Adding a foreign key to an access table

Question

I have set up two tables in access and I am using SQL insert
with the form to populate the database. When I “submit”
the form I receive the following error:
Element CUST_ID is undefined in CUSTOMER_INFO.
The error occurred in
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\spl_web_site\public_records\order_insert.cfm:
line 23
21 : <cfquery datasource="#odbc_datasource#"
name="desc">
22 : insert into rec_results (customer_info.cust_id,rec_desc)
23 : values('#customer_info.cust_id#',
24 : '#rec_desc#')
25 : </cfquery>
How do I get cust_id into the second table to be used as the
foreigh key when it “has not been created (defined)” in
the first table?

Answer 1

If your cust_id is an autonumber primary key field in your
first table, then you will have to create that record first, then
retrieve the primary key value to be used as your foreign key in
your second table, especially if you have foreign key constraints
on the table. This is normal relational database behavior, since it
isn't really possible to have a child if there is no parent. In
this case, you will need some sort or SELECT between your two
inserts in order to determine the newly created cust_id. Or, you
may need some other means of gerating your unique PK value for
cust_id outside of Access. If you do the SELECT method, you would
do something like SELECT MAX(cust_id) FROM customer_info (assuming
that cust_id is generated sequentially), and you should enclose all
three database transactions within CFTRANSACTION tags so that you
don't accidentally grab the wrong cust_id from another simultaneous
transaction.
Phil