Microsoft Office® Access 2007 Inside Out

Displaying Values in an Option Group

Whenever you have a field that contains an integer code value, you need to provide some way for the user to set the value based on what your application knows the code means, not the number. You could certainly use a combo box or a list box to supply a descriptive list. However, when the number of different values is small, an option group might be the ideal solution.

In the Conrad Systems Contacts application, the tblContacts table contains both a home and a work address. The DefaultAddress field contains an integer code value that is used by some reports to generate a mailing address. When DefaultAddress is 1, the application uses the work address; and when DefaultAddress is 2, the home address is the default. ...