ACC2000: Sample Query to Print One Label for Two People at the Same Address (207753)

MORE INFORMATION

When you have an address list with two people at the same address, it is often preferable to print a single mailing label for that address that lists both people's names. To accomplish this, you first need to create a query that contains the first name to print on the label, and then create a query that contains the second name for the label. Then you can put these two queries together to show both names for each address in a third query.

For this method to work, it is important that all of the address information for each person at the same address be identical. For example, -and- are the same address, but not identical.

The following example uses the aggregate functions First() and Last() to create lists of primary label names and secondary label names, respectively.

CAUTION: If you follow the steps in this example, you modify the sample database Northwind.mdb. You may want to back up the Northwind.mdb file and follow these steps on a copy of the database.

1. Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
2. In the Database dialog box, under Objects, click Tables.
3. Open the Employees table in Datasheet view, and then add the following three records to create duplicate addresses. Note that some fields in each record are left blank. Carefully type the information exactly as it appears below:

                   Record #1            Record #2         Record #3
      -------------------------------------------------------------------
      Last Name:   Fuller               Wilkinson         Smith
      First Name:  Mary                 Avery             John
      Birth Date:  7/2/54               4/30/77           10/20/58
      Address:     908 W. Capital Way   14 Garrett Hill   4110 Old Redmond
                                                          Rd.
      City:        Tacoma               London            Minneapolis
      Region:      WA                                     MN
      Postal Code: 98401                SW1 8JR           55435
      Country:     USA                  UK                USA
   					

4. Create a new query in Design view based on the Employees table. This query lists the first set of names for your mailing labels.
5. On the View menu, click Totals. Then complete the design of your query as follows, and save it as qryLabelNames1:

      Query: qryLabelNames1
      ------------------------------------------------------
      Type: Totals Query
   
      Field: ListName: First([FirstName] & " " & [LastName])
         Table: Employees
         Total: Expression
         Sort: Ascending
      Field: Address
         Table: Employees
         Total: Group By
         Sort: None
      Field: City
         Table: Employees
         Total: Group By
         Sort: None
      Field: Region
         Table: Employees
         Total: Group By
         Sort: None
      Field: PostalCode
         Table: Employees
         Total: Group By
         Sort: None
      Field: Country
         Table: Employees
         Total: Group By
         Sort: None
   					

6. Select the qryLabelNames1 query in the Database list box, and then on the Edit menu, click Copy.
7. On the Edit menu, click Paste. In the Paste As dialog box, type qryLabelNames2 in the Query Name box, and then click OK.
8. Open the qryLabelNames2 query in Design view, and then modify only the ListName field so that it uses the Last() function instead of the First() function:

      Field: ListName: Last([FirstName] & " " & [LastName])
      Table: Employees
      Total: Expression
      Sort: Ascending
   					

9. Save the query and close it. This query lists the second set of names for your mailing labels.
10. Create a new query in Design view based on the qryLabelNames1 and qryLabelNames2 queries. This query is the basis for your mailing label report.
    
    NOTE: The expression in the Name2 field contains an underscore (_) at the end of the line as a line-continuation character. Remove the underscore and type the entire expression as a single line when you re-create this example.

       Query: qryMailingList
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Type: Select Query
       Join: qryLabelNames1.Address <-> qryLabelNames2.Address
       Join: qryLabelNames1.PostalCode <-> qryLabelNames2.PostalCode
    
       Field: Name1: ListName
          Table: qryLabelNames1
          Sort: None
       Field: Name2: IIf([qryLabelNames1].[ListName]= _
              [qryLabelNames2].[ListName],"",[qryLabelNames2].[ListName])
          Sort: None
       Field: Address
          Table: qryLabelNames1
          Sort: None
       Field: City
          Table: qryLabelNames1
          Sort: None
       Field: Region
          Table: qryLabelNames1
          Sort: None
       Field: PostalCode
          Table: qryLabelNames1
          Sort: None
       Field: Country
          Table: qryLabelNames1
          Sort: None
    
    					

When you run this query, note the following:

• Each record displays a name in the Name1 column, but where two or more people live at the same address, a name also appears in the Name2 column.
• Even though two records exist with an Address field of "4110 Old Redmond Rd.," they are printed on separate labels because their postal codes are different.
  
  This result occurs because you joined both the Address and the PostalCode fields in the qryMailingList query.

Now you can use the Label Wizard to create labels based on the qryMailingList query.