CS102, Fall 2000, Day 8, Thursday, November 9

Chapter 7 Continued, if need be.

•   For Access, it is IMPORTANT to copy the files you need, from C:\Class Material\CS102\ Access  tutorials, to your own floppy, before opening the file in  Access.  This is because the "Save" process is different in Access from any other package we have used--it saves the database periodically on its own, and automatically when you close.  Opening the file and using Save As to get a copy with a different name is NOT an option.
• One way to copy: Right-click on the Start button, choose Explore.  Use the tree structure to find the file or folder, copy it, paste it to your floppy, in the tree structure.
• Files for in-class tutorials  are in the Class Materials\CS102\Access 1-4\Disk 1\Tutorial folder.  Just copy the whole folder to your disk, NOW.
• A Database management system  (DBMS)does what you did in Excel Ch. 5 to a list, only better. Recall, a row was a "record", a column or a"column header" was a "field." A "list" is now a "table."
• Access can build Relational databases, which allow you to connect tables using a common field.
• In addition to maintaining the basic information (changing, adding, deleting records, adding, relating, deleting tables, etc.), you can create and store (for re-use) Queries, Forms, and Reports.
• Queries extract smaller or reorganized sets of information from the "big" lists.  Sorting, Filtering, Subtotals in Excel were the kind of thing Queries do, but in a DBMS you can do harder things.  Think Find, in Windows.
• Forms allow you to deal with single records (for instance) in a tidier format.  You did a simple version in Data Forms, Excel 5.11-14.
• Reports allow you to print out desired standard information, the same way each time.  (Think class lists, semester grade reports, transcripts)

• p. 1.1 "datasheet view" is our usual column/row view.  There are other ways to view the basic data.
• p.1.13 Print.  Usually we haven't been printing, but do here so you have a paper copy to look at.  You can get it all on one page if you do this:  Do File>Print Preview.  This will allow you to do File>Page Setup. Choose the Page tab, and Page: Landscape orientation.

• p. 1.14 Simple query wizard:  Just selects fields (columns.)  Moving fields with the little arrows is like SPSS, for those who know.  A delicate point: they get pasted in in the order you move them. If you want them in a different order, you have to move them back and move them in the right order.
• p. 1.16 Saving a Query Design:  You don't save the results of the query; you do save the "design", so if the database information changes, the next time you want this selection of fields, you'll get the correct current information.  The same will be true when you save forms or reports.
• The Save option on the file menu doesn't save the file.  It saves the design of the query, form, etc. within the database.  Saving the whole database is done automatically, and can't be skipped (no "exit without save"). (Close only closes the window you're working in; only if nothing else is open does it close the whole database.)
• p. 1.16 Note when you change tabs (Table, Query, Form), different buttons become available on the menu bar.
• p. 1.21 Note that a Report  can be (usually would be) based on some subset of the whole database.  Here you get the subset by basing the report on the Query you designed earlier.