Re: Tables and data question

"Dennis" <eclecticmess_at_hotmail.com> wrote in message news:a87f231.0401211826.1909e02a_at_posting.google.com...
> If this is the wrong place to post this, I apologize.
> I am having a problem that I just can't seem to wrap my brain around
> regarding tables and their data. Part of the problem is that
> I am not sure I can even articulate the question, but here goes.
> *
> SQL Database: Book_Collection
> One table: tblBooks: Fields = Book_ID, Title, Author_ID,
> 2nd table: tblAuthors: Fields = Author_ID, Author_Name
> *
> When I enter the Author_ID in a record in the Books table, how do I
> make sure it is the correct one that corresponds to the Author_ID in
> the Author's table? It seems to me that the only way I could ever
> accomplish this would be to make a print out of my Authors table and
> refer to it when I am entering records in my Books table. If I don't,
> I will end up with Author_Ids in the Book table that do not correspond
> to the Author-Ids in the Authors table. Does that make sense? Am I
> creating the tables incorrectly?
> *
> Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.
> D.

A foreign key will prevent the user from selecting a nonsense author, and a search dialog or drop-down in the user interface offers the sort of assistance most users need for locating an author from a list of authors. Received on Thu Jan 22 2004 - 16:49:16 CET