ACC: How to Find Minimum or Maximum Value Across Fields of Record (182760)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Access for Windows 95 7.0
  • Microsoft Access 97

This article was previously published under Q182760

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multi-user skills.

Microsoft Access has no built-in functions that find the maximum or minimum values of numbers across the fields of a record. This article shows you how to create two custom functions that cycle through the values across fields and return the minimum or maximum values of each record.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. Follow these steps to create and implement Visual Basic for Applications procedures that find the minimum or maximum values:

  1. Open a new module and enter the following two functions:
          Function Minimum(ParamArray FieldArray() As Variant)
             ' Declare the two local variables.
             Dim I As Integer
             Dim currentVal As Variant
    
             ' Set the variable currentVal equal to the array of values.
             currentVal = FieldArray(0)
    
             ' Cycle through each value from the row to find the smallest.
             For I = 0 To UBound(FieldArray)
                If FieldArray(I) < currentVal Then
                   currentVal = FieldArray(I)
                End If
             Next I
    
             ' Return the minimum value found.
             Minimum = currentVal
    
          End Function
    
          Function Maximum(ParamArray FieldArray() As Variant)
             ' Declare the two local variables.
             Dim I As Integer
             Dim currentVal As Variant
    
             ' Set the variable currentVal equal to the array of values.
             currentVal = FieldArray(0)
    
             ' Cycle through each value from the row to find the largest.
    
             For I = 0 To UBound(FieldArray)
                If FieldArray(I) > currentVal Then
                   currentVal = FieldArray(I)
                End If
             Next I
    
             ' Return the maximum value found.
             Maximum = currentVal
    
          End Function
    					
  2. On the Debug menu, click Compile And Save All Modules. Then close the module.
  3. Create the following table named tblMinMax:
          Table: tblMinMax
          ---------------------------
          Field Name: Field1
             Data Type: Number
             Field Size: Long Integer
          Field Name: Field2
             Data Type: Number
             Field Size: Long Integer
          Field Name: Field3
             Data Type: Number
             Field Size: Long Integer
    					
  4. Save the table as tblMinMax. When prompted to create a primary key, click No.
  5. Switch the tblMinMax table to Datasheet view and enter the following values:
          Field1    Field2    Field3
          ------    ------    ------
    
          50        30        40
          40        50        30
          30        40        50
    					
  6. Create a new query based on the tblMinMax table and drag Field1, Field2, and Field3 to the query grid.
  7. In the fourth column of the query grid, enter the following expression:

    Minimum Value: Minimum([Field1],[Field2],[Field3])

  8. In the fifth column of the query grid, enter the following expression:

    Maximum Value: Maximum([Field1],[Field2],[Field3])

  9. Run the query. Note that the fourth and fifth columns contain the minimum and maximum values.

REFERENCES

For more information about creating custom functions, search the Help Index for "custom functions", and then "Create a Custom Function."

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2006
Keywords:kbdtacode kbhowto kbProgramming KB182760