Access query is duplicating unique records / Linked table issues

Question

I hope someone can help me with this:

I have a simple query combining a list of names and basic details with another table containing more specific information. Some names will necessarily appear more than once and arbitrary distinctions like "John Smith 1" and "John Smith 2" are not an option, so I have been using an autonumber to keep the records distinct.

The problem is that my query is creating two records for each name that appears more than once. For example, there are two clients named 'Sophoan', each with a different id number, and the query has picked up each one twice resulting in four records (in total there are 122 records when there should only be 102). 'Unique values' is set to 'yes'.

I've researched as much as I can and am completely stuck. I've tried to tinker with sql but it always comes back with errors, I presume because there are too many fields in the query.

What am I missing? Or is a query the wrong approach and I need to find another way to combine my tables?

Project in detail: I'm building a database for a charity which has two main activities: social work and training. The database is to record their client information and the results of their interactions with clients (issues they asked for help with, results of training workshops etc.). Some clients will cross over between activities which the organisation wants to track, hence all registered clients go into one list and individual tables spin of that to collect data for each specific activity the client takes part in. This query is supposed to be my solution for combining these tables for data entry by the user.

At present I have the following tables:

• AllList (master list of client names and basic contact info; 'Social Work Register' and 'Participant Register' join to this table by 'Name')
• Social Work Register (list of social work clients with full details of each case)
• Social Work Follow-up Table (used when staff call social work clients to see how their issue is progressing; the register has too many columns to hold this as well; joined to Register by 'Client Name')
• Participants Register (list of clients for training and details of which workshops they were attended and why they were absent if they missed a session)
• Individual workshop tables x14 (each workshop includes a test and these tables records the clients answers and their score for each individual test; there will be more than 20 of these when the database is finished; all joined to the 'Participants Register' by 'Participant Name')

Queries:

• Participant Overview Query (links the attendance data from the 'Register' with the grading data from each Workshop to present a read-only overview; this one seems to work perfectly)
• Social Work Query (non-functional; intended to link the 'Client Register' to the 'AllList' for data entry so that when a new client
  is registered it creates a new record in both tables, with the
  records matched together)
• Participant Query (not yet attempted; as above, intended to link the 'Participant Register' to the 'AllList' for data entry)

BUT I realised that queries can't be used for data entry, so this approach seems to be a dead end. I have had some success with using subforms for data entry but I'm not sure if it's the best way.

So, what I'm basically hoping to achieve is a way to input the same data to two tables simultaneously (for new records) and have the resulting records matched together (for new entries to existing records). But it needs to be possible for the same name to appear more than once as a unique record (e.g. three individuals named John Smith).

[N.B. There are more tables that store secondary information but aren't relevant to the issue as they are not and will not be linked to any other tables.]

Answer 1

I realised that queries can't be used for data entry

Actually, non-complex queries are usually editable as long as the table whose data you want to edit remains 'at the core' of the query. Access applies a number of factors to determine if a query is editable or not.
Most of the time, it's fairly easy to figure out why a query has become non-editable.
Ask yourself the question: if I edit that data, how will Access ensure that exactly that data will be updated, without ambiguity?

If your tables have defined primary keys and these are part of your query, and if there are no grouping, calculated fields (fields that use some function to change or test the value of that field), or complex joins, then the query should remain editable.
You can read more about that here:

• How to troubleshoot errors that may occur when you update data in Access queries and in Access forms
• Dealing with Non-Updateable Microsoft Access Queries and the Use of Temporary Tables.

So, what I'm basically hoping to achieve is a way to input the same data to two tables simultaneously (for new records) and have the resulting records matched together (for new entries to existing records). But it needs to be possible for the same name to appear more than once as a unique record (e.g. three individuals named John Smith).

This remark actually proves that you have design issues in your database.

A basic tenet of Database Design is to remove redundancy as much as possible. One of the reasons is actually to avoid having to update the same data in multiple places.

Another remark: you are using the Client's name as a Natural Key. Frankly, it is not a very good idea. Generally, you want to make sure that what constitutes a Primary key for a table is reliably unique over time.
Using people's names is generally the wrong choice because:

• people change name, for instance in many cultures, women change their family name after they get married.
  There could also have been a typo when entering the name and now it can be hard to correct it if that data is used as a Foreign Key all in different tables.
• as your database grows, you are likely to end up with some people having the same name, creating conflicts, or forcing the user to make changes to that name so it doesn't create a duplicate.

The best way to enforce uniqueness of records in a table is to use the default AutoNumber ID field proposed by Access when you create a new table. This is called a Surrogate key.
It's not mean to be edited, changed or even displayed to the user. It's sole purpose is to allow the primary key of a table to be unique and non-changing over time, so it can reliably be used as a way to reference a record from one table to another (if a table needs to refer to a particular record, it will contain a field that will hold that ID. That field is called a Foreign Key).

The names you have for your tables are not precise enough: think of each table as an Entity holding related data.
The fact that you have a table called AllList means that its purpose isn't that well-thought of; it sounds like a catch-all rather than a carefully crafted entity.
Instead, if this is your list of clients, then simply call it Client. Each record of that table holds the information for a single client (whether to use plural or singular is up to you, just stick to your choice though, being consistent is hugely important).
Instead of using the client's name as a key, create an ID field, an Autonumber, and set it as Primary Key.

Let's also rename the "Social Work Register", which holds the Client's cases, simply as ClientCase. That relationship seems clear from your description of the table but it's not clear in the table name itself (by the way, I know Access allows spaces in table and field names, but it's a really bad idea to use them if you care at least a little bit about the future of your work).

In that, create a ClientID Number field (a Foreign Key) that will hold the related Client's ID in the ClientCase table.

You don't talk about the relationship between a Client and its Cases. This is another area where you must be clear: how many cases can a single Client have?

• At most 1 Case ? (0 or 1 Case)
• exactly 1 Case?
• at least one Case? (1 or more Cases)
• any number of Cases? (0 or more Cases)

Knowing this is important for selecting the right type of JOIN in your queries. It's a crucial part of the design assumptions when building your database.

For instance, in the most general case, assuming that a Client can have 0 or more cases, you could have a report that displays the Client's Name and the number of cases related to them like this:

SELECT Client.Name,
       Count(ClientCase.ID) AS CountOfCases
FROM Client
  LEFT JOIN ClientCase
     ON Client.ID = ClienCase.ClientID
GROUP BY Client.Name

---

You've described your basic design a bit more, but that's not enough. Show us the actual table structures and the SQL of the queries you tried. From the description you give, it's hard to really understand the actual details of the design and to tell you why it fails and how to make it work.