I would like to have a drop down box that I can autopopulate the customer
information into it.
Let me know if this makes sense to what I am trying to do.
Thanks for your help!
Gary

[NeoPa]

I thought a link to Normalisation and Table structures couldn't do any harm at this stage.