Creating a Table Inside A Table

Question

I want to create a table that is more extensive for the first one. I need to have the second table to be very brief but it needs to have different fields then what the first table has. I am creating this table for a farming game and I need to keep up to date on crop rotation, spray and fertilizing. I already added all the herbicides, fertilizers, and Lime. I need this second table to only say Soil moisture, Nutrients (PK) Nutrients (N) Weed Infestation, Herbicide, Weed prevention, and Soil PH. I also need to combine these into the first table to calculate what I need to put on the field. I already have all the numbers and a rough database but I am trying to tie it all in by doing it this way. Is Excel my better option? I hope not lol Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm not so sure that Excel is the better tool. What you are describing sounds like a relational database where there are child tables related to a main table. While your description of a table within a table is not the best way to express it, it does sound like you are talking about related tables. 

Saying that, I don't think your database is designed properly. It sounds like you are encoding data using field names, which is not good design. I would suggest that, before you go any further, you do some research and try to understand the principles of normalization. After that, if you need more help designing your tables, come back and describe the data you are collecting.

Answer 2

As Gina said, Access does not work directly that way.  Each table is structured independently..

That being said, you can create tables that are related to other tables, logically dependent or associated on other tables. That is the whole basis of "relational databases".  The 2 tables can have totally different data, except for the shared key used to access the dependent table.

so you have table 1: crop, spray, fertilizer type, fertilizer rate(?), herbicide(?)

You want table 2: soil moisture, nutrients PK, nutrients N, weed species(?), herbicide, weed prevention, soil pH.

You need some additional keys to identify the specific field so that you could link the data in the 2 tables.  Absolute minimum would be something like field number.  That field num would have to relate back to a farm or farmer table that matches field nums to specific farms/farmers.

Here is a link to a site with many free download books on Access.

https://it-ebooks.info/search/?q=microsoft+access&type=title

Answer 3

Hmm, that is not how Access works.  Those tables just hold data and you use Forms and Queries to get what you want.  That said it does sound like Excel would be better option for you if you are just looking to build something like a *cheat sheet* for a game.