Learn Basics About Microsoft Access Database

 

    Learning about Microsoft Access: Database

Database is like creating the container for a database by filling in tables (known as populating a database) that it starts to serve a purpose. As you add forms, queries, and reports, it becomes a useful tool. If you customize it by adding a start-up page and organizing the various objects into categories and groups, it moves into the realm of being a database application.

 Not every database has to be refined to the point that it can be classified as an application. Databases that only you or a few experienced database users will work with can remain fairly simple. But if you expect someone without database knowledge to enter data or generate their own reports, spending a little extra time in the beginning to create a solid foundation will save a lot of work later. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself continually repairing damaged files or walking people through seemingly easy tasks.

 

Microsoft Access 2010 takes a lot of the difficult and mundane work out of creating and customizing a database by providing database applications in the form of templates that you modify and populate with your own information. Access 2010 also provides templates for common elements that you might want to plug into a database. These applications parts consist of sets of objects—a table and related forms, queries, or reports--     that together provide a complete, functioning part of a database. All you have to do is fill in your data. If none of the templates meet your needs, you can create tables manually

Creating Database from templates.

A few years ago (the distant past, in computer time), creating a database structure involved first analysing your needs and then laying out the database design on paper. You would decide what information you needed to track and how to store it in the database. Creating the database structure could be a lot of work, and after you created it and entered data, making changes could be difficult. Templates have changed this process, and committing yourself to a particular database structure is no longer the big decision it once was. A template is a pattern that you use to create a specific type of database. Access 2010comes with templates for several databases typically used in business and education, and when you are connected to the Internet, many more are available from the Microsoft Office Online Web site at office.microsoft.com. By using pre-packaged templates, you can create a database application in far less time than it used to take to sketch the design on paper, because someone has already done the design work for you.

Creating Data bases and Tables Manually

Suppose you need to store different types of information for different types of people. For example, you might want to maintain information about employees, customers, and suppliers. In addition to the standard information—such as names, addresses, and phone numbers—you might want to track these other kinds of information:

● Employee identification numbers, hire dates, marital status, deductions, and pay rates

● Customer orders and account status

● Supplier contacts, current order status, and discounts

 You could start with a template, add fields for all the different items of information ta single Contacts table, and then fill in only the relevant fields for each type of contact. However, cramming all this information into one table would soon get pretty messy. It’s better to create a new database based on the Blank Database template and then manually create separate tables for each type of contact: employee, customer, and supplier.

When you create a new blank database or insert a new table into an existing database, the table is displayed on a tabbed page in Datasheet view with one empty row that is ready to receive data. Because the active object is a table, Access adds the Table Tools contextual tabs to the ribbon so that you can work with the table. Every table has an empty row that is ready to receive a new record, as indicated by the new icon (the asterisk) in the record selector at the left end of the row. By default, the first field in each new table is an ID field designed to contain an entry that will uniquely identify the record. Also by default, this field is designated as the table’s primary key. No two records in this table can have the same value in this primary key field. Behind the scenes, the data type of this field is set to AutoNumber, so Access will enter a sequential number in this field for you.

 

In conclusion Microsoft Access 2010 is a powerful relational database program that includes hundreds of tools you can use to quickly start tracking, sharing, and reporting information, even if you are new to database development. Users have access to a large library of professionally designed templates; wizards that automatically create tables, forms, queries, and reports; and extensive local and online help resources. Access supports sharing data with other sources, including other Microsoft Office 2010programs, Microsoft SQL Server, Windows SharePoint Services, and documents in XML,HTML, XPS, and PDF.

 

 Written by Norbert Wamsi

(MEd, BEd, Dip-PNGCTTI, 2024.