ACC: Sample Query to Print One Label for Two People in a List

• Microsoft Access versions 2.0, 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

When you have a list of names for which you would like to generate mailing labels, there are frequently two people listed at the same address. This article demonstrates a technique to create a query from which to print a single mailing label for two people at the same address.

NOTE: If more than two people on your mailing list live at the same address, only the names from the first and last record with that address in your table will appear in the query.

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 is identical. For example,

   123 First Street N

   123 First St. North

CAUTION: Following the steps in this example will modify the sample database Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB in version 2.0 or earlier). You may want to back up the Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB) file and perform these steps on a copy of the database.

1. Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB in version 2.0).

2. Open the Employees table in Datasheet view, and add the following three records to create duplicate addresses. Note that some fields in each record will be 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
   
   

3. Create a new query in Design view based on the Employees table. This query will list the first set of names for your mailing labels.

4. On the View menu, click Totals. Then complete the design of your query as follows and save it as qryLabelNames1.

   NOTE: In Microsoft Access 2.0 the fields [Last Name], [First Name] and [Postal Code] contain a space in their names.

         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
   
   

5. Select the qryLabelNames1 query in the Database window, and then on the Edit menu, click Copy.

6. On the Edit menu, click Paste. In the Paste As dialog box, type qryLabelNames2 in the Query Name box, and then click OK.

7. Open the qryLabelNames2 query in Design view, and only modify the ListName field so it uses the Last() function instead of the First() function:

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

8. Save the query and close it. This query will list the second set of names for your mailing labels.

9. Create a new query in Design view based on the qryLabelNames1 and qryLabelNames2 queries. This query will be the basis for your mailing label report.

   NOTE: The expression in the field called Name2 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 recreate 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
   
   

• 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 will print on separate labels because their postal codes are different. This happens because you joined both the Address and the PostalCode fields in the qryMailingList query.

REFERENCES