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ACCESS: MICROSOFT OFFICE DATABASE

MICROSOFT ACCESS IS A POWERFUL DATABASE. IF DESIRED, ONE CAN USE THE TUTORIAL TO LEARN ABOUT DATABASE FEATURES.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU COULD:

• Visual introduction to Microsoft Access
• Which area of the product would you like to find out about?
• What is a database?
• Tables: What they are and how they work
• Customizing a table
• Working in table Datasheet view
• Queries: What they are and how they work
• Customizing a query
• Working in query Datasheet view
• Forms: What they are and how they work
• Customizing a form
• Working in Form view
• Reports: What they are and how they work
• Customizing a report
• Macros: What they are and how they work
• Modules: What they are and how they work

You would simply click on the topic of interest, and the tutorial would walk you through the process.

Access is a powerful database, similar to the ones on which your programs are based. It is a relational database, and uses object oriented (or query by example) to build questions (queries). These are much easier to work with than using SQL.

The graphical nature of Access makes queries easier to compose than do DOs-based products. Instead of having to type a precise syntax for field names, you simply click and drag fields onto a query grid.

EXAMPLE OF AN OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE

TYPES OF OBJECTS

• TABLES
• QUERIES
• FORMS
• REPORTS
• MACROS
• MODULES

TABLES

• DATA ELEMENTS ARE REPRESENTED IN A SERIES OF ROWS AND COLUMNS SIMILAR TO THE ARRANGEMENT OF A SPREADSHEET
• EACH ROW OF THE TABLE CONTAINS AN INDIVIDUAL RECORD
• RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TABLES MADE BY A COMMON FIELD

QUERIES

• QUERIES ARE QUESTIONS YOU ASK ABOUT THE TABLES IN A DATABASE, TO OBTAIN SPECIFIC DATA OR TO PERFORM CHANGES TO THE DATA IN TABLES
• GO TO THE QUERY PAGE FOR MORE DETAILS

FORMS

• EASY WAY TO VIEW EXISTING RECORDS OR TO VIEW EXISTING RECORDS.
• DISPLAYS DETAILS OF A SINGLE RECORD

REPORTS

• SUMMARIZE DATA
• CAN EITHER PRESENT DATA FROM A SINGLE TABLE OR TH OUTPUT OF Q QUERY
• EASY TO CREATE FORMS FOR A VARIETY OF NEEDS

MACROS AND MODULES

• MACROS: STORED SEQUENCES OF ACCESS ACTIONS THAT CAN BE REPEATED ON DEMAND
• PROVIDE A SIMPLE WAY TO AUTOMATE REPEATED TASKS
• MODULES: WRITTEN IN BASIC COMPUTING LANGUAGE

THE FOLLOWING PAGES GIVE EXAMPLES OF ACCESS ONLINE TUTORIALS

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This page was created by David Lewis on 6/18/97