I'm facing the task of trying to design a check printing system where input
by the user will involve the payee (name & address), amount to be paid, and
any references (with an adding function), generate those on a print out form
to be printed on blank pre-made checks.

It is not going to be something that will be used by a lot of people, so I
was given the suggestion of doing it in Access.

Idealy, this database should allow the user to open up a form, select from a
list of pre-entered customer names (I've made a form that allow the user to
manually add/edit the customer table), once it is chosen, the next form
should have the customer information filled in according to the selection, a
worksheet at the bottom will allow user to enter an invoice number, the total
invoice amount, and sum up the amounts. A report is generated and printed on
the blank check sheets. The user should also be able to go back and track how
much is paid by a particular check number and what are the individual items
listed on that check.

My knowledge in Access programming is on a beginner level, I have a basic
working knowledge of Access. I have created 3 tables.

Customer (name, address, city, state, zip)
Check (Check Number will be primary key, total amount, check date)
Invoice (each individual entry that will have a dollar amount to be summed
up to equal the total amount).

I first thought about just doing this in Excel, but doing so means that the
user will have to do his/her own bookkeeping on what was entered each time,
and re-enter information every time another check is to be generated.

Is this something that can be done with Access? Where could I find some
resources that might be related to this? Is there a template that is somewhat
close to what this is?

Thank you very much.

Have you looked at the Access sample database for the Northwind company? Otherwise a simple business application like Quicken or QuickBooks or something similar might be more effective. It is also easier to get preprinted checks in the right format.

I agree with Wizard-Fred. Unless there is something outside the norm that you need to track, there are many low-cost solutions readily available.

Michael J

Well, the thoughts of having something pre-made has crossed the mind. However, this is to be a business application, my supervisor will rather.... give it to someone else who knows Access better, someone in HQ, rather than shelling out the cash to do it. Any of those solutions won't reflect very well on me. As I was supposed to be the first line of low/no-monetary cost develop for this.

So, it would make more sense for you to spend several days if not weeks to develop this rather than spending say $100 for something that has been commercially produced (and more importantly thouroughly tested)? If that is the case then your supervisor shuld not be in charge of making any financial deciasions for the company.

I work for a software company. And, even so, the products that we produce for internal use only are crap compared to the products we purchase for administrative use. When a company sells thousands or hundreds of thousands of units of an application they have the time and resources to make sure it is full featured and relatively bug free. With internally built applications there is no "urgency" to add or fix things.

Michael J

Even if you do buy a commercial program someone (read you) needs to learn it to be able to train others, be the one to set it up and support it. So, you are still providing a service. And, you would be the one to research which product would be best suited for your company.

Michael J

Thanks for the generous advices. I'd still like to see how far I could get with this though. It'll be good learning experience for me as well.

I ran into my first road block. As I've said, I have currently created three tables. I have a form called customer select where it features a combo box that pulls in the list of customer names in the customer table using a select query on the Customers table. The idea is to select(highlight) the name of the customer, a command button is next to the list.

My idea is once the command button is clicked, it closes this form, brings up the main check worksheet form that will populate the following uneditable text fields:

Customer Name
Street
Address
State
Zip

based on the selected customer name. I can get the combo box to pull in the list of customer names with no problem. My question is how to generate the syntax that will take the selection, perform the conditional query, and populate the fields in the main form.

I've tried for a couple of hours and still have no success.

Any thoughts?

Thank you

I work primarily with SQL databases, so I'm not sure about the code. But, a more streamlined approach would be to forgo the "command button". I would just create the Check Input Page with the select list. As you make a selection with the select list it updates the address fields in real time.

As I said I'm not familiar with Access, but I know it can be done.

Michael J

Well I concurr with "mjdamato aka MichealJ". I've been doing Ad Hoc report for my company for many years. Using Excel frontends and Access data storage.

There are many simple "Check" writting pieces of software out there that are either shareware or extremely cheap.

I work for a IC Chip manufacturer with plants in France,England,US,and Germany. Our France plant has a hunk of software that they've developed over the past 5-6 years. Our site here in the US now thinks hey that would be some great software to use here. Me and 2 other guys have spent the better part of the last 3 weeks just trying to message our data into their database format.

Now get this. They've essentially tried to copy some software that another company makes. This software is actually being used by the facility in England. I've been trying to get the company to buy the commercial software but they stubbornly refuse to see the cost savings.

If you want to learn while creating a project then that's onething. If the software remains in house then when it bombs you're there to fix. ( That's known as JOB SECURITY )

Now not to dis this forum but I typically contribute at a forum that is exceptionally good at providing the help that you're looking for. It's url is www.ozgrid.com\forum it's free. Just sign up and ask away.

But Michael is right. If you can find shareware or something cheap $100 is cheap that's the way to go. But hey you can't go wrong with learning something new.

Thanks in advance,
Barry