ITEC 1050, MS Access Practice Exercise

This exercise is for you to practice using MS Access in the lab, and to provide you with help as to
how to work with access. In many regards, it is similar to yourfor-grade project. The goal with
this project is to learn how to create and use an MS Access database, not to rush through the
exercise. Take your time and follow the instructions carefully it will help you later while
working on the actual project.
PART I THE FILE STRUCTURES
Our database shall be to keep track of salespersons in a company. The SALESPERSON table
shall be made up of the following fields:
Field
Salesperson ID
Last Name
First Name
SSN
CommRate

Data Type
Auto number
Text
Text
Text
Number

Width

Office

Text

4 char.

State

Text

2 char.

CompanyCar

Yes/No

12 char.
10 char.
11 char
Single, 3
decimals

Other Info
Primary Key

Input mask as SSN

Commission rate is entered as a
percentage, thus 6.5% is entered
as .065
Upper case (> in Format).
Validate as SAV or BRU or ATL
or GRE or CHA
Upper case (> in Format);
Default value is GA

There should be a table of customers who are Customers of the salespersons, the CUSTOMER
table. It should be made up of the following fields:
Field
Customer ID
Customer Name
Customer City
Employee # (this is
the foreign key into
the Customer Table)

Data Type
Auto number
Text
Text
Long Integer

Width
15 char.
12 char.
5 digits

Other
Primary Key

Same as in the Salesperson

Table. Common field
between the 2 tables

PART II STEP BY STEP, CREATING THE SALESPERSON TABLE

1. First open up MS Access. Click in theCreate a New Database boxs use aBlank Database
radio button. Then click OK.
2. Youll be asked to save the new database. Place your diskette in the A drive. Click in the
Save in box, and click on3 inch floppy A. Down below, click in theFile namebox, and
call thisEmployee.mdb. Remember this database will have two tables. Click Create.
3. The blank database will be presented. TheTables tab will already be selected for you. Note
that you cant select anything but New on the right. Click on it.

Prof. Katz

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ITEC 1050, MS Access Practice Exercise

4. A new dialog box is opened. Click on Design View, and then OK. You will do this for both
tables.
5. Now youll start setting up your table. In the Field Name column, give the field its identifying
name. You may use the suggested field names above. Then use the Tab key to tab over to
the Data Type. When you do, adrop-down arrow will be displayed, as well as the default of
Text.
6. Once you do this, theGeneral tab under Field Properties below will be selected. It is here
that you give the field its properties, such as field width, the > sign in Format for the Office
and State fields, which makes them uppercase, and you create the Validation Rule and
Validation Text, as described in the previous class session.
7. Go ahead and complete all the fields. When youre done with each table, before you leave
Design View, you will need to set up the Primary Key before you go to Datasheet View.
(actually, you need to do this before formatting the input mask for the SSN as a Social
Security Number)

To do this, place your cursor anywhere on the row containing the field to be designated
as the Primary Key.

Now click on the little key icon on the standard tool bar. The Primary Key will be
assigned.
8. Now click on the Datasheet view icon. Youll be prompted to save the table. Call it
Salesperson and click OK. After the save is complete, the Datasheet view will be displayed.
9. Now enter in all of your data for the Salesperson Table. Enter about 5 records.
PART III CREATE THE CUSTOMER TABLE
1. Now that you have created the Salesperson Table, and entered the data, youre ready to
created the Customer Table.
2. Following Steps 1 through 9 in PART II, create the Customer Table and enter the data, using
the same steps for corresponding fields.
3. MAKE SURE THAT THE CUSTOMER RECORDS CONTAIN SALESPERSON ID#s
WHICH EXIST IN THE SALESPERSON TABLE.
4. Enter about four records.

PART IV CREATE THE RELATIONSHIP

1. Exit your table after youve entered all the data.
2. Click on the Tools drop-down menu from the menu bar. Click on the Relationships
command.
3. The Show Table dialog box is displayed:
Click on each table and then click on Add
Click on the common field in the Salesperson table, and drag it to the same common field
in the Customer table.
When you do, the Relationships dialog box will be displayed. Confirm the fields
displayed and their tables. Then click in the Enforce Referential Integrity check box.
Click on the Create button. The relationship has been created.
4. X out ofRelationships. If asked to save it, click "Yes."

Prof. Katz

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ITEC 1050, MS Access Practice Exercise

PART V CREATE THE REPORT USING THE REPORT WIZARD
1. Click theReport tab. Click New.
2. Click the Report Wizard. Then click on the drop-down arrow to choose the table to report
from. Choose the Salesperson table.
3. Click on the fields you wish to report, and then the right arrow, to place the field in the
Selected Fields box. To place ALL the fields in the box, click the double-arrow.
4. After youve done this, if you want to remove a field, click on the field in theSelected Fields
box and then the left-pointing single or (to remove all) double-arrow buttons.
5. To rearrange the fields, you may have to remove them from the right, and replace them from
the left in different sequences.
Follow each step in the wizard process to complete your report. At the end of the process, youll
be prompted to give the report a name. Do that, and clickFinish. The report will be previewed
for you. After previewing it, you may exit the report. If you were to print it, you would click on
the Print icon.

PART VI - CREATING QUERIES (simple)

1. Click theQueries tab. Click New.
2. Click on Design View and click "OK"
3. From the "Show Table" dialog box, click on the Salesperson Table and click "Add". The
table will be added to the view table area above the grid in your query design view. Now
click on "Close".
4. In the Query grid, first column, click on the drop-down arrow on the Field row. Choose the
Salesperson ID field. Now do the same for each column's field, selecting an Salesperson
Table field to display. Don't select all the fields - the idea here is to select only the fields you
want.
5. When you've selected your fields, save the query by clicking on the diskette icon and giving
your query the name Salesperson Query. Now run the query by clicking on the red
exclamation point icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen. Your data will be displayed.
6. Once you've done that, click on the Design View icon in the top left of the toolbar.
Experiment by changing your query, and running it each time, in the following ways:
Click on the Sort row in a column other than the Salesperson ID, and select Ascending.
Run the query and view the results. Now change back to Design View and select
Descending for the same field and run it. View the results. Try this with several fields.
Click on the Show button (in Design View) for a field (should be checked - so "uncheck"
it) and run the query. That field should not be present. Check the field back again.
If you haven't chosen the State field to be in your query, click on the next empty field's
drop-down arrow and choose it. Now you're going to select, or filter out, records. Click
in the Criteria row for the State field and key in =GA. (obviously, you will have to have
some employees in GA, and you should have some in other states too) Tab out of the
field. Now run the query.
Try the same selection with Sex being M and then F. You should have some records of
each sex so that this filter works, displaying only the male records (and then, the female
records)
You can do the same thing with the Company Car Yes / No field, using it to filter only
those Salespersons who drive a company car.

Prof. Katz

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ITEC 1050, MS Access Practice Exercise

PART VII JOINED TABLE QUERY

When you create this kind of query, using the same steps (1 through 3 above) you did before, this
time add both tables from the Show Table box. The relationship you have previously created
will also be in the query. Now you can follow the same steps above, selecting fields from both
tables, without even displaying (or using) the Salesperson ID in the query as a field. The
connection between the common Salesperson IDs will allow data such as the employee's name
and his customers city to be displayed.

Prof. Katz

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