XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 1 Microsoft Office Access 2003 Tutorial 2 – Creating And Maintaining A Database

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 2 Learn the guidelines for designing databases When designing a database, first try to think of all the fields of data that needs to be stored. Next, group the fields into tables. Each table will contain a group of related fields. You need to select a field in each table to become the primary key for that table. When tables will be related to one another, you need to include a common field in the two tables that will be used to form the relationship.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 3 Determining database fields

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 4 Group the fields into tables

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 5 Choose a primary key Choose a field or fields to serve as the primary key for the table. A primary key must uniquely identify each record in the table. Primary keys can consist of more than one field. –Primary keys with more than one field are called composite keys

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 6 Include a common field When one table needs to be related to another table, you must include a common field. The common field will be the primary key in one table. The common field is referred to as a foreign key in the related table. The foreign key in a table can then be used as a primary key to access the record in the related table.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 7 Data redundancy wastes space and can lead to data errors

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 8 Setting field properties When assigning a name to any object in Access, carefully select a name that will indicate what data is stored there. Field properties include their data type, field sizes, and an optional description of the field. When selecting a field size, make sure the size is big enough to hold the largest piece of data that will be stored there. –Do not make the field larger then necessary because this will result in wasted disk space Make sure the data type you select for a field is appropriate for the kind of data to be stored in that field.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 9 Access field types, slide 1

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 10 Access field types, slide 2

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 11 Create a new database You can create a new database by using a Database Wizard or by creating a new, blank database. When you create a new database, you will need to create all the tables, queries, forms, and reports for the database. –This is the most flexible approach, since you will create all objects yourself

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 12 Create a database without using the Database Wizard To create a new, blank database without using the Database Wizard: –Start Access –Click Blank Database in the task pane –In the dialog box, navigate to the location where you will save your database –Enter the name of the database in the File name text box –Click the Create button

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 13 Create a new table

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 14 Define fields, and specify a table's primary key When you create a table, you name the fields and define the properties for the fields. –The table structure is set up and modified in Design View –In Design View, you will define each field that will be included in the table When all the fields have been defined, you will then specify which field(s) will be the primary key. –The primary key is not mandatory, but it is a good idea to assign one

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 15 The database Design View window

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 16 Choosing a primary key Click a row selector for the field you want to use as the primary key, and then click the Primary Key button on the toolbar. After clicking the Primary Key button, a key symbol appears in the row selector to indicate the key field.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 17 Save the new table When all fields have been defined and properties have been set, you must save the table structure: –Click the Save button on the Table Design toolbar –Type the name you want to assign to the table into the Table Name text box of the Save As dialog box –Click the OK button to save the table using the specified name

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 18 Add records to a table using Datasheet View Once the table has been created, you can then add records to the table using Datasheet View. As you enter records, they will be placed in the order in which you enter them. However, when you close the table and open it again, the records will be ordered according to the primary key order. The navigation bar at the bottom of the Datasheet view will indicate how many records are in the table and what the current record is (i.e., the record on which your cursor currently rests). You can move through the fields in the table by pressing the Tab key. Once your cursor is moved off a record, that record is automatically saved on your disk.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 19 Datasheet View with 2 records added

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 20 Modify the structure of a table by deleting, moving, and adding fields The structure of a table can be modified after it has been created. To delete a field, enter Design View, right-click on the field, and then click Delete Rows on the drop down menu. To move a field, (you also do this in Design View) click on the field you want to move, and while holding your mouse button down, move the field to the desired location. To add a field in Design View, right-click the field where you want to insert the new field and then click Insert Rows on the dropdown menu.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 21 Moving a field in Design View

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 22 Adding a new field in Design View 1. Right-click the row selector for the field you want to insert the new field in front of--StartDate in this figure. 2. Select Insert Rows from the shortcut menu, and a new, blank row will be inserted before the row you selected, as shown below. 3. Enter the information for the new field.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 23 Change field properties You can make additional modifications to the structure of a table by changing the properties of the table's fields. –For example, if you have a field that represents a currency value but you do not want to display dollar signs, you could change the format to a standard format –In the Design View, you will find a list of all formats available to you. You can make a selection from the list of options –Each data type has a separate set of options available in the Field Properties portion of the Table Design Window Field properties are changed in the Design View window.

XP New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Access 2003, Second Edition- Tutorial 2 24 Changing field properties in Design View