does anyone know how to add items or categories with an insert or import?  i was thinking i would be able to bring in records from the client's existing Access database to populate the category and item tables but after a week i'm still not getting it done.

i can't get the dts wizard to let me map the fields from source to destination, it just gives me choices like i was creating a new table, not trying to insert the data into an existing table.  i also tried the pervasive data tools, which do let me map things but running the insert chokes on a foreign key in there and that's more than i understand just yet.

any help would be appreciated.  i was thinking this would be a common task for a lot of people and maybe there'd be a help file or tut that explained it but haven't found one so far.

thanks.

matthew

figgered it oot.

adding category records directly in the table produced a bang on some fields but just ignoring that and completing the record works anyway.

transferring the client's existing data was a bit more tricky, i had to go into Access, change every aspect of the fields i was going to import (name, type, etc) to match the SQL one, add any fields that weren't there, export it all to Excel (just easier for me) to modify some values and/or populate some fields that didn't have a value (like the new ones), import back to Access, use the SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access to create a SQL version of it, then, finally, use the Data Transfer Wizard to insert the new (old) records.  another point, be sure to add a price or at least a "0" as the math in the vb code will choke on a null value in there.

thanks to all.