filter data from one table based on second table without duplicates

Question

Note: I'm working with a large complex database, so for clarity's sake I have simplified the set up below.

I struggled a bit with how to title the question since it's a bit of a complex question. I hope it's accurate enough....

A bit of background first:

I have an Access 2010 database that contains a one-to-many relationship between a table Called "Products" and a table called "Datasets" (ie I have a bunch of products, and each product has multiple datasets). Each has an autonumber key field (p_ID and d_ID respectively) as well as numerous other fields.

I have a form (lets call it frm_Main) that has two subforms: sub_Products (based on the "Products" table) and sub_Datasets (based on the "Datasets" table). On the main form I have a control ctrl_SelectedProduct which is linked to [sub_Products]![p_ID] to see which record in sub_Products is selected / has the focus, and the sub_Datasets subform is linked to this control so that it only displays Datasets records that belong to the selected Products record.

On the main form I also have a number of controls that I'm using for filtering the data in the subforms. For example, I have a control ctrl_Category. I have this control coded so that when the user changes the value of the control, a filter is applied that limits the records in sub_Products to only those that have a p_Category value equal to whatever is chosen in ctrl_Category. If the control is blank, it will show all records. All this works great when if comes to filtering based on fields in the Products table.

Now the problem:

My problem is that I also want to be able to filter based on fields in the Datasets table. For example, Datasets has a field called d_Status. I want the user to be able to chose the status in a control (ctrl_Status), and based on this:

1) sub_Products will be filtered to display only those Products records that have an assotiated Datasets record (or records) that has d_Status equal to whatever was chosen in ctrl_Status

then

2) when a Products record is selected in this filtered sub_Products, sub_Datasets will only show the Datasets records that has d_Status equal to whatever was chosen in ctrl_Status

I know how to do part2. But I have no idea how to get part1 to work. Since sub_Products is currently based on the Products table, which does not have the d_Status field, I have no way to filter it based on that field. Thus, I'm assuming my first step will be to change my setup so that sub_Products is based on a query that combines the two tables (or at least adds the d_Status field).

If I do that, however, I get duplicate Product records. I can't use the query's Unique Values property because if I have a product that has two datasets, one with status "Current" and a one with status "Archived", then those aren't considered duplicates, and the product info is there twice. If I don't have the status field displayed, it shows only unique products initially, but then I can't subsequently apply a filter based on that non-displayed field.

I also tried basing sub_Products on a Totals query in order to utilize the Group By functionality, but I still couldn't get it to work right. Even if I could I don't think that's the best solution, because you can only have 10 fields with Group By, and my Products table has more than 10 fields that I need displayed in sub_Products.

I feel like I'm now just going around in circles and am at a loss of what to try from here. Please help!

Answer 1

Couldn't you add something like this?

Private Sub ctrl_Category_AfterUpdate()
    Form_frm_Main.Recordsource = "Select * from Products where p_ID IN(" & _
                                 "Select p_ID from Datasets where d_Status = " & _
                                 Me!ctrl_Category.Value & ")"
End Sub

Alternately, you can access the childform via the parent of the other child form. This is a non-working snippet just to give you the idea:

Me.Parent.otherChildFormName.Form.Recordsource = whatever