A Painless Introduction To MS Access Databasing

A Painless Introduction
to MS Access Databasing
Yannick Pouliot, PhD

Bioresearch Informationist
lanebioresearch@stanford.edu
Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center
4/20/07
Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center

http://lane.stanford.edu
Preliminaries
 Launch MS Access
 Open Simple1.mdb
 File/Open
 Using the Help  don’t neglect it!
 Exercise: ask the Office Assistant for “select
syntax”
Lane Medical Library &

Knowledge Management Center
2
Contents
 Familiarization with MS Acces
 Understanding a simple database
 Basics of SQL querying
 Creating a simple database
 Loading database via MS Excel
 Tools for running SQL queries
 Installation (Windows)
 Selected databases
 Resources & cheat sheet

3
Resources – MS Access
Available as eBook Available as eBook

4
Resources – Excel/MS Query
In Lane catalog

5
Resources – MS Access
Free Online Training Resources
 Using an Access database to store and information (2 min)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011709681033.aspx
 Creating a database from Excel (5 min):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA012013211033.aspx
 Creating tables in Access (50 min):
http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC061183261033
 Writing queries (50 min): http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?
AssetID=RC010776611033

6
Why Bother
with MS
Access?

7
Why MS Access?
 More: http://office.microsoft.com/en-
us/access/HA010429181033.aspx

8
Definitions,
Definitions…

9
Definitions
 Database: Collection of tables 
 Table
 Collection of records that share a common fundamental characteristic
 E.g., patients and locations can each be stored in their own table
 Schema
 A view that inter-relates tables to each other
 Record
 Basic unit of information in a relational table
 E.g., 1 record per person
 A record is composed of fields
 Query
 Set of instructions to a database “engine” to retrieve, sort and format
returning data.
 E.g., “find me all patients in my database”
 Database engine
 Software application that stores the data and enables querying

10
Table and Field Definitions
How It Looks In Access…

11
Main Relational Database Engines
 Oracle
 MS Access
 MS SQL Server
 Filemaker
 MS SQL Server
 MySQL
 Postgress
 Sybase

12
Understanding
Relational
Databases

13
Understanding the Relational Principle: A
Simple Database
“join”
 Every patient gets ONE record in the Patients table

 Every visit gets ONE record in the Visits table
 Rows in different tables can be related one to another using a shared key
(identifier  number unique to table)
 There can be multiple visits records for a given patient
 There can be multiple tissue records for a given patient

14
The Relational Principle in Action
 Related records can be found using a shared key
 Shared key = identifier that is:
 unique to each table
 Can be referenced by another table
 Example: Patients.ID = Visits.PatientID

15
The Database Schema: Your
Roadmap For Querying
 The schema describes all tables and all fields
 Describes relationships between tables
 Crucial in enabling retrievall of desired data
 Simple example:
 Very important
 Must understand schema for accurate querying
 Wrong understanding = wrong results

16
Example: The Schema for SRI’s
BioWarehouse System

17
Querying MS Access
or any relational database…

18
How Relational Databases Are
Queried
 Querying = extracting information out of the
database
 … and into something, e.g., Excel
 This is done using the Structured Query
Language (SQL)

19
Introducing The SQL Select Statement
SELECT LastName, FirstName

 Good news: This is the FROM Patients
only SQL statement
you need to understand
for querying
 Exercise: run
SuperSimpleQuery1 in
Simple1 database

20
Basic Syntax of Select Statement
SELECT field_name
FROM table
[WHERE condition] [ ] = elective
Example:
Select LastName,FirstName
From Patients
Where Alive = ‘Y’;
Important: Everything is MS Access is case sensitive

 LastName ≠ lastName

21
Realistic
Querying With
the MS Access
Query Builder

22
A More Complete Description of Select
Statement
SELECT [DISTINCT|COUNT] field_list
FROM table_list
[WHERE conditions]
[GROUP BY field_list]
[ORDER BY field_list [ASC | DESC] ]
more: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HP010322651033.aspx?
pid=CH010410171033
Includes examples and descriptions of each

SELECT operator (e.g., “group by”)
23
Meaningful Queries in Acces
Exercises - Database: Simple2.mdb
1. Returning ordered records
2. Counting records
 LifetimeNumberFAQs1
 Exercise: how many FAQs per day?
 LifetimeNumberFAQs2
 Demo: creating Pivot Tables
3. Generating averages
 Querying from a query!
4. Change order of columns
5. Change sorting of rows

24
Uploading
Data in MS
Access

25
Importing Data Into Acces From
Access
Important
 Column headers in Excel file must match those of
columns in Access target table
 No spaces, weird characters
 Must ensure that data in Excel columns is of correct
type (text, number, date)
 Blanks (not empty cells!) are nasty
 Exercise: Loading data via Excel
 File: LoadingData.xls
 Demo: http://office.microsoft.com/en-
us/access/HP010950951033.aspx
26
Creating an Access DB from Excel
 One table per Excel worksheet

 Demo: http://office.microsoft.com/en-
us/access/HA012013211033.aspx

27
Cool Things You Can Do In
Access
 Store entire files in records
 Excel, Word, sounds, pictures anything

28
Extras

29
Creating Forms Using MS InfoPath
 Really the easiest way to

create interfaces to
Access
 10 min of work
 Probably 30 for you 
 More:
http://office.microsoft.com
/en-
us/access/HA011199501
033.aspx
30
Querying With MS Excel
 MSQuery, an unknown hero
 Free
 Facilitates writing of a SQL query  graphical
 First, need to find it!
 Search for “MSQRY32.EXE” using “Search for Files or
Folders”
 Search hidden files and folders
 On my disk, it is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\OFFICE11
 Once you find it, create a shortcut to it and rename it e.g.
MSQuery
 move the shortcut to a desired location
 Also needed: creating a data source name
31
To Conclude…
 If using Excel is a headache, use MS Access

 Access can work very well on its own
 reasonably easy to learn/use..
 Lots of free resources to quickly learn how to use
it
 MS Access + Excel = dynamite

32
Yannick Pouliot, PhD
lanebioresearch@stanford.edu

33
The Nitty-
Gritty Details

34
How to Query Using MS Query
Steps
1. Make sure you have the requisite driver (next
slide)
2. Create a Data Source Name (Windows only)

3. Write your query
4. Get the results back into Excel!
See Lane videorecorded class
Managing Experiment Data Using Excel and Fri
ends: Digging Out from Under the Avalanche
for lots more details.
35
Step1: Getting Drivers
Essential for SQL Querying
 A driver is a piece of software that lets your

operating system talk to a database
 Installed drivers visible in ODBC manager
 “data connectivity” tool
 Each database engine (Oracle, MySQL, etc)
requires its own driver
 Generally must be installed by user
 Drivers are needed by Data Source Name
tool and querying programs
 Require (simple) installation
36
MySQL Driver: Needed to Query
MySQL Databases
 Windows: Download MySQL
Connector/ODBC 3.51 here
 Must be installed for direct querying using
e.g. Excel
 Not necessary if you are using the MySQL
Query Browser

37
Oracle Driver: Needed to Query
Oracle Databases
 Installing “client” software will also install
driver
 Windows: Download 10g Client here
 Mac: Download 10g Client here
 Free Oracle user account required to
download
 Must be installed if you are querying
using MS Query or any other query
browser involving Oracle
38
Step 2: Creating a Data Source Name
 A Data Source Name (DSN) tells programs

on your PC where and how to query a
database
 Populating the fields:
 Data Source Name: Unique name of your choice
 Description: anything
 Server: exactly as given by the database provider
 Port number: as specified by database provider
 Defaults: MySQL: 3306; Oracle: 1521; MS Access: N/A

39
Words of Caution
 Easy to build queries that
 Retrieve nonsense
 Never complete, end up completely bogging down
the database
 Scotty to Captain Kirk: “Where going in circles, and at
warp 6 we’re going mighty fast…”
 Understanding schema is only way to prevent
that
 Not always easy…

40
Resources – SQL
The Language to Query Relational Databases
 Beginning SQL, Wilton P & Colby JW: E

http://jenson.stanford.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/5AG
uKeptoD/GREEN/59960102/9#holdings
 Oracle SQL*Plus, Gennick, J.
 Beginning MySQL: e-book
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/stanford/Doc?
id=10114227

41
42
The Relational Principle in Action
 Related records can be found using a shared

key
 Example: Patients.ID = Visits.PatientID

43
SQL Querying…With What?
 Other query browsers exist but are more sophisticated

 = more complex
 Example: PL/SQL Developer, from Allround Automations

44

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A Painless Introduction

Yannick Pouliot, PhD

Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Available as eBook Available as eBook

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

 Every patient gets ONE record in the Patients table

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

SELECT LastName, FirstName

Lane Medical Library &

Important: Everything is MS Access is case sensitive

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Includes examples and descriptions of each

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

 One table per Excel worksheet

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

 Really the easiest way to

 If using Excel is a headache, use MS Access

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

2. Create a Data Source Name (Windows only)

 A driver is a piece of software that lets your

Lane Medical Library &

 A Data Source Name (DSN) tells programs

Lane Medical Library &

Lane Medical Library &

 Beginning SQL, Wilton P & Colby JW: E

Lane Medical Library &

 Related records can be found using a shared

Lane Medical Library &

 Other query browsers exist but are more sophisticated

Lane Medical Library &

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