I have inherited a Access database that has a query that SELECTs over 50 columns. Even in the MS Access graphical query design tool, it’s too much information to handle IMO.
A quick disclaimer – I have a programming background, but almost no experience with databases.
For this particular problem, I need data from 50+ columns. Is there a better way to get this information than one huge query?
I am a bit at a loss on how to proceed. The consensus on the web seems to be that SQL queries should be kept relatively small and well formated. I just don’t see how to apply that principle when you need so many fields. Can I use lots of simple queries with a UNION or INSERT INTO a temporary table? Any suggestion or RTFMs?
EDIT: More info on the application. The data is spread across 14 tables. I’m grabbing the data to write it out to an external file which has 50+ fields per row (think CSV version of a spreadsheet).
EDIT: Managing and debugging SQL queries in MS Access looks like it contains relevant advice.
I think you’re worrying yourself over nothing at all. Pulling 50 fields from 14 tables in order to output to a flat file is nothing at all. The point is that you’re intentionally denormalizing data because you need a flat-file output. By definition, that will mean lots of columns.
As others have said, 50 columns in one table would be out of the ordinary (though not necessarily a design error), but in the situation you describe, I don’t see an issue at all.
In short, it sounds like a perfectly fine setup and I just have to wonder what makes you think it’s a problem to begin with.