>Now that we're re-writing our application from scratch, I want to do the database design right. Currently, just about all of the tables contain the client ID plus the client name, and sometimes even the phone number.
>
>I know with normalization you should just have the client ID because the rest can be found in the clients table. But what do I do when I have that table in a grid and I need the name to show? Wherever the user is inputting stuff, s/he will want to know the name, not just the client number.
>
>Any suggestions?

You'll want to take a look at using views. They let you do everything you're asking for. You select the tables you would like the view, set-up how these tables are "joined" together (there common field). You can also set how you'd like the resulting cursor sorted and filtered (look at view parameters to adjust the filtering rules). Then you select the fields you'd like to be updatable (so that the data gets sent back to the original table). Make sure to tag at least one "unique" key field, and check the "Send SQL Updates" box in the "Update Criteria" tab.