Dbs213: MS ACCESS

Editor's Notes

• #3: Fundamental Concepts of Database Management Systems Data, Database and concepts Modeling Data in the Organization 1. E-R Model Notation 2. Modeling the Rules of the Organization 3. Modeling Entities and Attributes 4. Modeling Relationship Nature of Data SUPER CLASS an entity that can be divided into further subtype often called as generalized class SUB CLASS group of entities with some unique attributes. often called as specialized class (SPECIALIZATION) best understood by “IS-A analysis” SPECIALIZATION (process of generalizing an entity which contains generalized attributes or properties of generalized entities. (Bottom up process) GENERALIZATION process of generalizing an entity which contains generalized attributes or properties of generalized entities. (Bottom up process)
• #5: Microsoft Access is a Database Management System (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools. It is a part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the professional and higher editions Microsoft Access stores information which is called a database. To use MS Access, you will need to follow these four steps:  Database Creation - Create your Microsoft Access database and specify what kind of data you will be storing.  Data Input - After your database is created, the data of every business day can be entered into the Access database.  Query - This is a fancy term to basically describe the process of retrieving information from the database.  Report (optional) - Information from the database is organized in a nice presentation that can be printed in an Access Report.
• #6: Data Manipulation Working with data in RDBMS is very different from working with data in a word processing or spreadsheet program  In a word processing document, you can include tabular data and perform a limited set of functions on the data in the document.  You can also search for text strings in the original document and, with ActiveX controls, including tables, charts, or pictures from other applications.  In a spreadsheet, some cells contain functions that determine the result you want, and in other cells, you enter the data that provides the source information for the functions.  An RDBMS provides you many ways to work with your data. For example, you can search a single table for information or request a complex search across several related tables.  update a single field or many records with a single command.  write programs that use RDBMS commands to fetch data that you want to display and allow the user to update the data.
• #7: Parts of the Access screen:• Menu bar - listing of commands• Access toolbar - most frequently used commands• Table - holds the information in a database• Form - allows the user to enter, edit and view information in a table one record at a time• Object buttons - select database objects of tables, forms, reports, queries, macros and modules• Database window - lists the objects in the database• Record navigation buttons - display first, next, previous and last record, as well as current record number and total number of records• Status bar - displays status information about the current task• Mode indicators - shows special conditions in effect (e.g. Caps Lock Key)• Office Assistant - provides online help and suggestions 
• #8: MS Access — Objects MS Access uses “objects" to help the user list and organize information, as well as prepare specially designed reports. When you create a database, Access offers you Tables, Queries, Forms, Reports, Macros, and Modules. Databases in Access are composed of many objects but the following are the major objects: Tables Queries Forms Reports
• #9: Table is an object that is used to define and store data. When you create a new table, Access asks you to define fields which are also known as column headings.  Each field must have a unique name and data type.  Tables contain fields or columns that store different kinds of data, such as a name or an address, and records or rows that collect all the information about a particular instance of the subject, such as all the information about a customer or employee, etc.  You can define a primary key, one or more fields that have a unique value for each record, and one or more indexes on each table to help retrieve your data more quickly
• #10: An object that provides a custom view of data from one or more tables. Queries are a way of searching for and compiling data from one or more tables.  Running a query is like asking a detailed question of your database.  When you build a query in Access, you are defining specific search conditions to find exactly the data you want.  In Access, you can use the graphical query by example facility or you can write Structured Query Language (SQL) statements to create your queries.  You can define queries to Select, Update, Insert, or Delete data.  You can also define queries that create new tables from data in one or more existing tables.
• #11: Form is an object in a desktop database designed primarily for data input or display or for control of application execution. You use forms to customize the presentation of data that your application extracts from queries or tables.  Forms are used for entering, modifying, and viewing records.  The reason forms are used so often is that they are an easy way to guide people toward entering data correctly.  When you enter information into a form in Access, the data goes exactly where the database designer wants it to go in one or more related tables.
• #12: Report is an object in desktop databases designed for formatting, calculating, printing, and summarizing selected data.  You can view a report on your screen before you print it.  If forms are for input purposes, then reports are for output.  Anything you plan to print deserves a report, whether it is a list of names and addresses, a financial summary for a period, or a set of mailing labels.  Reports are useful because they allow you to present components of your database in an easy-to-read format.  You can even customize a report's appearance to make it visually appealing.  Access offers you the ability to create a report from any table or query
• #13: Macro This object is a structured definition of one or more actions that you want Access to perform in response to a defined event. An Access Macro is a script for doing some job. For example, to create a button that opens a report, you could use a macro that will fire OpenReport action.  You can include simple conditions in macros to specify when one or more actions in the macro should be performed or skipped.  You can use macros to open and execute queries, to open tables, or to print or view reports.  You can also run other macros or Visual Basic procedures from within a macro.  Data macros can be attached directly to table events such as inserting new records, editing existing records, or deleting records.  Data macros in web apps can also be stand-alone objects that can be called from other data macros or macro-objects.
• #14: Module is an object in desktop databases containing custom procedures that you code using Visual Basic. Modules provide a more discrete flow of actions and allow you to trap errors.  Everything that can be done in a macro can also be done in a module, but you don't get the macro interface that prompts you what is needed for each action.  Modules are far more powerful, and are essential if you plan to write code for a multi-user environment, because macros cannot include error handling.  Modules can be standalone objects containing functions that can be called from anywhere in your application, or they can be directly associated with a form or a report to respond to events on the associated form or report.
• #15: Short Text -Text or combinations of text and numbers, including numbers that do not require calculating (e.g. phone numbers).Up to 255 characters. Long Text - Lengthy text or combinations of text and numbers.Up to 63, 999 characters. Number - Numeric data used in mathematical calculations.1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes (16 bytes if set to Replication ID). Date/Time - Date and time values for the years 100 through 9999.8 bytes Currency - Currency values and numeric data used in mathematical calculations involving data with one to four decimal places.8 bytes AutoNumber - A unique sequential (incremented by 1) number or random number assigned by Microsoft Access whenever a new record is added to a table.4 bytes (16 bytes if set to Replication ID). Yes/No - Yes and No values and fields that contain only one of two values (Yes/No, True/False, or On/Off).1 bit.
• #16: Currency - Currency values and numeric data used in mathematical calculations involving data with one to four decimal places.8 bytes AutoNumber - A unique sequential (incremented by 1) number or random number assigned by Microsoft Access whenever a new record is added to a table.4 bytes (16 bytes if set to Replication ID). Yes/No - Yes and No values and fields that contain only one of two values (Yes/No, True/False, or On/Off).1 bit. If you use previous versions of Access, you will notice a difference for two of those data types. In Access 2013, we now have two data types — short text and long text. In previous versions of Access these data types were called text and memo. The text field is referred to as short text and your memo field is now called long text.
• #17: Attachment - Files, such as digital photos. Multiple files can be attached per record. This data type is not available in earlier versions of Access. Up to about 2 GB. OLE objects - OLE objects can store pictures, audio, video, or other BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Up to about 2 GB. Hyperlink - Text or combinations of text and numbers stored as text and used as a hyperlink address. Up to 8,192 (each part of a Hyperlink data type can contain up to 2048 characters).
• #18: Lookup Wizard - The Lookup Wizard entry in the Data Type column in the Design view is not actually a data type. When you choose this entry, a wizard starts to help you define either a simple or complex lookup field. A simple lookup field uses the contents of another table or a value list to validate the contents of a single value per row. A complex lookup field allows you to store multiple values of the same data type in each row. Dependent on the data type of the lookup field. Calculated - You can create an expression that uses data from one or more fields. You can designate different result data types from the expression. You can create an expression that uses data from one or more fields. You can designate different result data types from the expression.
• #19: Using the requirement in google sheet