Week 10 - Muddy - Microsoft Access

This week in ISM 3004 we are in the beginnings of our Microsoft Access project.  Unlike the other programs in the Microsoft Office Suite, I have never used the Access program, so this will be a little more difficult than the previous Excel project. For the Access project we are learning how to create tables, queries, forms and reports in Access.

Tables

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While using Access we must create tables or import tables.  Included in the tables are fields which as Professor Olson says, "Must have a description to go along with them so that you know why you made that field."  Good advice! You must also assign a Primary Key.  I am still somewhat confused on how to decide which field should be the Primary Key?!. Thus the reason, I am stuck on step 1bii of the Microsoft Access project :) I will hopefully get some helpful advice so that I am able to move forward with the project fairly soon!

Queries
When learning how to create queries, I learned how to set results that I wanted the query to return.  Access is able to sort by single fields or multiple fields that you select.  In a query you can also tell Access to only return a specific value for a field.  This is helpful when you only want to obtain certain information and it allows you to view it already sorted, ordered and makes it very simple to read.

Forms
In the forms video portion of using Access, I learned the difference in Text Box and Text Label. In the form if you use a text box this means that you type something into the form that is going to be processed.  Whereas, a text label indicates what is going on within the form. Another useful feature I learned how to use was how to "lock" or make something "read only". This is a very easy feature to turn on and off via the Property Sheet.

Reports
In the last portion of the video lessons for Access, we learned how to create reports. In a report you are able to group data by fields, as well as, sort the data.  The report also contains Report Header/Footer and Page Header/Footer. The difference between them are that a report header/footer in found only on the first and last page of the report.  A page header/footer is found on the top and bottom of every page within the report.

Hopefully all of the video lessons will become more clear as I work further into my Microsoft Access project and Access will become less muddy!!!