MS Access 2003 - Identifying the Basic Parts of the Access Window

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Identify the parts of the main Access window
• Identify the parts of the database window
• Understand the role of design windows

Launching Microsoft Access from the Windows desktop

Microsoft Access is launched from the Windows desktop in a manner similar to that used to launch Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can launch Microsoft Access either from the desktop shortcut or from the Start program.

To open Microsoft Access using the desktop shortcut:

• Double-click the Microsoft Access shortcut icon on the Windows desktop.

To open Microsoft Access using the Start program:

• Click the Start button located in the bottom-left corner of the Windows screen.
• Click the Programs option on the Start menu.
• Click the Microsoft Access selection.
  
  If Access does not appear, click the double-down areas immediately below the Microsoft PowerPoint entry, then locate Access from a complete list of software installed on your computer.

The main Access window

When you open Microsoft Access, many items you see are standard, just like with most Microsoft software programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Menu bar

The Menu bar displays the menus available for use in Access 2003. The contents of any menu can be displayed by left-clicking the menu.

Toolbar

The pictured buttons in the toolbar are quick and easy shortcuts to specific actions. For example, if you want to save a spreadsheet using the menus, then you would first click File and then click Save. Using the toolbar to perform this save operation actually saves you a click. Click the save button once to save the spreadsheet.

Some commands in the menus have pictures or icons associated with them. These pictures may also appear as shortcuts in the toolbar.

Database toolbar

The database toolbar presents operations that can be performed against different database objects, including buttons to open an object, design an object, create a new object, and delete an object.

Left pane

Database objects are created and opened by choosing any of the buttons listed in the left pane of the database window.

Right pane

Any of the first four options—tables, queries, forms, or reports—opens additional choices related to that selection in the right pane.

Choosing the tables button, for example, displays at least three options in the right pane: Create a table in Design view, Create a table by using wizard, and Create table by entering data. It also shows any objects you created in the database.

MS Access 2003 - Database Concepts

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Understand the relationship of database components
• Understand the specific roles of tables, forms, queries, and records

What is a database?

A database is a collection of information organized and presented to serve a specific purpose. Database programs are created using a program like Microsoft Access 2003.

A Microsoft Access database is made up of several components, including:

• Tables
• Forms
• Queries
• Reports

These components are called database objects. One or more of these objects are formed when a database is created. These components are stored in a single database file.

What is a table?

Data is stored in one or more tables. Separate tables are usually created for specific topics, such as products or suppliers. Tables can be related to one another to access different types of information. Because data is stored only once—you probably would not save the same information in two different tables—your database becomes more efficient.

The columns and rows in an Access table resemble an Excel spreadsheet. Tables organize data into columns (calledfields) and rows (called records). A record is comprised of one or more fields, depending on the number of fields defined to the table.

Individual fields in an address book table might consist of name, street address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. A single record is an entry that uses all of these fields, such as your brother's or sister's contact information.

What is a query?

A query lets you find and retrieve information from one or more tables based on a set of search conditions you define (like certain fields in one or more tables). The results can be displayed in a manner of your choosing. Queries can be created using a wizard or developed from scratch in the Query Design view.

What is a form?

An online form can be created to view, input, or change information in one or more tables. In this course, we will see how forms are used as both menus and as data-entry forms to database tables. Forms can retrieve data from one or more tables and display the output on the screen.

What is a report?

A report is an effective way to analyze and present data in a printed format using a specific layout. You have control over the size and appearance of information printed on the report, similar to formatting you perform in a Microsoft Word document.

MS Access 2003 - Introduction to Databases

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Understand the usefulness of a database
• Define a relational database
• Appreciate databases using real-world examples

What is a relational database?

A database maintains order and structure in our lives. It is easy to maintain. It manages information and then shares it with other tables and databases.

Many entries in your address book will undoubtedly contain identical information—name, address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. This information might be written into a table called the Contacts table.

You may want to structure your address book so family members are separated from companies called during an employment search, for example. These categories—family, friend, relative, company—might appear in a second table called Contact Types.

Maybe you want write notes for certain calls. This is useful during an employment search. Information pertaining to a telephone call—date, time, and notes, for example—might be saved to a third table called Calls.

The information contained in any one table might in and of itself tell us very little. The Contact Types table, for example, provides relatively little information that stands on its own: Family, Friends, Relatives, Companies, Recruiters, and Network.

However, if you could relate this table to the Contacts table—name, address, and phone—then you could separate contacts by category. The Contact Types table becomes useful, therefore, when related to another table.

Similarly, by relating the Calls table with the Contacts table, you can relate specific phone calls to specific people.

The power of a relational database is twofold: Information is managed in separate tables to make maintenance easier, and data can be combined by relating different tables.

Real-world examples of database applications

Databases play an enormous role in nearly every aspect of our lives. Think of the amount of credit card transactions that take place during a given day, from receiving authorization at the point of sale to applying the purchase to your credit card to the store receiving payment from the credit card company. There are many stores, many banks, and many credit cards involved. Databases are all around you. You only need to learn how to view the world in terms of databases.

Think of your favorite department store. Chances are the one you shop at is just one of several in the chain. And these stores are probably located in different states. Databases manage this information.

Inside the store there are different departments: Ladies, Mens, and Electronics, to name a few. Within Electronics, there are different categories called classes, and these might be represented by radios, televisions, CDs, and DVDs. More databases.

And within any given class—CDs, for example—there are subclasses like jazz, rock, country, and classical. Within rock there are bands, and within bands there are recordings.

Get the idea? Even more databases.

This structure categorizes different kinds of information at almost every level of the store. It is essential to maintaining order and accuracy.

How do these databases work together? Well, everything in retail begins with the product or item. Each item has a barcode that uniquely identifies it. These items are defined in an item database and are associated with a specific department, defined in a department database.

When a buyer decides to purchase some products for sale in a store, he or she creates an order in a purchase order database, pulling the individual items to buy from the item database. The order might then be transferred to communications databases that electronically transmit the order to the vendor, and also to an accounts payable database to pay for the merchandise.

Trucks deliver merchandise to the store (remember that the vendor has its own database indicating what is shipped), where the products received are input into a receiving database. The received quantities are then matched against the original order database to make sure all ordered products were received.

An inventory database might tell the sales clerk which items to move to the selling floor because the shelves are bare, and what other items might be stored in the stockroom. For items moved to the selling floor, a shelf planningdatabase might tell the clerk exactly where to place the product on the shelf.

When you shop and take items to the checkout counter, the cash register will look up the price of each item in theprice lookup database. Want to pay by check or credit card? Databases are used to ensure sufficient funds are available in the account.

Every item sold in the store needs to be removed from inventory so it can be reordered. This adjustment might be made in the inventory table to alert the buyer that a certain amount of items need to be ordered to refresh the store's inventory.

Many things happen, and many databases are used to make sure the products you want make their way from the manufacturer to the stores and then into your home.