Selecting value list category when entering field

[El_Pablo]

I really don't know how to write this down, but anyway I hope someone could decrypt my text­.

First, let say I want to create a house building database.

- Houses table, which are the houses to build.

- Components table, which contains all the stuff such as windows type, roofing, doors, etc. where each record holds the standard pricing for each component.

- Categories table, which is the components categories.

- There are all the tables that links the houses table with the components. (selectedWindows, selectedRoofing, selectedDoors, ...)

So here are my relationships

By nbourre

As you can see, there are multiple occurrences for components.

How can I create a value list that select only the good category of components? With the less thinking for the user.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Guest

[mr_vodka]

How can I create a value list that select only the good category of components? With the less thinking for the user.

What is a good category?

[El_Pablo]

Let say there's house layout on which we have a single field for each kind of components.

The drop-down list are windows::fkStructureID, doors::fkStructureID and roofing::fkStructureID.

Since all these components are in a single a table, how can I categorize the components value list?

[El_Pablo]

I've found a workaround. Since all the values are categorized with a primary key, I've created a drop-down list table in which there is only unstored calculation of values from 1 to 8.

I attach an occurrence of the components table to the ddl table for each category.

Here's the picture.

By nbourre

This way, I don't need to manage a global value to select the right value list and there's no screen flickering.