Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7-23. Selecting Other opens a dialog box with plenty of space to type into at will.
WORD TO THE WISE: A CAUTIONARY TALE
Not even the most highly paid database developer can think of everything folks might want to enter
in a database, and a drop-down list with a handy edit option seems an obvious solution. But use it
with caution. When some villainous or misguided soul chooses Edit, she's doing just that: editing
your
value list
, and potentially defeating the purpose for which you created it. Furthermore, if other
fields in your database are formatted to use the same value list,
their
list of choices changes, too, be-
cause the underlying value list itself has changed.
So remember that value-list-based fields serve
two
purposes: simplicity and consistency. If you
make it easy for folks to add their own items to a value list, you're also making it easy for the value
list to get inconsistent and disorganized.
Adding an Other item can undermine consistency even more, because it encourages quick-handed
mousers to simply bypass the value list entirely.
If your value list's primary purpose is to gain consistency, then you should consider leaving the Edit
and Other options turned off. You can always add new choices to the value list yourself at any time
as the need arises.
