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 can be an easy environment for data entry. Or not

The mind-numbing effect (and inherent increased margin for error) is especially likely when you have lots of fields in a database, and the user, if working in Datasheet view, has to move horizontally through the fields. A form like the one in Figure 1-2 puts the fields in a more pleasing format, making it easier to enter data into the fields and to see all the fields at once (or only those you want data entered into).

You find out all about forms in Chapter 7. If your database is large enough that you require help doing the data entry, or if it’s going to grow over time, making an ongoing data-entry process likely, Access is the tool for you. The fact that it offers simple forms of data entry/editing is reason enough to make it your database application of choice.

Figure 1-2: Here’s a simple form for entering new records or reviewing existing ones.