Introduction to Microsoft Access

Starting Microsoft Access

Introduction

Microsoft Access is a computer application used to create and manage computer-based databases on desktop computers and/or on connected computers (a network). Microsoft Access can be used for personal information management (PIM), in a small business to organize and manage data, or in an enterprise to communicate with servers.

Like any other computer application, in order to use Microsoft Access, you must first install it. After installing Microsoft Access, then you can open it. There are various ways you can open Microsoft Access. It gets launched like the usual products you have probably been using. As such, to start this program, you could click Start -> (All) Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Office Access 2007. You can also launch it from Windows Explorer or My Computer. To do this, locate its shortcut in Windows Explorer or My Computer. By default, Microsoft Access 2007 is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 and its shortcut is called MSACCESS.EXE. Once you have located it, you can then double-click it.

From now on, that is, for the rest of the lessons, the express "Microsoft Access" means Microsoft Office Access 2007. If we want to make a distinction in the version, for example if we want to refer to another version such as Microsoft Access 2000 or Microsoft Office Access 2003, we will make it clear.

If you have a Microsoft Access database such as an E-Mail attachment, a file on a floppy disk, on the network, or in any other means, once you see its icon, you can double-click it. Not only will this action launch Microsoft Access, but also it will open the file.

You can also launch Microsoft Access from a shortcut. If you happen to use the software on a regular basis, you can create a shortcut on your desktop or on the Quick Launch area. Many users also take advantage of the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar. Sometimes, the icon you need will not be there; in that case you should insert it manually.

If you are working on a network of related computers, your database may be located in another computer. In this case the network or database administrator would create a link or shortcut to the drive that is hosting the database. You can then click or double-click this link or shortcut to open the database and, as a result, launch Microsoft Access.

Whenever you find out that you are using a particular program or file most regularly, you should have an icon on the desktop that can lead you to it quickly. This icon is called a shortcut. There are various techniques used to create a shortcut. Probably the first thing you should find out is where your application is located. You can find out by doing a search on the computer. Except on Microsoft Windows 95, you can create a shortcut from the Programs menu.

To create a shortcut from Windows Explorer or My Computer, you can right-click the MSACCESS.EXE icon, position your mouse on Send To -> Desktop (Create Shortcut).

When Microsoft Access opens, it displays an interface divided in various sections. The top section displays a long bar also called the title bar.

The title bar starts on the left side with the Office Button . If you position the mouse on it, a tool tip would appear:

When clicked, the Office Button displays a menu:

As you can see, the menu of the Office Button allows you to perform the routine Windows operations of a regular application, including creating a new database, opening an existing database, saving an object, etc. We will see these operations in future lessons.

On its right side, the Office Button displays a (short) object called the Quick Access Toolbar . If you want to hide the Quick Access toolbar, you can right-click it and click Remove Quick Access Toolbar.

By default the Quick Access toolbar is equipped with three buttons: Save, Undo, and Redo.

On the right side of the Quick Access toolbar, there is the Customize button with a down-pointing arrow. If you click this button, a menu would appear:

The role of this button is to help you decide what buttons to display on the Quick Access toolbar. To add a button to the Quick Access toolbar, click the Customize button and click the desired button from the menu. If you the available buttons are not enough or if you don't see a button you want:

• You can click the More Commands button
• You can right-click the Quick Access toolbar and click Customize Quick Access Toolbar

Any of these actions would open the Access Options dialog box:

To add a command, click it in the middle list and click Add. Once you have selected the desired options, click OK.

The main or middle area of the top section displays the name of the application: Microsoft Access. 

On the right side of the title bar, there are three system buttons that allow you to minimize, maximize, restore, or close Microsoft Access.

Under the title bar, there is another bar with a Help button on the right side.

The main area of the Microsoft Access interface is divided in three sections. The left side displays a column of various links with the top labeled Online Templates.

The middle section itself is made of two sides. The top part allows you to create a database. The bottom section displays some promotional information from Microsoft.

The right side displays as a column with the top title labeled Open Recent Database with a More button under it. By default, the area under the More button is empty.

The bottom section of the Microsoft Access interface displays a status bar.

A Microsoft Access database is primarily a Windows file. It must have a location, also called a path, which indicates how the file can be retrieved and made available. Although you can create a database on the root directory such as the C: drive, it is usually a good idea to create your files, including your databases, in an easily recognizable folder.

When you installed the computer (or when it was installed), it (the operating system) created a folder called My Documents that provides a convenient place for you to create your files. If various people may use the same computer, there is a different My Documents folder for each one. When you log in, the computer (the operating system) locates your corresponding My Documents folder and makes it available.

In our lessons, we will learn different techniques of creating a database. For now, a database is first of all a Windows file. It is mainly created from Microsoft Access. If you have just started Microsoft Access, to create a database, you can use one of the links in the main (middle section of the interface.

You can proceed from one of these options. Like every file in the computer, a database must have a name that identifies it. This name must be specified when creating the database.

In our description of the Microsoft Access interface, we saw that the right section displayed an empty area. If you start creating a database as we will see in the next sections and lessons, the right side gets filled with some options, such as prompting you to name your database.

Many techniques allow you to create a database, the fastest of which consists of using one of the provided templates. To create a database using one of the samples, in the left section, first click Local Templates, then, in the main section, select one of the samples under Local Templates:

The templates are organized in categories. To access a sample by category, in the left section, you can click Business, Personal, or Education. When you click a category, its templates display under Local Templates and you can choose one. After selecting a template, in the right section, you must give a name to your new database in the File Name text box. By default, Microsoft Access suggests a name you can use. If you don't like it, you can provide your own. Also, by default, Microsoft Access suggests that the database be created in the My Documents folder. If you want it located in another folder, you can click the Browse button . This would open the File New Database dialog box where you can select an existing folder or create a new one using the Create New Folder button . Display the folder in the Save In combo box and click OK. Once you have specified the name of the database and its location, you can click Create.

1. Start Microsoft Access
2. Under Template Categories, click Local Templates
3. To create a new database, in the middle section under Local Templates, click Projects
4. In the right section of the screen, set the File Name to Rockville Techno
5. Click Create

Unlike some other programming environments, Microsoft Access considers a database as a single Windows file with a name. We will eventually learn that this file can contain various objects that actually make up a database. Therefore, a Microsoft Access database is opened as a normal file.

After you have created a database, as a computer file, it becomes part of what are known in Microsoft Windows as the most recently used (MRU) documents. As such, when you click the Office Button, the right side of the menu shows a list of MRUs. Here is an example of clicking the Office Button after a few databases have been created:

The number of files that the right column can display can be decreased as low as 1 or increase as high as 9. To change this number, access the Options dialog box by clicking the Office Button and clicking Access Options. In the left frame, click Advanced. In the right frame and in the Display section, change the value of the Show This Number Of Recent Documents:

Whether you work alone or in a group, communication and documentation are important. Your database project has its own properties that you can use to find out some details about your file, to enter some notes about the project, or to give directives to other people who have access to the database. This can be done using a dialog box called the Database Properties. To access it, you can click the Office Button -> Manage -> Database Properties.

1. Click the Office Button , position the mouse on Manage and click Database Properties
2. From the Properties dialog, click the General tab. Examine the various sections. Notice the size of the current database
3. Click the Summary tab
4. Make sure the Title is set to Rockville Techno (otherwise, set it).
   Click the Subject text box and type Business Regular Activities 
5. Click the Author text box and type Lucien Durand
6. Click the Manager text box and type Christine Lotts
7. Click the Company text box and type Rockville Technologies, Inc.
8. Click the Category text box and type Project Management
9. Click the Keyword text box and type projects, budget, management
10. Click the Comments text box and type: This software product is used by the company to manage a project used to build a computer network for a corporate customer. For more information, contact Lucien Durand or Christine Lotts. You can also refer to the web site.
11. Click the Hyperlink Base text box and type http://www.rockvilletechnologies.com
     
    
12. Click the Statistics, Contents, and Custom property pages and review their contents
    The Statistics tab gives you statistics about your database and its summary access
    The Contents tab shows a list of the components that are part of your database
    The Custom tab shows, and allows you to customize, the field names associated with your database
13. When you have finished working with the database Properties, click OK (if you click Cancel, any change you have made will be discarded)

To open a database, you can click the Office Button. If you see your intended database in the right column, you can click it to open it. 

In our description of the Microsoft Access interface, we saw that, at times, the right section is empty, at other times, such as when creating a new database, it is filled with some other options. Also, when you open Microsoft Access, the right side displays a list of MRUs. Here is an example:

Based on this, to open a database, if you are just starting Microsoft Access, on the right side under Open Recent Database, if you see the name of an existing database, you can click it.

If you locate a database in Windows Explorer, My Computer, My Documents, or any other window that displays the Microsoft Access file icon, you can just double-click the icon and open the database. If you received a database as an email attachment, you can also open the attachment and consequently open the database file.

If you have a database you don't need anymore, you can delete it. To delete a database, in My Documents, in Windows Explorer or another file management application:

• You can click it to select and press Delete
• You can right-click it and click Delete

A warning message would be presented to you to confirm what you want to do.

After you have deleted a database, it doesn't disappear from the MRU lists of Microsoft Access. This means that, after a database has been deleted, you may still see it in the right column menu of the Office Button or in the list under the Open Recent Database column. If you try opening such a database, you would receive an error. Here is an example from trying to open a database named Things To Do after it had been deleted (although it still appears under Open Recent Database):

If a database has been deleted and you want to remove it from the MRU lists, open the Registry (Start -> Run: regedit, Enter). Open the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
    - Software
      - Microsoft
        - Office
          - 12
            - Access 
              - Settings

Locate the deleted database and delete its key.

When a database is opened, under the title bar, Microsoft Access displays a long bar called the ribbon:

The ribbon is a type of property sheet made of various property pages. Each page is represented with a tab. To access a tab:

• You can click its label or button, such as Home or Create
• You can press Alt or F10. This would display the access key of each tab:
   
  
  
  To access a tab, you can press its corresponding letter on the keyboard. For example, when the access keys display, if you press Home, the Home tab would display
• If your mouse has a wheel, you can position the mouse anywhere on the ribbon, and role the wheel. If you role the wheel down, the next tab on the right side would be selected. If you role the wheel up, the previous tab on the left would be selected. You can keep rolling the wheel until the desired tab is selected

To identify each tab of the ribbon, we will refer to them by their names.

Inside of a tab of the ribbon, the property page is divided in various sections, each delimited by visible borders of vertical lines on the left and right. Each section displays a title in its bottom side. In our lessons, we will refer to each section by that title. For example, if the title displays Font, we will call that section, "The Font Section".

After creating or opening a database, unless the product is setup otherwise, the left section is occupied by a rectangular object called the Navigation Pane.

Help consists consists of requesting or getting assistance while working on a database. There are various types of assistance you can get in Microsoft Access.

Context-sensitive help refers to help provided on a specific dialog box on the screen. Such help is provided for objects that are part of the Microsoft Access interface. Context-sensitive help is also referred to as “What’s This?”. To get context-sensitive help, press Shift + F1. This would call a help window that can describe or explain the object that is displaying. Another type of context sensitive help is provided in various dialog boxes. They display a button with a question mark on the left of the system Close button. To use this type of help, click the question mark button .

1. Click the Office Button -> Access Options
2. Click Advanced
3. Press Shift + F1
    
   
4. Close the Access Help window
5. In the left frame, click Datasheet
6. To get context-sensitive help on a dialog box, on the Options dialog box, click the What’s This button 
7. Close the Access Help window
8. To close the Access Options dialog box, click Cancel

Online help is a program that provides help on Microsoft Access. There are two main types of online help:

• Microsoft Access ships with a help system. To use it, simply press F1
• If you have access to a Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) CD-ROM or DVD, which is the help system provided to programmers who use Microsoft technologies (such as Microsoft Visual Studio), it includes a section on Microsoft Office

1. Press F1
2. In the Access Help window and on the left side of Search, type Create Table
3. Click Search
    
   
4. On the list that appears, click Create tables in a database
5. On the Access Help window that appears, read the text, scroll down, and click Create A New Table
6. After reading it, on the toolbar of the Access Help window, click the Back button
7. Close the Access Help window

Although help on the Internet tends to be disparate, it is still the widest form of help available. This is provided in web sites, web pages, newsgroups, support groups, etc. As the publisher of the database environment, it is only natural to refer to Microsoft corporate web site first for help. The Microsoft web site is divided in categories. A web site is dedicated to Microsoft Access at http://www.microsoft.com/access. You can get help at http://support.microsoft.com. Probably the most visited site of Microsoft for developers of all Microsoft products is http://msdn.microsoft.com. This last site provides a tree list that presents items in categories (like the MSDN CD-ROM or a DVD).

Since Microsoft Access shares the same functionality you are probably familiar with from using other applications, you can close it easily.

• To close Microsoft Access, you can click the Office Button and then click Exit Accecss
• To close Microsoft Access from its title bar, you can click its Close button
• To close Microsoft Access like any regular window of the Microsoft Windows applications, you can press Alt + F4
• To close Microsoft Access using mnemonics, you can press Alt, F, X.

• To close Microsoft Access, click the Close button on the top right corner of the window