PC Magazine Programming Access 97
Authors: Miriam Liskin
Venue:  (1997)

From the Book:Access 97 is the latest version of Microsoft's popular relational database management program. You can use it for a variety of database applications, ranging from simple mailing lists and personal contact files to very complex systems such as inventory, accounting, and professional office management databases. Like all database software, Access allows you to define the structures of the tables that will store the information you need to track; design custom data entry forms; enter, edit, and delete data; perform calculations; and view and print reports based on all or selected information from one or more tables.Like its immediate predecessor, Access 97 was designed only for 32-bit operating systems - Windows 95, Windows NT Server, and Windows NT Workstation - and it conforms closely to the current de facto interface standards for these operating systems. If you've used other Microsoft Of Office 97 programs (such as Word or Excel), you'll feel right at home using the Access menus, dialog boxes, and design tools. If you're new to the 32-bit world, you should be prepared for a few differences and allow yourself a little extra time to familiarize yourself with Windows 95 (or NT) as you learn about Access. Although you may feel a bit lost at first, the extra effort will pay off when you learn your next windows 95 program, because you'll already be comfortable with the user interface.Users at all levels of database expertise can work with Access interactively by manipulating objects on the screen with the mouse, operating command buttons, choosing items from lists, and selecting commands from the menu bar and from shortcut menus invoked by right-clicking anobject on the screen. The immediacy of this interactive mode is reassuring to a beginner - when you issue a command or initiate a task, you get instant feedback - and is coupled with a flexibility you'll continue to appreciate as you gain proficiency. By selecting objects and commands one by one, you can carry out in any convenient order all the activities required to build, update, and maintain a database application. For more experienced users and more mature, stable applications, Access also includes a powerful macro facility, which you can use to automate your database by storing a series of actions (the very same actions you might carry out one by one interactively) in a macro and then running the macro to repeat those actions at a later time. By integrating macros with forms, you can develop a completely automated menu-driven application that could be used by others who know little or nothing about Access itself.None of the aforementioned activities, including defining and using macros, requires programming, although you might feel that building complex macros does require you to think a bit like a programmer. However, like the other components of Microsoft Of Office,, Access also includes a complete implementation of Visual Basic for Applications, which enables you to build applications of almost unlimited complexity (subject only to your ability to master the required programming techniques). As your Access applications grow in size, capability, and complexity, you can be assured that Access won't "run out of steam" and force you to switch to another database.Although no program can be all things to all users, Access strives to combine ease of use with power and flexibility. Even if you're a complete beginner, you'll find the Access interactive environment and menu system to be intuitive, well organized, and logically structured. However, ease of use and ease of learning don't always go hand in hand, and like all powerful programs, Access may be a little intimidating for a novice, simply because there are so many commands and so many options.Access provides several special tools to help beginners get up and running as quickly and easily as possible. In addition to the standard Windows help system, there's the Office Assistant - a cartoon character shared by all the components of Microsoft Office that pops up to offer context-sensitive help and that can answer questions posed in informal language (such as "How can I format dates?").Access also includes Wizards, , which help you create a variety of very common form, report, and graph styles. The Wizards take a more serious, business-like tone than the Of Office Assistant; using a series of dialog boxes, they ask questions and present options for you to choose and then generate a form, report, or graph. The Wizards are a boon to the beginner because they enable you to avoid (or postpone) having to design these documents from scratch. If you've used earlier versions of Access, you'll see that the Wizards have grown with the software and can produce forms and reports that model some rather sophisticated data relationships. Furthermore, although they can't accomplish everything you can using the Access design tools, the Wizards don't limit the complexity of the documents you can create; you can modify the forms, reports, and graphs produced by the Wizards just as you would a document you created yourself. You may find the Wizards useful long after you've overcome the initial intimidation you felt when first confronted with a blank design work surface; if one of the layouts and overall styles they can create comes dose to satisfying your requirements, letting the Wizard build the first version of a document and then modifying the result is often the most efficient way to define a new form, report, or graph.Despite these amenities, database management isn't an easy subject, and database programs often have a steep learning curve. Some of the blame for state of affairs stems from the reputation (largely well-deserved) acquired by yearly MS-DOS databases for being difficult to learn and awkward to use. Unfortunately, however, the main reason database programs are hard to learn is that they're used to model very large and complex business problems and to manage massive amounts of data that require a variety of storage formats - information that would be equally difficult to conceptualize and organize using a manual system.Furthermore, unlike other general-purpose programs such as spreadsheets and word processors, databases force you to carry out quite a few preliminary steps before you can begin working with the data, and they usually require you look at your data in ways that don't directly parallel manual record-keeping systems. In these respects, Access is no easier or more difficult to learn than any other powerful and sophisticated database manager.This book strives to help you surmount these conceptual barriers and begin doing productive work with Access as quickly as possible. Once you understand the basic database management concepts and decide how to structure your own database application, you'll find that the mechanics of using Access to implement your system are very straightforward.WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?Like Access itself, this book is ideal for people who need or want to go beyond the most basic tasks and are willing to learn some new concepts and a few difficult techniques but may or may not want to become programmers. It's also appropriate for Visual Basic programmers who have little experience with the interactive active Access environment or with database design. For the most part, this book is intended for the vast middle ground: people with some database experience who need to build applications of moderate complexity.This book doesn't assume any prior experience with database software in general or with Microsoft Access in particular. It does assume you have a basic familiarity with computers, feel comfortable using your own hardware, know where the special function keys are on your keyboard, and know how to use a mouse. It also assumes some familiarity with Windows 95. At the very least, you should know how to start up Windows 95, how to launch Access from the Start menu or by using a shortcut on the desktop, and how to switch from one running application to another. If Access is your first Windows 95 program, you might want to consult an introductory book on Windows 95 for an overview of the working environment and to review the basic keyboard and mouse techniques used to navigate among open windows on the desktop, move and resize windows, and cut and paste objects using the clipboard.This book is really two books in one. The eight chapters that make up Part 1 are equivalent to an introductory book on Access for people with no prior database experience (but who are familiar enough with computers to proceed at a fast pace through the basic concepts). The first three chapters in Part 1 present a thorough introduction to the basic database management concepts that are a prerequisite to using Access (or any other database program), teach you a practical method for analyzing and planning a database application, and give you a brief guided tour of the Access working environment. Part 1 also presents the fundamentals of using the Access design tools and teaches you to define all the necessary components of an Access database application: tables, which store the actual data; queries, which are used to select subsets of your data, display data in different orders, perform calculations, and carry out database updates; data entry forms; and reports.If Access is your first database program and your application is fairly simple, you may be able to learn most of what you need to know from Part 1. If you already have some experience with other database programs, you'll find many of the concepts familiar, and you can concentrate on the material that describes unique aspects of Access and the mechanics of using the Access design tools. More advanced users and programmers may want to skim quickly through Part 1, but don't succumb to the temptation to skip the introductory chapters entirely; they provide a good introduction to the Access working environment, and they include a great many pointers on the best ways to accomplish a given objective in Access.Part 2 builds on Part 1 to provide a comprehensive guide to Access for intermediate and advanced users. Part 2 revisits many of the topics introduced in Part 1 in much greater depth, and the material in these chapters will be of interest to nearly all Access users. Chapter 9 presents a more formal, detailed introduction to Access syntax and expressions and describes methods for using these expressions to carry out calculations. Chapter 10 describes complex queries, and Chapters 11, 12, and 13 cover the form and report design tools in depth. These chapters will teach you how to make extensive modifications to the forms generated by the Access Wizards and how to build complete forms and reports from scratch if the layouts produced by the Wizards do not satisfy your requirements or your esthetic preferences. The material in Part 2 should prove useful to anyone who is building an application of moderate complexity.Part 3 covers more specialized topics that may not be of interest to all Access users, at least not at first. These topics include rearranging databases, exchanging and sharing data with other programs, and working with objects created by other programs (such as graphs, pictures, and spreadsheets) from within Access, defining a password-protected security system, and using Access on a network.Part 4 introduces the more advanced concepts you'll need when you begin putting together menu-driven applications for other users who may know considerably less about Access than you do. Chapters 19 through 21 describe the techniques you'll use to automate an Access application: designing macros and a using the two supported programming languages, SQL and Visual Basic. Chapter 22 presents a variety of special-purpose forms that serve purposes other than data entry in your application's user interface (for example, forms that serve as menus and dialog boxes), and Chapter 23 describes how to build menus and toolbars to link together the components of your application. Finale, Chapter 24 outlines some strategies for putting together the pieces and building applications that make use of other Microsoft Office components.HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BOOKThis book uses as a case study system a name and address list application for an imaginary nonprofit organization called the Association for a Clean Earth, a group that concentrates on pollution and other environmental issues. The book follows the case study system from the early planning and analysis phases through the development of a complete menu-driven system. The ACE application is typical, in its size, scope, and complexity, of the database management needs of many small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and departments in larger organizations. The examples (many of which were suggested by the needs of the author's clients) are as realistic as possible without being so specific as to sacrifice generality.You can best take advantage of this book if you read most of it seated at your computer so you can try the examples and practice new techniques as you read about them. Every chapter includes hands-on exercises, and you're strongly encouraged to take the time to work through most of them, to solidify your understanding of the concepts and to gain confidence working in the Access environment.As the book progresses, you may feel that some of the examples focus in rather closely on minute details of the ACE system, but try not to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Even if yout own database tracks data that bears no resemblance to the names and addresses, contacts, and financial transactions in the case study system, you can use the sample database as a model for analogous operations carried out on quite different types of data. The examples were intended to clarify general concepts and to illustrate strategies and methods that are applicable to a broad range of database management tasks. If you keep the big picture firmly in mind, you'll be able to mix and match these techniques to suit the needs of your own Access database applications.The complete sample database is available on Ziff-Davis Press's Web site. Point your browser to http://www.mcp.com/zdpress/.If you've used other database programs or programming languages (perhaps dBASE, FoxPro, Paradox, SQL Server, or Visual Basic), be receptive to new terminology and new techniques rather than trying to force Access into a more familiar mold. If you're a programmer, resist the temptation to dive right into Visual Basic programming; take the time to explore the interactive design tools, which are intended for users and programmers alike.Regardless of your prior experience, the most important assets you can bring to the party are an open mind and a willingness to experiment. If you think you see a different way to achive a given objective than the one presented in this book, try it. There's often more than one "right" way to accomplish a task, and this book tries to steer you away from some of the "wrong" ones.Finally, despite the weighty subject matter and the author's rather serious tone, relax and enjoy the learning process. Look at your business application as a puzzle or game, to which the finished database is the solution or the prize. Have some fun with Access! The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2010 ACM, Inc. Terms of Usage Privacy Policy Code of Ethics Contact Us Useful downloads: Adobe Acrobat QuickTime Windows Media Player Real Player