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INTRODUCTION TO MSACCESS 2003

Introduction

The aim of this document is to introduce basic techniques for creating a simple database

using theMicrosoft Access 2003relationaldatabase management system (RDBMS).

You will undertake a case study to build a simple database consisting oftables,

relationships, forms and reports and queries. This will demonstrate the need to work out

your requirements before attempting to design a database.

You will use some of the Wizards that are provided withMicrosoft Access 2003.

As we work we will introduce terminology commonly used in database design and in the

Windows 2000 environment

Prerequisites

No prior database or development experience is assumed, however Windows experience

is essential. You should be familiar with;

Keyboard layout

Use of mouse

Selecting items from menus

Using toolbars

Using dialogue boxes Using On-line Help for Windows

Acknowledgements

These workshop notes are based on the Teachers Notes and Exercises supplied by

Software Made Simple Guide toMicrosoft Office 2000. Copies of the Guide are

available to students and staff of Birkbeck either in paper form from ITS Help Desk,

MB 151 or from the College Intranet at

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/its/help/documentation/. Help Desk is open on weekdays

10.00am - 8.00pm in term time, and 10.00am - 6.00pm in vacations. References to

the SMS guides are indicated in brackets, e.g. (SMS 2.10)

Contents

1 Introduction 12 Some Theory 1

2.1 What is a Database? 12.2 Where does Microsoft Access 2003 fit in? 22.3 Steps in Designing and Building a Database 2

3 Case Study 23.1 About the Educational Institutions 3

3.2 About the orders 33.3 Analysis 3

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Doc 5.131 Ver 2 Introduction to Access 2003

3.4 Data Types 44 Creating a database 55 Working with tables 7

5.1 Creating Tables 75.2 Entering Data into a table 8

5.3 Sorting Data 95.4 More Practice on working with tables 9

6 Queries 116.1 What are Queries? 116.2 Query Wizard 116.3 Adding criteria to a query 126.4 Joining tables in a query 126.5 Calculated criteria 146.6 More practice at working with queries 14

7 Forms 157.1 What are forms? 15

7.2 Create a form with Form Wizard 167.3 Entering Data with a form 167.4 Modify the form design 167.5 Create an object on a form 187.6 More practice at working with forms 19

8 Reports 198.1 Modifying a report 208.2 More practice at working with reports 218.3 Mail Merge 21

9 Relationships 22

9.1 Why use Relationships 229.2 Types of relationships 239.3 A sample database 239.4 Finding out More about Database Design 24

About this Document

Words that you type or choose are in bold type, e.g.Choose Programs fromthe Start menu

Keys that you press are shown in small capitals e.g. press ALT Press KEY1 + KEY2 means press both keys together e.g. press CTRL + Z

Press KEY1, KEY2 means press each key consecutively e.g. press A, B General guidelines on how to perform a task are indicated by bulleted lists using

the symbol. Note that these are not tasks for you to perform now. Exercisesfor you to practice as you work through the notes are labelled Exercise, e.g.

Exercise 1 Importing Database Objects. The steps that you do to complete

the exercise are marked by round bullets ().

Hints and tips are indicated by ) If you are not very familiar with usingcomputers then you should pay particular attention to the hints and tips.

ii Birkbeck College Central Computing Services

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Introduction to Access 2003 Doc. 5.131

1 Introduction

The aims of this training material are:

To introduce basic techniques for creating a database using theMicrosoft Access 2003relational database management system (RDBMS).

In this introductory material we will not cover the more advanced features ofMicrosoft Access 2003 such as macros and modules. These topics are necessary

for the development of full-blown applications

To demonstrate the need for requirements analysis before attemptinga database design. Before you create a document with a word-processor, you

need to do some planning of the content and appearance. For a simple

document you may begin typing straight away. However, a database needs much

more planning before you even think of using a RDBMS such asMicrosoft Access

2003

To build a simple database. You will start by learning about the topicsneeded to build a single table database, that is the simplest type of database, such

as a list of names and addresses. Topics include what is a database, steps in

designing and building a database, Tables, Forms and Reports and Queries

To become familiar with using some ofWizardsthat are provided withMicrosoft Access 2003

To introduce terminology commonly used in database design and inthe Windows 2000 environment. In order to understand the on-line help and

other further reading, you need to become familiar with the terminology that is

used in the documents

Work through these notes in sequence. Read the hints and explanations before you

attempt the exercises. The exercises need to be completed in the order that theyappear, as they depend on objects1 that have been created in previous exercise.

2 Some Theory

2.1 What is a Database?

A database is a simply structuredcollection of data, with the emphasis very much on

structured. Everyone encounters databases in their daily lives, even if they are not in

electronic form. Telephone books, diaries, and mailing order catalogues are all

instances of databases.

Computerised databases are created, stored, manipulated and maintained using

Database Management Systems (DBMS); DBMS are the programs or groups of

programs through which we gain access to databases. In the personal computer

world, DBMSs are often referred to as database packages or database applications.

Depending on the way data is modelled, we have relational, network, hierarchical, and

object-orienteddata models. The data model defines how real-world data is

represented in the database. DBMSs are typically tied to one type of data model.

1 Database components inAccess 2003are referred to asobjects.

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Doc. 5.131 Introduction to Access 2003

Microsoft Access 2003 is based on the relational model and is therefore a relational

DBMS, or RDBMS.

Relational databases are built up ofTables. The column headers in the table are

called fields. The rows of data in the table are called records. RDBMSs are extremely

fussy and insist that each recordis uniquely identified by one or more fields. We willsee when we design tables how a unique identifier or keyis used.

2.2 Where does Microsoft Access 2003 fit in?

You should consider building your database withMicrosoft Access 2003 if yourdata structures can be represented by the relationalmodel. This is true of most

business applications, and the sample databases provided withMicrosoft Access

2003 demonstrate this. Microsoft Access 2003 can be used for quite large,

complex database applications. However, even if your data structures are quite

simple, and could be easily held in a card index, you may want to consider using

Microsoft Access 2003, as it works well with Word. If you frequently need to send

out mail shots thenMicrosoft Access 2003 is particularly suitable for use with the

mail merge tool in Word

There are more specialist databases available for bibliographic databases (ITSsupply Endnote in workstation rooms). Contact ITS Reception/Help Desk on

our website for information on available documentation

If the data contained in your tables is mostly numeric data, then you are probablybetter off using a spreadsheet program such as Excel. Spreadsheet programs are

specifically designed to handle numeric data

2.3 Steps in Designing and Building a Database

Define the problem Decide what real world things (entities) you need to store information about.

For example Employees, Products, Customers, Orders. Entities are represented

by tables in the database

Decide what facts (attributes) you need to know about each entity, e.g. anEmployees date of birth, salary. Attributes are represented by fields in the tables

Decide on the relationships between the entities in the database; i.e. what attributesdo they have in common. Relationships are formed in the database between

entities that have common attributes. They have common fields in the related

tables. For example, customerFred Bloggs can place an orderfor product eggs.

So the Orders table has relationships with Customers table and Products table

Decide what information you need to extract from your data. This will allowyou to design the queries

Design Forms that will allow users to enter data values for running queries orentering data

Design Reports that will print information extracted from the database

To illustrate what this means, we will examine a sample case study, and then build a

verysimple database to provide the required functions.

3 Case Study

The database that you are going to build is to hold the records of the SoftwareMade Simple company. The company sells training material to educational

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institutions. They need to keep details of the Institutions that they deal with and the

orders that they place.

3.1 About the Educational Institutions

The details SMS need to know about each institution are:

A unique identifier for each institution The number of students in the institution this helps to know the potential size

of the market for their products

The educational sector whether pricing is covered by special deals for certaintypes of institutions

The name, address, phone, fax, email of the institution. For simplicity we willinclude only the institution name in our sample database

The company deals only with a named contact at each institution. SMS needs toknow who this person is

3.2 About the orders

The training material is provided either as printed books or on a CD-ROM. For each

order SMS need to know

The institution code. This links each order to the institution that placed it The order number. This uniquely identifies the order If the order is for books then they need to know the number. Since all the

books are the same price there is no need at this stage to break down the order

into book titles

The value of the order

The order type i.e. whether it is for books or CD-ROM CD Renewal date. Sites buy an annual licence to make copies of the material on

the CD-ROM so SMS need to know the renewal date

3.3 Analysis

The important thing at this stage is not your knowledge of computers, but an

understanding of the problem. As this is not a course in Systems Analysis, the

analysis has been done for you, so that you can practise usingMicrosoft Access 2003

straight away. The Entities about which to keep information are Institutions and

Orders, so we will start with two tables in our database.

Since the institution is represented by the site contact, the table representing the

institution will be called Contacts. We will call our other table Orders. Tables are

structured into fields (columns) and records (rows). All records must have the same

fields, though as we shall see in this example there may be instances where a field is

redundant in some records but not in others.

TheAttributes (i.e. the details that we need to know) of a Contact are theinstitution code, the number of students, the name of the institution, the

educational sector and the contacts forename and surname. Since the contact is

representing an institution the institution code must be unique

The attributes of an Orderare the order number, which must be unique, the

institution code, the value of the order and the order type (CD-ROM or books).For book orders we need the number of books and for CD-ROM orders we

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need the licence renewal date. For CD-ROM orders the number of books field

is redundant. For book orders the renewal date is redundant. However, we

must include the field for all records to maintain a consistent structure

In order to identify the Relationship between an institution (represented in thedatabase by its Contact) and its orders we will give each institutiona unique

identifier in the Contacts table. We will include this identifier as a field in theOrders table. It is good practice, when designing a database, to use unique

identifiers. In our example each contact is uniquely identified by the institution

code. There are good reasons for this. The contact might change in the future.

In order to link an institution to the orders it has placed we need to maintain

consistency. Even if the contact name changes the institution code remains the

same so we still know where to send the order. In addition, there may be

several institutions with contacts named (say) John Smith

3.4 Data Types

(SMS 2.10)

Having decided what tables we need, and what fields we need in the tables we need

to decide what type of data we are going to put in each field. Is it, for example, a

number, a date, or some text. When you are building a database from scratch you

will usually make use of theMicrosoft Office 2003 autonumber to allocate a unique

identifier for each record. Note however that if you are building a database to

contain data that already exists with a unique identifier (e.g. Student number,

National Insurance number, bank account number), you should use your existing

unique number in preference to an autonumber.

)The field that uniquely identifies a record in a database is called the Primary Key

Table 1 Fields for Contacts table

Field Name Data Type

Surname Text

Forename Text

Edu Sector Text

Institution Text

Num Students Number

Institution Code Autonumber

Table 2 Fields for Orders Table


Institution Code Number

Order Num Autonumber

Num Books Number

Value Number

Order Type Text

CD Renewal Date: dd/mm/yy

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4 Creating a database

Microsoft Access 2003 also provides wizards. Wizards are software tools that help you

with a programmes features. However, in this document you will learn how to

create your database from scratch, so that you are better able to match the database

to the requirement. SMS guide 2.4 describes how to create a database using awizard.

Exercise 1 Starting Microsoft Access 2003 on ITSworkstations

At the Windows log in prompt, type your username in the Username box. Pressthe TAB key to move to the Password box, and type your password. Then press

the ENTER key or click on OK Wait a few minutes while Windows 2000 checks

your username and password, and allocates your network resources

Click on the Start button on the taskbarat the bottom of the screen. The StartMenu will appear

Click on Programson the Start Menu

Click on Microsoft Office on the Program menu and then on MicrosoftAccess 2003

Exercise 2 Create a new database

On the menus, choose File New

Select Blank Database from the task pane on the right-handsideof the screen In the File New Database dialogue boxmake sure that you have selected the MyDocuments folder on your N: drive, and replace db1.mdb in the Filename

box with sms contacts.

Click on Create

You have now created a file that will become the database. Unlike programs such as

Wordand Excel,Access saves the objects that you create and the data that you enter

automatically to this file.

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When you create a new database it will look something like Figure 4-1.

On the left of the window are buttons representing various database objects.Select the class of object that you wish to work on by clicking on the button.

Tables are the foundation of the database; just as you start building a house by

laying the foundations you start building a database by creating the tables. Thefirst time that you use the database the table button is selected by default

On the right of the window you will see a list of tasks that you can perform onthe selected class of object. If a wizard matches your requirements, then it is the

simplest way to create a table (see SMS section 2.7). In this document we will

learn how to create a table from scratch

Figure 4-1 New database

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5 Working with tables

5.1 Creating Tables

In the analysis section we looked at the tables needed, what fields should appear in

the tables and what data types those fields should have. It is important to realisethat we are talking about the data structures in the database. We are not talking

about the data values which will ultimately be contained in the tables. For example

the field forename is a part of the contacts table datastructure. When we enter names

(Tony, Eleanor, Nurinder) we are entering data values into the table.

Exercise 3 Create a table

Select Create table in Design view and click on the New button

In the New Table window select Design View and click on OK

Enter the field names and data types that we discussed in the analysis section.(Surname, Forename, Edu Sector, Institution, Num Students, Institution Code)

By default the field type is text. Use the TAB key to move between fields

To change the data type display the data type menu. To do this:eitherclick in the data type field, then click on the drop down arrowthat

appears in the right of the

orpress the ALT+DOWN ARROW keys together

Choose the data type that you require. Your table structure should look likeFigure 5-1

Figure 5-1 Contacts Table in Design View

Choose Save As from the File menu and save your table as Contacts

WhenMicrosoft Access 2003 asks if you want to create a primary key now click

on Yes

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5.2 Entering Data into a table

(SMS Section 3)

Exercise 4 Entering data into a table

Click on the datasheet viewbutton (see right). It is situated at the righthand end of the tool bar. You do not need to enter the Institution

Code as it is an autonumberAccess will do it for you. Note that if you make a

mistake and delete a recordMicrosoft Access 2003 will not reuse a number; your

numbers may therefore be different to those given in the examples. You should

useyournumbers inyourdatabase.

Enter the data values shown in Table 3. You can use the TAB key to movebetween fields. Use the BACKSPACE or DELETE key to correct mistakes

Table 3 Data values for Contacts table

Surname ForenameEduSector Institution

NumStudents

InstitutionCode

Taylor Tony School Callow Grammar500 1

Blake Victor University Lermouth 120000 2

Ambrose Guy University Mawley 8000 3

Patterson Peter College North Camber 8000 4

Keenan Penny School Abdul Kameer 600 5

Wright Eleanor College Callow 1000 6

Waverley David University Newbridge 160000 7

J ames Philip School Roberts High 700 8Su Chi Hong School Southfields Tech700 9

Patel Nurinder University Westchester 150000 10

Clarke Lenny School Wyre High 800 11

Patrick Roger School Westmouth 800 12

Parkinson Helen School Schofield Tech 900 13

Mathews Karen University Waverley 9000 14

Quentin Terry College Eastman 7000 15

Walters Trudy University Aberdare 100000 16

Peabody Ruth University Bradbury City 9000 17

Young Alice University Folklands 140000 18

Lomar Shireen University Pershore 12000 19Booth Charlie College Truman 5000 20

Cazinaska Dimen College Trowbury 5000 21

Note that you do not have to save the data. Microsoft Access 2003 saves each record

automatically as you enter it

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5.3 Sorting Data

(SMS Section 4.0)

Each record in the contacts table is stored in the order in which it was entered. You

will often want to view it in a different order for example sorted by date or

alphabetic order.

Exercise 5 Sorting Data

Click in the Surname field to select it

Click on the Sort Ascending button (see right) to sort the records inascending alphabetic order. What is the seventh surname in the list?

5.4 More Practice on working with tables

Now practice using the techniques that you have just learnt to create another table,

enter and sort data.

Exercise 6 Create Orders Table

Make the sms contacts database window the active window (either by clickingon it or choosing it from theWindow

menu)

Using the techniques that you learnt inExercise 3 create a table called

Orders, with the field names and datatypes shown on the right

Note that the date for renewing CD licences (CD Renewal) needs to beexpressed in Short Date format. To change the format select the CD

Renewal field, click in the Format field in the Field Properties section of the

table design view window. Click on the down arrow to display the format menu

and choose the option that you want see Figure 5-2

Save the table as Orders

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Figure 5-2 Field Property

Exercise 7 Entering & Sorting Orders Data

Using the technique that you learnt in Exercise 4 enter the data shown in Table 4into the Orders table. As Order Num is an autonumberthere is no need to

enter it yourself

Table 4 Orders Data

InstitutionCode

OrderNum

NumBooks Value

OrderType CD Renewal

8 1 200 1,190.00 Books

14 2 540 3,213.00 Books

11 3 0 170.00 CD 31/12/01

17 4 0 720.00 CD 05/05/02

20 5 0 720.00 CD 01/08/02

16 6 0 720.00 CD 04/08/02

13 7 0 170.00 CD 01/07/02

4 8 3200 19,040.00Books

5 9 100 595.00 Books

1 10 53 315.00 Books

2 11 0 720.00 CD

9 12 0 170.00 CD 04/03/02

10 13 0 720.00 CD 05/06/02

15 14 0 720.00 CD 20/10/0212 15 20 119.00 Books

7 16 0 720.00 CD 19/11/01

3 17 340 2,023.00 Books

6 18 0 720.00 CD 25/01/02

21 19 0 720.00 CD 27/02/02

19 20 0 720.00 CD 18/12/01

18 21 44 261.00 Books

12 22 50 298.00 Books

3 23 400 2,380.00 Books

1 24 352 5,095.00 Books

8 25 32 190.00 Books

12 26 70 416.00 Books

Click to

display

menu

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Sort the table in ascending order on the Value field. What is the fourth value?

6 Queries

6.1 What are Queries?You use queries to view, change, and analyze data in different ways. You can also

use them as the source of records for forms and reports. The examples that we will

build today is called a Select Querybecause we are selecting fields and records from

the database.

The steps in designing a query are:

Decide on the type of query to design Add the tables that contain the fields to be displayed

Add the fields which contain the data to be displayed Add any criteria you want to use. Criteria are instructions that you use to tellAccess which records to display. When you come to design your own

databases you should use the on-line help to search for examples ofcriteria

expressions

6.2 Query Wizard

(SMS Section 4.3)

) A query creates a dynamic subset (called a dynaset in database terminology) of those

records in the underlying tables that satisfy the criteria specified in the query.

The next task is to create a query that finds allthe records in the Contacts table.

We will then see how to apply criteria to the query to return dynasets.

Exercise 8 Create a simple select query

In the database window select the Queries button

Double click on Create query by using wizard. The query wizard starts

In the box labelled Tables/Queries select Table: Contacts from the dropdown menu

Click on >> to move allthe fields from the Available fields list to theSelected fields list

Click on Next >

In the next step select Open the query to view information (it should beselected by default) and click on Finish. Your query will return data and should

display the data that you entered into the contacts table

In the above example you moved all the available fields from one table. However, if

you only need some fields

Click on the field name in the Available fields list

Click on > to move it to the Selected fields list Repeat this for all the fields that you need

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If you need fields from another table or query select the other table or queryfrom the Table/Query list

If you change your mind about a selected field, select it in the Selected fields listand click on < to return it to the Available fields list.

6.3 Adding criteria to a query(SMS Section 4.4)

You enter criteria in the criteria cell, that is the intersection of a row and a column.

You may use a text value as a selection criteria; e.g. a persons surname or you may

use mathematical values e.g. >=10

Exercise 9 Select a contact

In the query window switch to design viewby clicking on the Designview button on the tool bar (see right)

In the Criteria Row and Surname column type Parkinson. Your queryshould look like Figure 6-1

Figure 6-1 Select Query example

Query by Example

(QBE) grid

Run the query by clicking on the Run button on the toolbar at the top of thescreen (see right)

Close your query by clicking on the close button (x) at the top right corner ofthe query window. (When asked if you want to save changes click on No.)

6.4 Joining tables in a query

You can also create a query that uses more than one table. For example, if we want

to find all the orders made for institutions with more than 10,000 students we need

to know the institution and number of students, which is held in the Contacts table,

and the order numbers which are held in the Orders table. The institution code in

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both tables allows us to link together the information. In database terminology it

identifies a relationship between the tables.

When working with several tables,designers often use the Table.Field notation to

clarify the specification. In the following exercise you will see this notation used; for

example Contacts.Institution Code refers to the Institution code field in the

Contacts table.

Exercise 10 Joining tables in a query

In the database window double click on Create Query in Design view

In the Show Table window click on contacts, then click on add to add thetable to the query.

Do the same for orders, then click on Close

A query design window appears. Add the following fields by double clicking onthe field name

Contacts.Institution Code (i.e the institution code field from the contacts

table)

Contacts.Institution

Contacts.num students

Orders.Institution code

Orders.Order num

In the Criteria row, Num students column type >10000

Save as Large Institutions Query. Your query in design view should look likeFigure 6-2

Figure 6-2 Joining tables query

Run the query. The results should look like Figure 6-3

Figure 6-3 Results of Large Institution Query

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Close Large Institutions Query

) If you do not want to display a field then clear the check box in the Showrow inthe designer view.

) The records are sorted in ascending order by Institution code. In design view you can

choose to sort on a different field by clicking in the Sort row of the column for yourchosen field. You can select a sort order from the drop down menu.

6.5 Calculated criteria

You can group records based on fields that have the same value. You can calculate

mathematical functions such as totals or averages. To do this you need to add the

Totals row to the design view window.

Exercise 11 Calculate the sector Average

In the database window open a new query in design view Using the techniques that you learnt in Exercise 10, add the contacts table, then

add the fields Edu Sectorand Num Students

Click on the Totals button on the toolbar (hint: it looks like a ). A totals rowappears in the QBE grid

In the Edu Sectorfield choose Group By from the totals menu

In the num students field choose Avg (average) from the totals menu

Run the query

Save the query as Sector Average Query

Exercise 12 Calculate the sector totals

Use the technique that you learnt in Exercise 11 to calculate the total number ofstudents (sum) for each educational sector.

6.6 More practice at working with queries

You will find sample solutions to these exercises in the sample database

Q:\Samples\Access2k\sms contacts.mdb.

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Exercise 13 Create an Orders query

Use the technique that you learnt in Exercise 8 to create a select query titledOrders Query, based on the Orders table, which will list all the fields in the orders

table. Experiment by using the criteria =Books and =CD in the Order Type

field to select all the book orders or all the CD orders.

Hint: In the following exercises include only those fields that are essential. For

example, in the next exercise you are interested only in those fields that define the

order type as books and the number of books purchased. You need to display the

totals row to locate the maximum function.

Exercise 14 Find maximum number of books

Create a query titled max book order query that finds the record for thelargest number of books.

Exercise 15 Select CD Renewal dates

Find all the CD orders with renewal dates after 31/12/01. Save the query as CDRenewal Query.

Exercise 16 find average book order

Find the average number of books ordered. Save the query as avg book ordersquery

Exercise 17 Find lowest value order

Find the order for books with the lowest value. Save the query as min bookvalue query. Hint you will need to include a criteria that displays only orders

for books.

7 Forms

7.1 What are forms?

Forms provide an alternative and more accessible way of presenting and entering

data than using a datasheet. The form permits the viewing of a single record at atime, and the design of the form may be easily customised to suit your requirements.

Other advantages of forms are:

they are familiar, as they are similar to a paper form it is often quicker to enter data using a form rather than the datasheet data can be presented in a more attractive and accessible manner and can include

graphs and pictures

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Each form is based on either a table or a query. In order to create a form that uses

fields from more than one table you will need to create a query that contains all the

necessary fields. The quickest way to create a form is by using the form wizard.

7.2 Create a form with Form Wizard

(SMS section 5.1)We will create a columnar form based on the contacts table, using the Form Wizard.

The contacts table is the record source of the form, i.e. the source from which it

retrieves data.

Exercise 18 Create a form with Form Wizard

In the database window select the Forms button

Double click on Create form by using wizard. The form wizard starts


Click on >> to move allthe fields from the Available fields list to theSelected fields list then click on Next >

Select columnarlayout and click on Next >

Select standard style and click on Next >

Type Contacts Form in the title box, select Modify the form design andclick on Finish

7.3 Entering Data with a form

To enter data using the form you simply type the data into the boxes, using the

mouse or clicking on the TAB key to move to the next field.

7.4 Modify the form design

(SMS Section 5.2)

InAccess jargon everything is called an object. Tables, Forms, Queries and Reports are

all Objects. The labels, boxes, text boxes and other items on a form or report are a

special type of object known as a control. Before you can do anything with an object

you have to select it, by clicking on it when you are in design view. On Forms and

Reports you can makeMultiple Selections; that is you can select several objects at

once.

All objects have properties that you can edit.

If you cannot see theproperties window then

click the right mouse button

and choose Properties

from the menu that drops

down. The propertieswindow

is displayed (see right). In

the title bar is the name of

the object that you have

selected (the form in thisexample).

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To change a property click in the relevant field. Some properties will display adrop down arrow, allowing you to choose a value from a menu. For other

properties you will need to type a value.

) To select several objects located next to each other, hold down the SHIFTkey andclick on each object in turn.

) To select several objects that are not next to each other hold down the CTRL key andclick on each object in turn

) You may have used a similar technique when selecting files with Windows Explorer.Windows applications use consistent techniques for performing tasks. The

techniques explained above work equally well for selecting emails in Outlook and

selecting files in Windows Explorer

) All Windows applications require you to select an object before you try to doanything with it. For example, you must select a block of text in Word before you

can copy it

Exercise 19 Modify a form

The form should now be in design view. If it is not then switch to designviewby clicking on the Design view button on the tool bar

Click on the label Surname. Hold down the SHIFT key and click on the other

labels (forename, edu sector, Institution, Num Students and Institutioncode). Your form should now look like Figure 7-1

Figure 7-1 Selected objects on a form

Still holding down the SHIFT key display the properties window (as explainedabove). The properties window should have the titleMultiple Selection

If the Format tab is not on top click on it to select it

Click to select Fore Color

(scroll down the window ifyou cannot see it). A

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continuation button (), appears (see right). Click on it to see the choice of

colours

Select a suitable shade of red and click on OK

Click on the form and you will see that the text labels are now red

Select Save from the file menu to save your design

7.5 Create an object on a form

(SMS section 5.2)

You can add objects such as labels to your forms. These objects are known as

controls.

You create controls by clicking once on an object from the Toolbox(see

right) and clicking and dragging the mouse pointer to draw it on the

form. When you point (do not click) to a control the name of the

control appears as a small yellow label. If you cannot see the Toolbox

then, in form design view, select toolbox from the view menu.

We will start by creating a simple label on the form. However, some

controls are more sophisticated. For example you can use a combo box

to display a menu of items that the user is allowed to select (see SMS

section 5.3). You can use a calculation as the control source from which a text box

takes its data.

Exercise 20 Add a control to a form

Make sure that you have the Contacts form open in design view. Position themouse pointer between the headersection and the detailsections on the form

(see Figure 7-2). The pointer will change to a bar with a double arrow across it

Figure 7-2 Header/Detail sections

Position

cursor here

Drag the detail section down so that a gap of about 1cm appears between theform header and detail sections.

Click on the label tool on the tool box to select it. To find the tool move thecursor along the tool bar without clickingon the buttons. You will see a label

appear to indicate the function of the button. This is called Hover Help

Click in the space that you created between the header and detail sections, thendrag to draw a box. In the box type Software made Simple Contacts

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In the Format section of the properties box set the Text align property tocenter, font size to 10 and font weight to semi bold. Set the fore colour

to a colour of your choice

Save your changes

7.6 More practice at working with forms

Exercise 21 Create an orders form

Using the Orders table create a columnar form using the Form Wizard. Title theform Orders Form

8 Reports

(SMS Section 6)

Reporting is the way in which you choose to present the contents of your databaseas printed pages.

Reports enable you to select which fields will be printed out and what datashould be included. Reports can also summarise data in various ways

Microsoft Access 2003 gives you the opportunity to design the layout of aparticular report, including the position of headings, labels and the data itself

along with graphics such as pictures and logos

Reports can take their data from tables or existing queries or you may create aquery especially for the report

In order to create a report that uses fields from more than one table a query

should be created which contains all the necessary fields. For example you couldcreate a report based on the Large Institutions Query that you created, which

uses data from the contacts and orders tables

The best way to create a report is by using the report wizard

We will use the Contacts table to create a report grouping the fields by Edu

Sector. We will sort on Institution and Surname fields in ascending order, and

display the report in landscape format.

Exercise 22 Create a report

In the database window select the Reports button

Double click on Create report by using wizard. The report wizard starts


Click on >> to move allthe fields from the Available fields list to theSelected fields list

Click on Next >

In the grouping window select Edu sectorfrom the list of fields & click on >Your window should now look like Figure 8-1

Click on Next >

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Figure 8-1 Group by Edu Sector

In the sorting window select Institution in the box labelled 1 and Surname inthe box labelled 2. The sort buttons are already set for ascending order. Click

on next >

In the layout window select Stepped layout and landscape orientation. Clickon next >

Select a style that you like and click on Next >

Type the title Contacts Report in the title box and click on Finish

Your report will now appear as a Print Preview. You can print it by either clicking on

the print button on the toolbar or by selecting print from the file menu.

8.1 Modifying a report

(SMS Section 6.2)

A basic report is divided into three sections

Page Header

Page Footer

Contain data that will appear at the top or bottom of each page of

the report. You might use this to include information about the

source of the report, the date it was completed or the page

number.

DetailThe most important section since any fields added here displaythe actual information from the database for every record in the

table or query on which the report is based.

You will usually need to refine some aspect of the report in order to present

information in the clearest possible way (SMS Section 6.2).

The techniques that you use for modifying the controls on a report are exactly the

same as for a form. You can click on controls to select them, and use the CTRL and

SHIFT keys to make multiple selections

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Exercise 23 Modify a report

Switch to design view by selecting it from the View button on the toolbar

Use the same technique you previously used to select labels in the contacts formto select all the labels in the page header section of the Contacts Report

Change the Format property Text Align to Center Save your changes

Preview your report by clicking on the view button on the toolbar

8.2 More practice at working with reports

Exercise 24 Create Value of Orders Report

Using the Orders table create a report, grouping the fields by InstitutionCode

Sort the value field in ascending order

Use the Summary Options button on the sort window to display the Sumoption of the Value field

Select layout Align Left 1 and display the report in landscape format

Choose a suitable style for your report

Give your report the title Value of Orders Report

You may wish to experiment with different styles, layouts and summary options.

SMS section 6 gives you some ideas about what you can do withMicrosoft Office

2003. In the following section we will consider how you can combine components of

Microsoft Office 2003 to produce customised documents.

8.3 Mail Merge

AlthoughMicrosoft Access 2003 is good for producing tabulated reports, there will be

occasions when you need something more flexible thanAccess. TheMicrosoft Office

suite of programs allows you to combine the data management features ofAccess

with the formatting and layout features ofWord, using a feature calledMail Merge.

Exercise 25 Mail Merge with Word

Make sure that the Contacts table is not open

In the database window select the Contacts table by clicking on it once do notopen it

Move the cursor along the tool bar without clickingon the buttons. You will see alabel appear to indicate the function of the button. This is called Hover Help

When you have located the Office Links button click on it and select Merge itwith Microsoft Office Word

In the Mail Word Wizard dialogue box select Create New Documentand click on OK

WhenMicrosoft Wordstarts type Dearfollowed by a space

You should be able to see the mail merge toolbar if not, choose View Toolbars Mail Merge

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Figure 8-2

Click on the button Insert Merge Fields. You will see a list of fields from your

contacts table. Double-click on Forename (or click once and click insert). Youwill see a place marker in your document.

Type a space, then insert the merge field surname

Type the some text in your letter so that it appears as shown below:Dear Forename Surname

Please find enclosed an evaluation copy of the latest version of

Software Made Simple material on CD-ROM. We can also supply

this material in book form.

Yours Sincerely

Simon Simple

Use Hover Help to locate the button Merge to New Document. When youclick on this button Wordwill generate a set ofform letters, based on yourAccess

data source. The names of the people in the contacts table have been substituted

for the place markers in your masterdocument. This document may be printed

9 Relationships

9.1 Why use Relationships

In the first session we discussed the tables needed for the database and introduced

the idea ofrelationships between the entities (mapped to tables) in the database.

We have seen that by using the Institution Code as the primary keyin the

Contacts table and as a foreign keyin the Orders table, it is possible tojoin data

from the two tables into a dynaset using the Large Institutions Query.

In the small sample data base that youve worked with you may wonder why we did

not combine all the data in one table SMS Orders (Table 5)

Table 5 SMS Orders


Order Num Autonumber

Institution Code Number

Surname Text

Forename Text

Edu Sector Text

Institution Text

Num Students NumberNum Books Number

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Value Number

Order Type Text

CD Renewal Date: dd/mm/yy

Consider what would happen if an institution placed many orders. Institutions that

order books sell them on to the students and re-order each academic year. Foreach order the SMS Orders table would have repeated fields for all the fields

shown above in italics.

Remember also that we simplified matters by omitting contact details such as

address, phone etc. which would otherwise have been repeated and you will see

how inefficient such a design would be. For example:

We would need to re-enter the data in italics every time an institution placed anorder time consuming, and with more scope for errors

The table would occupy more disk space Our two table structure is more flexible. For example, if the institution contact

changes we need only change it in the Contacts table once.

9.2 Types of relationships

Microsoft Access 2003 can handle two types of relationships:

One to Many relationship a record in one table can be matched to many recordsin the second table. However, the record in the second table can only be related

to one record in the first table. For example a site contact (identified uniquely

by the institution code) can place many orders. But each order is associated with

only one institution

One to One relationship a record in one table can be matched to no more than

one record in the second table, and vice versa There is a third type of relationship between entities. That is aMany to Many

relationship. In a many-to-many relationship, a record in Table A can have many

matching records in Table B, and a record in Table B can have many matching

records in Table A. This type of relationship is only possible by defining a third

table (called ajunction table) whose primary key consists of two fields the

foreign keys from both Tables A and B. A many-to-many relationship is really

two one-to-many relationships with a third table.

9.3 A sample database

We will now use aMicrosoft Access 2003 database template to build a rather more

complicated database than the simple example that we have looked at so far.

Exercise 26 Create a database using a wizard

OpenAccess

Close any databases that you have open and select New from the File menu

In the task pane, click on under Templates

Click on the Databases tab

From the database templates select Event Management and click on OK

In the File New Database dialogue box click on create

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As the database wizard takes you through the steps click on next > until it isfinished

After a few minutesMicrosoft Access 2003 will create a database. From the Tools

menu select relationships. You will see that the relationships are rather

complicated! Let us look in more detail at the relationship between the Events,Attendees and Registration tables.

Events.eventid is related to Registration.eventid by a one to many

relationship (shown as 1 to ). Attendees.attendeeid is related to Registration.attendeeid by a one to

manyrelationship (shown as 1 to ). The Registration table is thejunction table used to model the many to many

relationship between Events and Attendees. Attendees can attend one or

more events, events are attended by one or more attendees. Registration

relates an employee to an event

Consider a similar situation. Students can attend one or more Classes; Classes are

attended by one or more Students. However, you can link students to classes by a

Registration table.

Exercise 27

Create a small database with the tables necessary to register students on classes.(Hint you may want to look at the design of the attendees, events, and

registration tables in the Event Management database)

Create the appropriate forms & enter some test data for about 5 or 6 studentsand about 3 or 4 courses. One of your courses should be Database Design.

You will need to remove the input mask from the postcode and phone number

field properties becauseMicrosoft Access 2003 uses American masks

Create a query and generate a report to list the names of all the students whoare studying database design

There is a sample solution to this exercise in

Q:\samples\access2k\students in classes.mdb

9.4 Finding out More about Database Design

The critical factor for successful database design is to get the design of the tables and

relationships right. This takes practice. A recommended book on relational database

design is

Peter Domanski & Philip Irvine,A Practical Guide to Relational Database Design,

Domanski-Irvine Book Company, ISBN 9526043 02. See web page

http://www.personal.u-net.com/~dibookco/rdbms.htm
http://www.personal.u-net.com/~dibookco/rdbms.htmhttp://www.personal.u-net.com/~dibookco/rdbms.htm

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