how would i go about setting up a system where users could type in a code from a given list (a list of about 100) and enter data pertaining to the code (a time card). i would then like to track how many hours have been allocated to each code. could anyone provide some insight please?

You'd want to have a main file that contained user records (a users db) and a related file (a userID_to_userID type of relationship) that you would view via a portal that would contain your code/description (hours) entries. Because your list of codes is so large, you might want a separate table just for the codes rather than trying to use a value list. You'd create a constant-to-constant relationship from your hours db to your code db and create a layout on your hours db that had a portal that looked at your code db records via the constant-to-constant relationship.

So in your user file, you'd have a script that would create a new record in the hours db and and take the user to the hours db to the layout where they could pick the code that applied to the entry in the hours db. Selecting a code from the portal list would set a field in your hours db that recorded the selected code. After all that is done, the script would return the user back to their main record.