Tutorials

A number is a digit (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9), a combination of digits, or a combination of one or more digits, a separator, and one or more digits. Microsoft Access provides three techniques or categories of numbers.

A data type represents the kind of information that a particular field should or must hold. Every field in your database objects (tables, forms, and reports) should have the right type and it is your role to select the most appropriate of them. This helps both you and the user who performs data entry. Furthermore, a good design will cause you less headache when.....

In everyday life, an object is an entity that displays or provides some characteristics that set it apart. These characteristics are used to describe the object.

As a database is expanding, so are its objects. For example, many of the tables created by the Database Wizard lack some fields that otherwise would not suit a particular scenario.

As we saw in previous lessons, fields are created on a table, then they can be added to a query. Based on the way Microsoft Access deals with fields, a field on a table cannot be created as a combination of other fields...

So far, to get acquainted with database fields, we have used two techniques of creating a table and some techniques of adding fields to a form. One of the techniques we used, the Datasheet View, provides a very simplistic way. The Datasheet View is mainly used to perform data entry or to test some fields.

Starting a database from scratch allows you to create and add its different parts as needed. When using this process, the main advantage is that you will exercise as much control as possible on your database because you will be creating all of your objects. The disadvantage is that you will miss that primary layout that the Database Wizard offers. Creating a database from scratch simply means starting from a blank database and adding the different components. Of course, after learning how to perform some changes, you will be able to modify some aspects of a database created using the Database Wizard.

As done for the tables and queries, Microsoft Access provides a central dialog box you can use to create forms: this is the New Form dialog box. To display the New Form dialog box, if no object is opened, on the main menu, you can click Insert -> Form. Alternatively, in the Database window, you can first click the Forms button. Then, on the toolbar of the Database window, you can click the New button.

Many techniques allow you to create a database, the fastest of which consists of using one of the provided examples. Microsoft Access 97 shipped with 22 sample databases while Microsoft Access 2000 ships with 10. Furthermore, the 97 version allowed to provide sample data into the database. This is not available with the 2000 release. The databases that ship with Microsoft Access can help you in two main ways: they provide a fast means of creating a database and you can learn from their structure.

Microsoft Access is a computer application used to create and manage computer-based databases on desktop computers and/or on connected computers (a network). Microsoft Access can be used for personal information management (PIM), in a small business to organize and manage all data, or in an enterprise to communicate with servers.