Create an Access 2007 lookup field column

When you enter data into a Access2007 table, it is often the case that the data entered is a value in a data collection. For example, when you enter a teacher's title, it must be a value in the collection of titles "Professor, associate professor, lecturer, teaching assistant". The easiest way to do this type of data is to create the field column directly by using the method provided by Access2007 to insert the lookup column, or to set it in query Design view after you add the Teacher title field.

When you insert a lookup field, you can select the data from a list without entering the data. This not only speeds up the data input speed, but also guarantees the correctness of the input data.

There are two things about the source of a lookup field value: A lookup column looks up a value in a table or query, and creates a value list.

Create a Value list lookup field column

Create a Value list lookup field column

Example 1 in the Teachers table, insert the Lookup field column for the title, which is as follows:

(1) Open the "Teaching management" database "teachers" table.

(2) On the Datasheet tab, in the Fields and Columns group, select the Lookup Column button.

(3) In the open "Please determine the way to obtain its value" dialog box, select the Use Lookup Column lookup table or query values radio button, and then click Next button, as shown in Figure 1.

(4) In the open "make sure which values are displayed in the Lookup Column" dialog box, in the list, enter professor, associate professor, lecturer, and Assistant, and then click Next, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1 Determining how a lookup column gets its numeric value

Figure 2 Determining the values contained in a lookup column

(5) In the open Please specify label for lookup Column dialog box, enter title, and then click Next, as shown in Figure 3.

Insert the result of the Lookup field column, as shown in Figure 4. When you click the Drop-down button on the Title field, the title list appears.

Figure 3 Specifying a label for a lookup column

Figure 4 Insert the result of the title lookup field column