INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................

STARTING ACCESS ............................................................................................................................. 1

TABLES.................................................................................................................................................. 2
SORT RECORDS IN A TABLE .................................................................................................................... 3
TO SORT ON MORE THAN ONE COLUMN ................................................................................................... 3
FIND RECORDS IN A TABLE ..................................................................................................................... 3
MATCH ................................................................................................................................................. 3
TO FILTER RECORDS FOR VIEWING .......................................................................................................... 4
CREATING A TABLE ............................................................................................................................... 4
CREATE A TABLE IN DESIGN VIEW .......................................................................................................... 4
FIELD NAMES ...................................................................................................................................... 4
SETTING A PRIMARY KEY ....................................................................................................................... 5
TO ENTER RECORDS IN A TABLE.............................................................................................................. 5
TO ADD RECORDS TO A TABLE ................................................................................................................ 6
TO DELETE RECORDS FROM A TABLE ...................................................................................................... 6
QUERIES ............................................................................................................................................... 6
CREATING A QUERY USING DESIGN VIEW ................................................................................................ 6
TOTAL QUERIES ................................................................................................................................. 6
CREATING A TOTAL QUERY .................................................................................................................... 6
TO CREATE A NEW BLANK DATABASE......................................................................................... 7

FORMS ................................................................................................................................................... 7
CONTROLS ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Labels ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Text boxes ......................................................................................................................................... 8
CREATE A FORM USING AUTO FORM ....................................................................................................... 8
ADD NEW RECORDS TO A TABLE BY USING A FORM .................................................................................. 8
EDITING THE FORM DESIGN .................................................................................................................... 8
CREATE A FORM USING THE WIZARD ....................................................................................................... 9
REPORTS............................................................................................................................................... 9
CREATE A REPORT USING REPORT WIZARD .............................................................................................. 9
PREVIEWING AND PRINTING A REPORT .................................................................................................. 10
To preview two pages ...................................................................................................................... 10
To preview more than two pages ..................................................................................................... 10
TO PRINT THE REPORT .......................................................................................................................... 10
REPORT DESIGN VIEW .......................................................................................................................... 10
Report header ................................................................................................................................. 11
Page header.................................................................................................................................... 11
Detail ............................................................................................................................................. 11
Page footer ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Report footer................................................................................................................................... 11
Microsoft access

INTRODUCTION
Microsoft Access is a database tool that is used to store, maintain and use a collection of
information that is organized to serve a specific purpose e.g.
 Employee personal information
 Customer addresses and details
 Flight information for airlines
 Patient information in hospitals
 Students in a school
 Records of books in the library
A database is a collection of related information
The benefits of using a database to store such information include:
 Fast retrieval of information because data is easy to find
 Easy to maintain accurate and up to date data
 Easy to analyze and make summary reports from the stored information
In access information is stored in a database. The components of an access database are:
 Tables
 Queries
 Forms
 Reports
 Macros and modules.
These components are referred to as database objects (These objects are referred to in
detail on subsequent pages)

STARTING ACCESS
 Click on start, point at programs and select Microsoft access
The window below will be displayed

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 Select the first two if you want to create a new database or the third if you want to
view a database you had saved.
To open an existing table
 Select open an existing file
 Click ok.
 On the subsequent window, open the folder that contains your database
All the databases will have an icon similar to the one shown below

 Open the database that contains the table you want to open

 On the database window click on the tables object

 All the tables in the database are displayed on the right hand side
 Double click on the table of interest
TABLES
A table is a grouping of related data organized in fields (columns) and records(rows)

Fields

records

Fields define a data type for a set of values in a table

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Records are a set of values defined by fields

Sort records in a table

 Position your cursor in the field on which you want to sort
 To sort in ascending order click the sort ascending button

 To sort in descending order click the sort descending button

To sort on more than one column

 Select filter from the records menu, then select advanced filter/sort
 The field lists contains the fields contained in the table.
In the lower part of the window is a grid.
 To select the fields that you want to sort, click on the down arrow key next to the
word “field’ and click on the field to add it to the grid
 From the sort drop down list, select a sort order either ascending or descending
 Click the Apply Filter/Sort button.

Find records in a table

 Position the insertion point inside the field which you want to use to find the
record
 Click on the find button from the toolbar, or select find from the edit menu
The find dialog box appears

 In the find what box type in the text for the record that you want to find
 Click the find next button
 If this is not the record you wanted click the find next button until you get the
required record.
Other options in the dialog box

Match
 Any part of field

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Searches for any occurrence of the text string e.g. searching for wood finds Woodley and
Kenwood
 Whole field
Recognizes a match only when the text string matches the complete contents of the field
e.g. searching for station finds station not stationers
 Start of field
Searches for the text string at the beginning of field e.g. searching for berg finds Bergen
not Heidelberg

To filter records for viewing

 Select filter from records menu, then select advanced filter /sort
 Select the fields you want displayed
 Type in the criteria. The criterion type is referred to as an expression
 Click the apply filter button.

To remove a filter click on the same button shown above

Creating a table
 On the database window click on the tables object
Access provides three ways to create a table:
 In design view-will allow you to create the fields of the table
 Using the wizard-gives a step-by-step direction by asking you questions. Creates for
you the table using the answers you give
 By entering data-gives you a blank datasheet with unlabelled columns. Enter the data
into the cells and click on the save button. The fields are given generic names like
field1, field 2 etc. To rename the fields:
 Select the column
 Click on the format menu and select rename column

Create a table in design view

 Double click on design view while in the database on which you want the table
created
 The design window appears. It is divided into three columns i.e. field names, data
type and description

Field names
These are the column headings for the fields in the table that you are creating.

Data types
The type of value that will be entered in the fields

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 Text-allows any combination of letters and numbers to a maximum of 255

characters per field record
 Memo-a text type that stores up to 64000 characters e.g. notes
 Number-numerical data that can be used for mathematical calculations
 Date/time-stores dates and times or a combination of both
 Currency-monetary values
 Auto number-a numeric value that Microsoft Access increments for each record
you add
 Yes/no-use this option for true/false, yes/no, on/off or other values that must be
one of the two
 Ole object-(object linking and embedding)this is a sound , picture or other object
such as a word document or excel spreadsheet created in another program
 Hyperlink-will link to an internet or intranet site or another location in the
database

Description
This column is optional but can be used to give a detailed description of the field
name.
 Type in the field names
 In the data type column select the type of data you want the field to contain by
choosing from the drop down list containing data types
 The lower portion of the window shows the properties of the field. The properties
are used to decide how the data in that field should be displayed or stored. Select
the desired property
 After creating all the fields you can save the table by clicking on the save button.
 Type in a name

Setting a primary key

A primary key is a field that is used to uniquely identify each record in a stored table.
It is useful when you want to avoid duplicating of records.

Steps
 Change to table design view by clicking on table design from the toolbars
 Right click inside the field that you want to define as the primary key
 Select primary key
 Save the changes.

Nb: Always use design view when you want to edit your table

To enter records in a table.

 Change to datasheet view by clicking on from the toolbars

 Enter the records in their relevant fields.

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To add records to a table

 Click on the new records button
 This displays a blank row at the bottom of the database table

To delete records from a table

 Click on the record you want to delete
 Click on the delete record button

QUERIES

Queries select records from a table so that they can be viewed. The resulting collection of
records is saved and can be easily used in the future.

Creating a query using design view

 On the database window click on the queries tab
 Double click on ‘Create query in design view’
 In the show table dialog box click the tables tab (if your query is based on a
table)
 Select the table you want to use and click on add then close.
 On the field list double click on the fields you want to use so that they are
inserted on the lower part of the grid
 Enter the criteria for the query in the criteria field
 Click the run button
 Save the query by clicking on the save button.

TOTAL QUERIES
When you want a query that summarizes the information in a table without necessarily
giving details on each record you use a total query e.g. when you want to find out the
total number of books in each subject inside the library.

Creating a total query

 In the database window, create a new query in design view and add the table to be
used for the query
 Select the fields to appear in the query
 In the query window click the totals button
Or
 Choose totals from view menu
 The total row appears in the grid
 Specify the field to be used for grouping or for totals (calculations) by clicking on
the group by drop down arrow.

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TYPES OF TOTALS
Type of calculation Used to calculate
Sum The total values in a field
Avg The average of values in a field
Min The lowest value in a field
Max The highest value in a field
Count The number of values in a field
StDev The standard deviation of values in a field
Var The variance of values in a field
First The field value from the first record in a
field
Last The field value from the last record in a
table or query
 Run the query to view the results
 In the query, access displays headings that reflect the type of calculation that has
been performed e.g. countofsubject, Maxofsalary

TO CREATE A NEW BLANK DATABASE

 From the file menu select New Database

 From the resulting screen ,click the ok button to create a blank database
 The file new database window appears
 Type in the name of the database
 Open the folder where you want it saved
 Click on the create button
 The database window is named after the database you have just created
Note: In Microsoft access you can open only one database at a time, any other is closed
automatically.

FORMS
A form makes viewing of records and entering of data into a table easy.
Below is a sample form

label Text box

Navigation
buttons
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Microsoft access

Controls
Everything that is added to a form or created on a form is described as control. Examples
of controls are text boxes, labels.

Labels
Labels are descriptive items on forms, such as the form title and the text next to a text
box. They describe the information to be entered in a textbox

Text boxes
A text box is the area in which the information from the table appears or where
information is to be entered

Create a form using Auto form

 In the database window, select the table or query for which you want to create a
form
 Click the new object button, then select auto form from the drop down
list
 Microsoft access automatically creates a form based on the selected table or query

Add new records to a table by using a form

 Click on the new record button
 A blank form is displayed with all the controls
 Type in the details for the new record

Editing the form design

 Click the design view button from the database window

 To reposition a text box ,click within the text box to select it

 Position the mouse pointer in the text box and hold down the left mouse button
 Drag the box by using the open hand pointer to the new location
 This moves both the text box and the label
 The single finger pointer moves only one selected box
Format the form design to your liking by right clicking on it then you select properties
On the subsequent window you can format it with a border colour, style etc

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Create a form using the wizard

 In the database window click on the forms tab
 Double click on create form by using wizard
 In the form wizard dialog box, select the table from which you are creating the form
 Select the fields you want to appear on the form
 Click on the next button
 Select a layout
 Click next and select the style you want
 Click next and enter a title for your form
 Click on the finish button

REPORTS

Reports are an effective way for presenting information to be distributed in a printed

format. Data can be organized and grouped into categories with subtotals making it easy
to read

Create a report using report wizard

 In the database window select the reports tab
 Click on the new button
 The new report dialog box appears
The table below describes how what each option in the new report dialog box does

Option description
Design view Used to create a report without using a
wizard
Report wizard Automatically creates a report based on the
fields selected
Auto report :columnar Creates a single column report i.e. the
records are arranged in a single column
Auto report: tabular Creates a tabular report i.e. Each record is
displayed from left to right across a report
Chart wizard Creates a report with a chart

Label wizard Creates a report that has been formatted for

printing on mailing labels

 Select report wizard

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 Choose the table that contains the data you want to base your report on and then
click ok
 Select the fields that will be used in the creation of the report from the available
list of fields
 Click on the next button
 Select the fields for grouping if required. Grouping datawithin a report means
arranging the data by a certain field so that all the records related to that field are
displayed in one group
 Click on he next button
 Select the field to sort by and specify the sort order
 Click on next
 Choose a layout for your report and click on next
 Select a style and click on next
 Type in a title and then click on finish.
 After a few seconds the report is generated in print preview

Previewing and printing a report

Note: Access automatically creates a pre-set footer for the report.

To preview two pages

Click on the two pages button on the toolbars

To preview more than two pages

Or
From view menu select pages and choose the number of pages you want to display

To print the report

Click on the print icon
To exit from print preview click on the close button.

Report design view

In report design you can see the various sections and it is in this form that you will also
edit the report.

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Report header
This section has the main header or title for the report. It is printed once at the beginning
of the report.

Page header
This section contains information to be printed at the top of each page of the report. This
may be information like date or column titles.

Detail
This section contains information that is that is printed for each record in the table. It
contains the actual records.

Page footer
This section contains information that is to be printed at the bottom of each page e.g.
page totals, page numbers etc

Report footer
Just like the report header, this section contains information that is printed once at the end
of the report like grand totals etc

Note: You can format any section of the report by right clicking and selecting properties

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