ECDL 95/97 Module 5

Brendan Munnelly is an experienced IT trainer,consultant, journalist and author. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Brendan has developed user training materials for a range of corporate and government organisations throughout Europe. He is also a frequent contributor to computer publications.

 Contents  Introduction 1  chapter 1  What is a database? 3  In this chapter 3  New skills 4  New words 4  An organized collection of information 5  Records and fields 6  Tables and databases 7  Two views: datasheet and forms 8  Starting access 10  Access file name extension 11  The Database dialog box 12  Database design considerations 13  Example 1: The wine connoisseur’s database 14  Example 2: The CD collector’s database 15  Example 3: The household manager’s database 15  Example 4: The ornithologist’s database 16  Thinking hard about fields 16  Closing a database 17  Quitting Access 17  Chapter summary: so now you know 17  chapter 2  Building your access database 19  In this chapter 19  New skills 20  New words 20  Overview of database creation 21  Step one: Starting the database wizard 22  Step two: Selecting your sample table 23  Step three: Selecting your fields 25  Step four: Renaming your fields 26  Step five: Setting your primary key 28  Step six: Entering data in your table 30  Step seven: Changing the width of your columns 32  Step eight: Switching to Design view 33  Step nine: Creating your index 34  Chapter summary: so now you know 35  chapter 3  Modifying your Access database 37  In this chapter 37  New skills 38  New words 38  Changing and deleting database records 39  Changing a field 39  Deleting a record 40  The different data types 41  Changing data types 43  Adding new fields to your table 45  Reordering the fields in a table 47  Saving to a diskette 48  Online help 49  Using help menu options 49  Using help from the screen 51  Access toolbars 52  Chapter summary: so now you know 52  chapter 4  Making the database work for you 55  In this chapter 55  New skills 56  New words 56  Changing the order of records in the table 57  Saving a query 60  Restricting the information displayed 64  Filtering by selection 65  Filtering filtered records 66  Find 67  Chapter summary: so now you know 68  chapter 5  Working with forms 71  In this chapter 71  New skills 72  Forms: what are they for? 73  Creating your form with the Form Wizard 73  Using your form to view records 76  Sorting in Form view 77  Filtering by selection in Form view 77  Filtering by Form 78  Wildcards in filters and queries 79  Creating an All Fields Form 80  Using a form to create new records 81  Using a form to modify existing records 82  Modifying form layout and content 83  Chapter summary: so now you know 87  chapter 6  Working with reports 89  In this chapter 89  New skills 89  New words 90  Your first report 91  Modifying the report layout 97  Chapter summary: so now you know 101