Access 2007 Basics

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230 Combs Building 622-3050 http://support.resnet.eku.edu [email protected]

Introduction

Access 2007 was released by Microsoft December 6, 2006. Access

was designed for the main purpose of allowing users to create their own

personal databases. The table system appears similar to Excels, but it is

extremely different because it can store a wide range of values, dates,

and address information. Furthermore, Access can be used with other

Office programs, such as Word. A user can take their database created

in Access that lists, for example, their co-workers addresses and then

import this database to Word to write a letter to all their co-workers

using the items in this database.

Purpose

This manual is provided to offer users a basic understanding of the

functionality of Access 2007. It offers a step by step guide to teachusers how to make a database for personal use and provide a basic

understanding of the tools used in Access. This manual will explain the

steps necessary to create tables, fields, relationships and queries. Topics

covered in this manual will include:

Creating a Blank Database Creating Fields and Editing Field Properties Creating Relationships Between Tables Creating Queries, Forms, and Reports

A

Basic

Introduction

to

Access

2007


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Opening Access

Once Access has started it will prompt you if you want to create a blank database

or a template. This manual will cover creating a blank database, so you would want to

click the blank database icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Then, Access

will ask you what you want to name your file and where to save the file in the right handcolumn; the default name is Database1.

To change the location of where to save the file, click on the folder icon to the

right of the file name and the window below will ask you where to save the file, then

select okay. When you are done, click the create button to begin the process of making

your database. After this step Access will automatically save your database to this file

or you will receive a message asking you to save the database.


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Once you have selected Create, a blank database will pop up with rows and

columns for you to enter in data. The three main items on this page are the main

toolbar, the All Tables column that lists the tables in your database, and the fields listed

in the table you have open. Access opens a default table called Table1; a database in

Access is comprised of multiple tables of information. Table1 is in Datasheet View

when it allows the user to enter the data in rows, like below.


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Creating Fields and Editing Field Properties

A user could go ahead and begin entering in their data,

but that is not recommended. If you already know the specific

fields you want in your table, then it is best to change the table

to design view and enter the field names and properties. Toenter the Design View click the View tab in the top left hand

corner. There are four views available, but this guide will only

focus on Datasheet View and Design View. Click on Design

View and Access will prompt you to save your table and the

default name will be table1; enter in the name for your table

and click okay.

You should enter Design View and you are shown three columns: Field Name, Data

Type, and Description. Field Name is the name that will display in each column in yourdatabase, like SSN, Age, etc. Data Type tells Access what to store the variable as, such

as text, number, or date. Description is for the user to keep track of what the variable

is used for in the database.


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Access will always have one field preset as ID, you can keep this field as it is or

change it. The user can now go ahead and enter the specific names for the fields. An

example table about employees is shown below to explain how to create fields in Design

View. In the example the employees have nine fields. You may notice that the ID field

has a little key icon to the left of it. This means that this field is designated as the

primary key. The primary key is the unique identifier for items in this table and primarykeys must be different from one another. A user can select two keys to act as a primary

key. All tables must have at least one primary key.

For each field there are eleven different data types. You want to change the Data

Type based off what type of data you are going to store in that field. Most Data Types

are self explanatory. For example, the field Wage needs to be stored as currency

because it is the money an employee makes per hour. More than likely, Text will be the

data type that is used most often.

Clicking on each field displays options on the bottom of the screen for how the

field will be displayed. Based on the Data Type, the options differ for displaying the

information in the field. The main options you might want to consider editing will be

discussed. Field Size controls the maximum number of symbols shown in the field. The

Required option determines whether or not all data must contain this field; a social

security number field could be a field that someone might want to set to be required.

Also, Default Value is the value entered into the database automatically if you do not


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enter your own. As an example, the text field, State, is shown below and the field size

is set to two, so that the user can only enter two letters as the state initials.

The text field offers the ability to change the input mask. If you click on thebutton with the three dots you bring up the Input Mask Wizard to alter how the data is

displayed.

First off, the wizard asks you how you want your data to look and you get quite a

variety of choices. You can search through the list to find the format that best suits

your field and click next. Since the field in the example that is being shown is for the

Zip field, then the Input Mask selected is Zip Code.


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The next window prompts the user to see if they want to alter the Input Mask. If

you dont want to make any changes go ahead and click finish.

The Format option is also very useful when using numerical values. The Format

option gives you the ability to change units or currencies, as shown in the window

below.


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Once the fields are entered correctly you can enter data into the table by going

back to Datasheet View by going through the View tab at the lop left hand corner and

selecting it. To enter data into the table just type it in like you would do in Excel. Based

on what options you set in each field it may alter how you can enter your data. Forexample, when entering the state initials into the state field you cant enter a text string

longer than two letters because the field size was set to two.

The following is an example of entries for the table Employees.

In addition, under the Datasheet tab you have the options to edit/add/delete fields

and alter how data is displayed without going to Design View.


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A user can also choose to create a new table by

clicking the table button under the Create tab in the

toolbar. It should automatically create a table that is

named table1, which you can rename or delete yourself

by right clicking on it in the All Tables column.

Another example table was created called Projects to help display how to create

relationships and run queries in Access.


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Creating Relationships

You can create relationships between tables

by clicking the Relationships button under the

Datasheet tab, which is the right most tab on thetoolbar. Relationships allow tables to exchange

data between each other.

If you are not automatically prompted to select which tables to display you should

click the show table button under the Design tab on the toolbar. In the example I have

two tables: Employees and Projects. Left click each table you want to display in the

relationship screen.


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After selecting which tables to display in the Relationship screen you will see your

tables displayed with the fields listed inside of them.

To create a relationship left click on a field that has a field with the same value inthe other table and drag it over to the table you want to create a relationship with. For

example, the field Last Name was dragged over to Worker Last Name to create a

relationship between Employees and Projects. Then, you will be prompted with the

following box.

Clicking the create button should

create a black line connecting the two

tables representing a relationship. The

other options shown wont be covered in

this manual.


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A user can create multiple relationships between tables. If a user tries to create a

second relationship by dragging another field over to the other table, then they are

prompted with this message.

By clicking yes you are allowed to add a second relationship between the two

tables, but it technically says you are editing the previous relationship. In the example

a second relationship can be made between First Name and Worker First Name. To

create this second relationship you have to scroll through the fields in each table and

select First Name and Worker First name, then click create.

Adding this relationship will add a second black line between the two tables shown.Users can create many relationships. One table can have more than one relationship

with multiple tables as long as the other table as the same type of field in it.

Relationships enable multiple tables to exchange their data, so that advanced

correlations can be made and to ensure data is correctly entered.


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Creating Queries, Reports, and Forms

Creating a query allows the user to select certain amount of data with a specific

set of properties without having to look throughout the whole database. Creating a

Report allows a user to create a printable document with a specific set of data on it, and

reports can be made for queries or tables. Also, a Form will display all the data in atable through a multiple page document that the user can flip through. The buttons to

create queries, forms, and reports are located under the Create tab.

To create a query you want to click Query Design. The screen below should pop

up. However, Query Wizard doesnt offer the same abilities to customize your query.


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The query design view allows users to show their tables. This specifies what

tables will be in the query. Also, it acts as a reminder as to what fields and relationships

each table contains. The table at the bottom of the screen is where you will be able to

select which fields you want to include in the query. Users will be able to specify the

criteria for the query. The main commands you will want to use in the toolbar below arethe Run, Delete, and Totals commands.

In order to start making a query go

ahead and select the arrow button on the row

that says Field. It will list all the fields inevery table you have selected to run in the

query. In the example to the right, the tables

Employees and Projects are being used.

In our example query the fields ID, Last

Name, First Name, and Project Name are

listed. The Table row tells the user what table

the field is from. The other rows are helpful

as well. The row Sort can display the field inascending or descending order. Checking the box in the Show row determines whether

or not the to show the row when the query is finished and Criteria specifies what

information you want the query to find.


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Below is an example of how to use the Criteria row. Under Project Name we want

the query to find all Projects with the name Project Dolphin. It is okay to use phrase

=Project Dolphin too. The query should display the employees names who are part of

Project Dolphin. Once you are done entering in criteria you can hit the Run bottom at

the top left hand corner of the screen.

As you can see, Access created a query called Query1 with the information we

wanted. You can rename your query or delete it.

When the user clicks to do something else, Access will prompt the user to save the

query, which allows you to rename it.


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To add criteria to another field will act as an AND. For example, if a user wanted

to search everyone who worked in Project Dolphin and with the last name Smith, then

the user would add the word Smith to the criteria box under the Last Name column.

Also, you can use the OR row to run queries to find all the employees in Project Tiger or

Project Panda as shown in the examples below.


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As you write queries you may have noticed that you can

switch between datasheet view and design view just like when

making a table. However, you are offered another view, which

is called SQL View. This view shows the query in its SQL form

or Structured Query Language. SQL is a language foraccessing information from databases, but it will not be

covered in this manual.

Access also allows users to do mathematical

calculations, just like in Excel. If the user clicks the Totals

button under the Datasheet tab in the right hand corner of the

toolbar, then the Total row will be displayed at the bottom of

the screen. In the example below the user can display the

sum of weekly hours for each member of each project.

After running the example query, the query should pop up below, with the Hours

column automatically changed to SumofHours.

There are multiple symbols that can be used when specifying criteria for queries in

Access. User can use , = to specific a range of values. Also, you can put


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an asterisk after or before a letter or number, such as p or 1, to retrieve all the words

that start or end with p or all the numbers that start or end with 1. If a user puts

asterisks on both side of a letter, then any word with that letter at all is retrieved. The

question mark symbol will act as filler for any other symbol. For example, f?nd would

find the words find, fend, fond, etc. Another important symbol is , which acts as the

the not equal sign, which is shown below. There are many symbols and reserved wordsthat Access uses to refine queries, so it is impossible to explain all of them.

Creating a Report

For creating a Report a user needs to first open the table or query they want the

report to retrieve its information from. Then, you need to click the Report button under

the Create Tab.

This will simply take all the information in the table and display it in a printabledocument. Just like for the Employees report on the next page.


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A user can customize this report by clicking the view

button and going to Layout View or Design View. A user can

alter columns and rows, add text, or take averages and sums.

Using Report Wizard allows the user to avoid making these

changes after the report is made. Click the Report Wizard

button under the Create tab to run this program.

A window will pop up prompting the user to select what

table or query to run the report for and to select what

information the report will display from that table or query. In

the example below, the table Employees has been selected.

The user selects or removes which fields to display in the

report by clicking the left and right arrows between the boxes

labeled Available Fields and Selected Fields.


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After clicking next the user will be able to select what field to group the

information by and the priority of the groups by using the arrow buttons. You do not

have to group the information. If you feel like customizing how your data is grouped

then click the Grouping Options in the bottom left corner, otherwise click next.

More advanced options are shown and they give the user the ability to alter the

order in which fields are display.


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Summary options are important for making mathematical calculations. In the

example below the only two fields listed are the fields using the number data type.

When you are finished with your settings click okay and it will return you to the previous

window and when you are done selecting the sort order options click next.

These next options specify the layout of the report. When you are done click next.


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Access offers a lot of preset styles for your report to be presented as and you can

preview how the report will look in the box to the left. The default style is Office and

once the user has selected the style they prefer click next.

This last window offers the ability to title the report, preview the report, or makesome last minute design changes. If you feel comfortable with your report click finish.


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Now the user is shown their report; if you do not like how the report is designed or

you cant read some of the information in the fields then going to the Design View under

the View button under the Home tab on the toolbar should allow you to edit text and

alter the size of your columns so that all the text can be read in the report.

This is the report above shown in Design View.


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One change that was made was changing the text

Summary for City to Total Hours Per Week for, because

it is easier to understand.

Now changing the window back to Layout View under the View button will showthe changes you have made. Print View will allow you to print the Report.

Creating Forms

Creating forms are quite simple and this manual will not go into detail about

splitting forms or designing forms. In order to create a form from a table or query you

have in your database you need to left click on it from the list in the All Tables column.

Next, click the Form button under the Create tab on the toolbar, just like in the toolbar

below.


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A form should pop up that displays all the entries in the database, but on separate

pages that the user can flip through using the arrows at the bottom left hand corner of

the screen.

With these forms, the user can now print off the information as needed or save the

form to the database.

Closing Access

To close Access click the Office button in the top left hand corner of the screen and

scroll down through you options to the bottom and click Close Database.


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Documents

Access 2007 Basics