Microsoft Access

2003
Tutorial 1 Introduction To
Microsoft Access 2003

Define some key Access terminology

Field A single characteristic or
attribute of a person, place, object,
event, or idea.
Record A set of related field values.
Table A collection of records that
identify a category of data, such as
Customers, Orders, or Inventory.

Illustration of fields, records and a

table

Relational database and keys

A relational database is a collection of
tables that are related to one another
based on a common field.
A field, or a collection of fields, is
designated as the primary key.
The primary key uniquely identifies a record
in the table.

When the primary key of one table is

represented in a second table to form a
relationship, it is called a foreign key.

Relating tables using a common field

Open an existing database

When Access is launched you will see the
Access window, with the task pane on the right
side
From the task pane you can open an existing
database by:
Selecting the database you want from the list of
Recently opened databases
Selecting Look in list arrow to choose a database
you want to open from a storage location
If you choose the Look in list arrow, you will browse to the
correct location of your database, click on it, and then click
on Open to open the database

The Access window

When a database is opened, the Access window
and the Database window will be displayed.
The Access window contains a menu bar, a
toolbar, a task pane, and a status bar.
In the Access window, use the task pane to create
a new database or to open an existing database.
To create a new database, make a selection from the
New section of the task pane
To open an existing database, select from the list of
Recently opened databases or from the More files option

The Database window

The Database window is the main control
center for working with an Access database.
The Database window contains a menu bar,
an objects bar, and a groups bar.
The Objects bar lists all the objects available in
the database
The list of objects consists of tables, queries,
forms, reports, pages, macros, and modules
You can click on any of the objects in the Objects
bar to obtain a list of objects of that type

Use the task pane to open a

database

Open an Access database table

To open a table you must first open a
database:
In the database window, select Tables on the
objects bar
In the list of tables, select the table you want to
open and click on the Open button
When a table is open it is in Datasheet view, which
shows the table's data as a collection of rows and
columns
Each row in the Datasheet view represents a
record in the table

Navigate a database table

You can navigate through the records by
using the navigation buttons displayed at
the bottom of the Datasheet view window.
The navigation bar allows you to:

Go to the first record in the table

Go to the previous record in the table
Go to the next record in the table
Go to the last record in the table
Create a new record for the table (sometimes
called an append record)

A table in datasheet view

The navigation bar buttons

Learn how Access saves a database

The Save button in Access differs from the Save
button in other Windows programs.
When you press the Save button in Access, you
are saving the design of the Access objects and
NOT the data itself.
Access saves data as it is entered

For this reason, the location at which you are

storing your database must always be accessible
while working with a particular database.
If the database is located on a diskette, the diskette
must be in the diskette drive at all times while working
with this particular database

What is an Access query?

If you want to see just a portion of the data
in a table you can create a query.
A query is a question you ask about the
data stored in a database table.
Access responds by displaying the data
according to your question.
For example, if you ask to see all the customers
from New York, the response would be to display
only the records whose state field matches with
NY

Open an existing query and create

new queries
You can open an existing query by clicking
Queries on the Objects bar and then
selecting the query you want to open.
You can also create your own queries by
clicking New on the Database window.
To create a new query, you can use the
Simple Query Wizard, which will bring you
through the selections you want for your
query.

Navigating a query and sorting the

results
When you run and get the results of your query,
you can reorganize the data by sorting the
datasheet in either ascending or descending
order.
Click the pointer anywhere in the column you wish to
sort
Click the Sort Ascending or Sort Descending buttons on
the Query Datasheet toolbar to sort the results in the
desired sequence

You can navigate through the records by using the

navigation buttons on the Navigations toolbar.

Sample Query Datasheet view

Selecting fields to include in a query

You can create a query that will display only selected
fields from a table instead of displaying all fields.
In the Simple Query Wizard dialog box, select which
fields you want included in the query.
Move all the fields into the Selected Fields box
Move the fields one at a time
Remove fields out of the Selected Fields box by pressing
one of the remove buttons

If you wanted to select all the fields except one, you

can move them all to the selected fields list and then
remove the one field you don't want.
Once you have made your selections, press Next to
move to the next dialog box in the Wizard.

The Simple Query Wizard

Create an Access form

A form allows you to view your data one
record at a time.
Forms are useful for maintaining, viewing,
and printing records in a database.
You can create your own form in the
Forms Design window or you can use the
Forms Wizard to create a form.
The easiest way to create a form is to use
the AutoForm Wizard.

Use the AutoForm Wizard

The AutoForm Wizard uses a table (or query)
you select as the basis to create a form that
displays all the fields of the table (or query).
Once you have created your form, you can
view the records one record at a time.
The form has a navigation bar just like the
navigation bar you have already used in the
Table or Query Datasheet view.

Access Form View

Create, preview, and navigate a

report
You can create a report, which is a printed
version of your data, that is formatted
according to your specifications.
The data in the report can consist of data
from a single table or multiple tables.
Access has a Reports Wizard that allows
you to easily create a report.
The report can be based on a table or it
can be based on a query.
If the report is based on a query, it will contain
the same fields that were selected for the query

The Report Preview window

Backup and restore a database

You may want to create a backup of your
data so that if you lose or damage your
database, you can recover from the backup.
You can use a backup tool, such as the
Microsoft backup tool, or some other backup
program.
To restore the data from the backup, you
need to use the same backup tool according
to the instructions associated with that tool.

Compacting a database
It is a good idea to periodically compact and
repair a database to recover wasted space
created by adding, deleting, and modifying
records.
Access has a Compact and Repair feature:
Open a database
Click on Tools and then Options
On the Options menu, select Compact on Close.
Selecting this option will cause your database to be
compacted and repaired every time you close it

Setting the Compact on Close option

Compacting reduces database

storage size

Convert an existing database

to Access 2003 format
It is possible to convert a database created in
Access 2000 or 2002 to an Access 2003 database.
To convert an Access 2000 or 2002 database to
Access 2003 format:
Make certain the database to be converted is closed
Click Tools on the menu bar, then point to Database
Utilities
Point to Convert database and choose the format to
convert to
Enter the name of the database to convert, and a name
for the converted database to be stored under

Microsoft Access
2003
End - Tutorial 1 Introduction
To Microsoft Access 2003