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From: Dorian on 14 Apr 2010 16:10
You have a lot of duplicated information which can be eliminated.
Decide on how many tables you need and then import the data into the
separate tables elminating the duplicates.
Then you can write a small routine to link the records with the correct
primary keys and then set up your table relationships.
I'm assuming this is a one-off operation and you will maintain the data in
your db.
-- Dorian
"Give someone a fish and they eat for a day; teach someone to fish and they
eat for a lifetime".


"ChicagoPete" wrote:

> So my company just bought another company and they send me a flat text file
> with 1.5 million records of customer name/orders/transactions etc - all in
> one huge txt file. Just for fun... I imported this into Access 2007 and you
> can view the single table, can't do anything with it, a simple parameter
> search on one customer name locks up the server, Access not responding, white
> screen blah, blah blah...
>
> I tired to split the table during import with the wizard to create the 6 or
> so tables I would like to have - but it kept bombing out. When I tried a
> small sample I see I get prompts for nulls fields and am asked to "leave as
> is?" a lot, so I guess when I tried to import the complete file that is where
> it is hanging up. Don't feel like cleaning 1.5M records today.
>
> Do I set this up on a SQL backend? If so, do I create the SQL db first then
> import the text file into SQL OR do I import the text file into Access and
> use the db splitter to create the SQL side? Is there a way in SQL to split
> into seperate tables?
>
> here are the fields - (tab delimited in file, i used comma here for ease):
> Acct Num, Cust Name, Address1, City, State, Zip, Service Call Date, Item,
> Qty, Amt, Pmt Date, Service Tech, Ins Name , Ins Paid, Balance
>
> Basically I see about 20 rows per customer name, each with a different Pmt
> Date (they pay on the accounts), looking for a ledger type report to run
> based on Customer name that will show all payment dates and current balance
> due.
>
> example
> 48714 Smith, Mary 123 Main Boston MA 02134 02012010 937821a 1 2,500
> 02012010 Bob-11 2,000
>
> 48714 Smith, Mary 123 Main Boston MA 02134 02012010 937821a 1 500
> 03012010 Bob-11 1,500
>
>
> The intent is to use this data as read only, no new transactions will be
> posted, will just need to view previous balances for customers.
>
> Open to any and all ideas on this one...
>
>
>
From: Dennis on 17 Apr 2010 02:49
ChicagoPete,

I ran across this article. It discusses how to manually read in text files
in Access using VBA. Here is the link to it:

http://www.applecore99.com/gen/gen029.asp#open

You could write you own conversion program. Read it in from a text file and
then build your Access rows into the separate tables as you go.

You can also automatically fix the data as you go (set Null to "").

Plus you can display record progress information so you can see if your
program hangs up.



Good luck.

Dennis
From: PieterLinden via AccessMonster.com on 17 Apr 2010 13:48
ChicagoPete wrote:
>So my company just bought another company and they send me a flat text file
>with 1.5 million records of customer name/orders/transactions etc - all in
>one huge txt file. Just for fun... I imported this into Access 2007 and you
>can view the single table, can't do anything with it, a simple parameter
>search on one customer name locks up the server, Access not responding, white
>screen blah, blah blah...

Pete,
One option when you have huge data files is to use SQL Server Express for the
back end, because it can handle up to (I think) 4GB in the free version.
Then you can create queries etc in the Access DB. Looks like you're directly
in Access, but the data is just in a different back end. If you index
properly on both sides, it's seamless. You get the simple GUI of Access and
the storage of SQL Server. You can also buy SQL Server Developer for
ridiculously cheap. Read about it here...

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/developer.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_i_2?rh=i%3Asoftware%2Ck%3ASQL+Server+developer+2008&keywords=SQL+Server+developer+2008&ie=UTF8&qid=1271526398


For learning SQL Server, it's a STEAL.

Mary Chipman & Andy Baron wrote a book on using Access as a FE to SQL Server..
.. it's old but I think still relevant. You can get it for maybe 15 bucks at
Amazon.

--
Message posted via AccessMonster.com
http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/access-tablesdbdesign/201004/1

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