In most, not all, instances, subforms are used to review/change/add/delete records that are in some way related to the table underlying the main form. Your order system is a perfect candidate for a primary and subform configuration.
For example, your order master table is going to have specific information about the order, like person/company ordering, order date, date promised, etc.
You also need a product table which provides information about the products you sell.
You also need a products ordered table which has one record for each product ordered for each order. Therefore you have a relationship between the order table and the products ordered table.
Each table should have a unique primary key. The primary key from the order table is used as a forward key and is placed in the products ordered table.
Now, your primary form has a subform container object. This is the object you create when you allocate space on your primary form. That container has properties. If you click on the subform container in the primary form and then click on properties, you will see a master/child field name.
The master relationship is the primary key of the order form, and the child key is the forward key of the products ordered table.
So, when you open the primary form, whatever records from the products ordered table have a forward key which match the primary key of the orders table, will appear in the subform. You can add more records, edit and delete records from the subform.
That should get you started. You might want to pick up a good intermediate text for Access which should have a good explanation of table design, and developing forms and subforms.
Robert Berman
Data Base consultant
Vulcan Software Services
thornmastr@yahoo.com
