Update Query from a Lookup Query

Question

I have a spreadsheet that I am converting to an Access DB. I have a column of typed out customer names that I want to replace with the appropriate customer number from our accounting system.

I have created a table with the customer info, and a query that shows what ID needs to be inserted into the source data. What I'm looking for is:

UPDATE tblStarting_Data
SET CustomerID=x
WHERE TEMPCustomer=y

Where X and Y come from qryIDPerCustomer.

Can I use a loop? How do I reference another query?

Answer 1

Another possibility in MS Access (object names borrowed from Tomalak answer):

UPDATE tblStarting_Data, qryIDPerCustomer
SET tblStarting_Data.CustomerID=qryIDPerCustomer.CustomerID
WHERE tblStarting_Data.TEMPCustomer=qryIDPerCustomer.CustomerName

Answer 2

I think a JOIN will help you:

UPDATE 
  tblStarting_Data AS sd 
  INNER JOIN qryIDPerCustomer AS qc ON sd.TEMPCustomer = qc.CustomerName
SET 
  sd.CustomerID = qc.CustomerID;

This can be expressed as a correlated sub-query as well (though the join syntax is preferable):

UPDATE 
  tblStarting_Data
SET 
  CustomerID = (
    SELECT  CustomerID 
    FROM    qryIDPerCustomer
    WHERE   CustomerName = tblStarting_Data.TEMPCustomer
  )

No need for a loop, both statements will update all records in tblStarting_Data in one step.