Access Database Basics

In This Chapter

Getting to know some basic terms and concepts
Outstanding in your field(s)
Deciding to go flat-file or relational with your database
Getting a table started

This may be the single most important chapter in this guide. That probably sounds like a strong statement, but it’s really true. When you want to figure out how to actually do something, it’s essential to understand not just how it works, but why it works that way, and what’s going on behind the scenes. So after you’ve read about why Access is the right tool for you (in Chapter 1) and how to get around in the Access interface (Chapter 2), it’s time to really nail down how Access works and how to start building your database.

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Access Field Types and Uses

A field, you remember, is where your data lives. Each field holds one piece of data, such as Last Name or Batting Average. Because there are so many different kinds of information in the world, Access offers a variety of field types for storing it. In fact, Access puts the following field types at your disposal: Short Text Long Text Number Currency Date & Time Yes/No Lookup & Relationship Rich Text Attachment Hyperlink OLE Object Calculated There’s also an Autonumber field type, which is applied automatically to the first field in a new, blank database. The types just listed are those available for fields you create in addition to that first field — the ones that will contain your data. For now, suffice it to say that the Autonumber field is a field that contains an automatically-generated number so that each record is unique in that it has a unique autonumber, or ID. You get the word about the need for (and ways to create) unique fields later on, in Chapter ...

Building a Database in Access

So you’ve read a few posts here at the beginning of the blog, maybe you’ve leafed ahead where I’ve referred to other chapters, and now you feel ready. You want to dive in and start building a database. Keeping in mind my previous advice to take it slowly, you can take a whack at it here. In the following procedure, you set up a new database and then use the Table Wizard to build the first table in the database. Ready? Here we go . . . 1. If Access is not already running, take a moment to start it. Chapter 1 shows you how to do this. In the Access workspace, a series of large template icons appears, below a Search for Online Templates box, accompanied by links to likely searches for templates that store Assets, Business, Contacts, Employee, and so on. 2. Click the Blank Desktop Database icon. A Blank Desktop Database dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-1. Figure 3-1: New blank databases need names. Give yours one here. 3. Type a name to replace the generic Databa...

Databases with user forms

When you’re planning your database, consider how the data will be entered: If you’ll be doing the data entry yourself, perhaps you’re comfortable working in a spreadsheet-like environment (known in Access as Datasheet view), where the table is a big grid. You fill it in row by row, and each row is a record. Figure 1-1 shows a table of customers in progress in Datasheet view. You decide: Is it easy to use, or can you picture yourself forgetting to move down a row and entering the wrong stuff in the wrong columns as you enter each record? As you can see, there are more fields than show in the window, so you’d be doing a lot of scrolling to the left and right to use this view. You may want to use a form (shown in Figure 1-2) instead. A form is a specialized interface for data entry, editing, and for viewing your database one record at a time, if Someone else will be handling data entry Typing row after row of data into a big grid seems mind-numbing Figure 1-1: Datasheet view ...

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