Introduction to Microsoft Access

Learning Access

What can you do with Access?

If you have a computerized list or database of all your classmates and information about them, you can:

Create a list of all your classmates living in a particular town

Print the names of your classmates who are boys and who are below 15 years old.

Sort the names of your classmates in alphabetical order.

Create a screen form that allows you to just type the name of your classmate, and the screen will show all or selected information about him or her.

If you have a computerized list or database of all your classmates and information about them, you can:

Create a list of all your classmates living in a particular town

Print the names of your classmates who are boys and who are below 15 years old.

Sort the names of your classmates in alphabetical order.

Create a screen form that allows you to just type the name of your classmate, and the screen will show all or selected information about him or her.

A simple database may contains

Report

Table

Query

Form

Table

If you’ve got data, you’ve got lists. Access turns those lists into tables.

Tables are organized by items in rows, and by categories in columns. Access calls rows records, and it calls columns fields.

TableOrganization is what makes Access so effective. Here, the record for each employee includes such fields as last and first name, e-mail address, job title, and so on.

You can use the tables already created in an Access template, or choose yourself what you need to include.

Table

The picture shows this.

You enter a new task in the Tasks table. As part of that, you select a project number from the Project field, which uses data from the Projects table.

Tables have relationships

Table

The picture shows this. Tables have

relationships

Also, the Owner field in the Projects table uses data from the Employees table, and that means the Tasks table and the Projects table both know which employee the work is assigned to.

In turn, that helps you know who the work is assigned to.

Data looks good in forms and reports

Another Access advantage: It makes data easy to see.

Lists and worksheets can be hard to read. They go up and down, back and forth, over and over. In contrast, Access forms and reports let you show only the data you need, with the look you like.

Get to know Access 2007

Is Access right for you?

The power of Access

is the power of data. If

your data isn’t suited

for organizing in

tables, or if nobody

will look at it again,

Access won’t make it

more useful.

But even daily shopping lists, if you store them, will help

you plan your budget. And a simple Access form can

help a business give a discount to regular customers

without making them stamp loyalty cards.

That’s why Access is worth getting to know.

Get to know Access 2007

Suggestions for practice

1. Look at a database table.

2. Look at a database form.

3. Look at table relationships.

Get to know Access 2007

Test 1, question 1

Tables are better than lists. (Pick one answer.)

1. True.

2. False.

3. It depends.

Get to know Access 2007

Test 1, question 1: Answer

It depends.

Your own data, and how you use it, determines whether a table or list is

best.

Get to know Access 2007

Test 1, question 2

Access works best when all your data is in every table. (Pick

one answer.)

1. True.

2. False.

Get to know Access 2007

Test 1, question 2: Answer

False.

Avoiding duplicated data is what makes Access efficient.

Get to know Access 2007

Test 1, question 3

What’s in an Access database? (Pick one answer.)

1. Tables and nothing but tables.

2. Tables, forms, and reports.

3. One really big table.

Get to know Access 2007

Test 1, question 3: Answer

Tables, forms, and reports.

Databases contain tables, forms, reports, and other objects.

StartingAccess

You can start Access by doing the following:

1. Click the Start icon. The start menu appears.

2. Click All Programs, a list of programs will appear.

3. Click Microsoft Access. Access will start. The Access program will appear, with the Microsoft Access dialog box showing on the screen.

4. Type your desired database name in the text box and then click create.

Watch this video

PARTS OF THE ACCESS PROGRAM WINDOW

1. Tabs – Is also called menu bar in Mcrosoft XP. It is located at the top of the ribbon. It contains different menus that allow you to manage and manipulate database.

Among these are:

File

Home

Create

External Data

Database Tools

PARTS OF THE ACCESS PROGRAM WINDOW

1. Toolbars – strip of icons on a computer display providing quick access to pictured functions

-Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary

Examples are:

View

Paste

Filter

Table

Form

Activity No 1.

1. Enumerate the toolbars of the tabs below:

Home

Create

Database tools