How do I create a join file? I understand the need for one, but I don't know how to structure it. What types of fields do I need, and where? Please answer this like I was a 5th grader...I need specifics. -) Or is there an article or web site somewhere that spells it out? Thanks for any help...I'm working on 3 solutions that all need one and I'm at a stand-still.

Susan

It's hard to get specifics when you don't give specifics... . Your question is a little like "How do I fix my car?". It really depends upon what car you have and what's wrong with it, there is no universal answer.

So you get generalities... A join file is used to break a many-to-many relationship into two one-to-many relationships. For instance, the classic example is Students and Classes. Each student can have many classes and each class has many students. To connect classes to students we use a Join file in which each entry is "one student/one class". This file would contain a minimum of two fields, the key field from the Students file and the key field from the Classes file. Specifics of how you set this up, what fields you need, and how to create records really depend upon what you are trying to do.

-bd

Relational database development is an old and well documented discipline. There are probably more books on this subject than ther are database developers.

Do a search on Amazon.com, or check you local bookstore or even library and you will find a plethora of information on this subject.

As Liveoak said, this is not an easily answerable question and will require quite a bit more detailed information and planning to make it all work as you intend it to.

The good news is that once you learn this stuff you will open up whole new worlds of possibilities for your databases.