Question

I have two tables, related by a common key. So TableA has key AID and value Name and TableB has keys AID, BID and values Name, Value:

AID Name
74  Alpha

AID BID Name  Value
74  4   Beta  Brilliance

I would like to update the TableB Value here from Brilliance to Barmy, using just the Name fields. I thought I could do it via an UPDATE containing a JOIN, but Access (I know…) is complaining with ‘Syntax error (missing operator) in query expression ‘ and then everything from ‘Barmy’ here:

UPDATE tB
SET tB.Value='Barmy'
FROM `TableB` tB
INNER JOIN `TableA` tA
  ON tB.AID=tA.AID
WHERE tB.Name='Beta'
  AND tA.Name='Alpha';

What is my heinous crime? Or is it just Access not conforming?

Answer 1

Oddly, I’ve discovered the answer is to use an implicit JOIN:

UPDATE `TableA`, `TableB` 
 SET `TableB`.Value = 'Barmy'
WHERE `TableA`.AID=`TableB`.AID
 AND `TableA`.Name='Alpha'
 AND `TableB`.Name='Beta';