Lesson 29: Building a Database

Learning Objectives After studying this lesson, you will be able to:  Identify key database design techniques  Open an existing database  Create a database table using Design view  Create a form  Create a report  Create a table from an Excel worksheet  Create a new database using a template 2

Planning a Database Design Asking questions helps identify objects What info do you want to obtain from the database? What pieces of data do you need for the info? What groups do the fields fit into? How do the groups interconnect? What is the most efficient way to input data? What questions will the data answer? Reports Fields Tables Foreign keys Forms Queries 3

Opening a Database Same basic procedures used to open files in other computer programs Enabling content to control security 4

Saving a Database as a New File File > Save As command in Access is different from other applications 5 Save an existing object as a new object Save an existing database as a new database

Opening Database Objects Database objects are grouped by type on the Navigation Pane Procedures for opening database objects similar to those used to open programs from the Desktop:  Double-click the object in the Navigation Pane  Right-click object in the Navigation Pane and choose Open  Drag the object name from the Navigation Pane to the work area of the Access window 6

Working with Tabbed Objects Each open object in the database window is identified by a tab To switch among open objects, click a tab 7

Creating Database Objects The Create tab of the Ribbon contains tools for creating all database objects Tools on the Ribbon are grouped by object type Each object type has several different formats to choose from 8

Creating a Simple Form – Input Forms are used to input data into database tables Forms obtain their field names and data from tables or queries Simple forms contain all fields for the table or query on which they are based 9

Creating Simple Reports – Output Processes data into meaningful information Formats data for printing Contains all fields from the associated table 10

Creating a Table Using Design View 11

Importing Data from Excel Creates new tables from data stored in other programs External Data tab on the Ribbon contains Import tools Most import procedures use Wizards 12

Create a Database Using a Template In Access, database templates are ready-to-use databases Each template contains a set of objects designed for a specific purpose  Storing contacts, tracking projects, etc. Each object in the database created with a template can be customized to meet specific needs 13

Finding and Selecting Templates 14 Sample templates Search for more templates Business templates group downloaded from Microsoft

Lesson 29: Building a Database