1.

MS Access - Overview
Microsoft Access is a Database Management System (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the
relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software
development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the
professional and higher editions.

Microsoft Access is just one part of Microsoft’s overall data management product strategy.

It stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine.

It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases.
Access can also understand and use a wide variety of other data formats, including many
other databases file structures.

You can export data to and import data from word processing files, spreadsheets, or
database files directly..

Software developers can use Microsoft Access to develop application software.

Microsoft Access stores information which is called a database. To use MS Access, you will need
to follow these four steps −

Database Creation − Create your Microsoft Access database and specify what kind of data
you will be storing.

Data Input − After your database is created, the data of every business day can be entered
into the Access database.
Query − This is a fancy term to basically describe the process of retrieving information from
the database.

Report (optional) − Information from the database is organized in a nice presentation that
can be printed in an Access Report.

Access calls anything that can have a name an object. Within an Access desktop database,
the main objects are tables, queries, forms and reports.

If you have worked with other database systems on desktop computers, you might have
seen the term database used to refer to only those files in which you store data.

Before MS Access 2007, the file extension was *.mdb, but in MS Access 2007 the
extension has been changed to *.accdb extension.

An Access desktop database (.accdb or .mdb) is a fully functional DBMS.

It provides all the data definition, data manipulation, and data control features that you
need to manage large volumes of data.
Data Definition
Let us now understand what Data Definition is −

In document or a spreadsheet, you generally have complete freedom to define the contents of the
document or each cell in the spreadsheet.
In a document, you can include paragraphs of text, a table, a chart, or multiple columns of data
displayed with multiple fonts.

In spreadsheet, you can have text data at the top to define a column header for printing or display,
and you might have various numeric formats within the same column, depending on the function of
the row.

An DBMS allows you to define the kind of data you have and how the data should be stored.

You can also usually define rules that the DBMS can use to ensure the integrity of your data.

For example, a validation rule might ensure that the user can’t accidentally store alphabetic
characters in a field that should contain a number.
Data Manipulation
Working with data in RDBMS is very different from working with data in a word processing or
spreadsheet program.

In a word processing document, you can include tabular data and perform a limited set of
functions on the data in the document.

You can also search for text strings in the original document and, with ActiveX controls, include
tables, charts, or pictures from other applications.

In a spreadsheet, some cells contain functions that determine the result you want, and in other
cells, you enter the data that provides the source information for the functions.
An DBMS provides you many ways to work with your data. For example,

You can search a single table for information or request a complex search across several related
tables.

You can update a single field or many records with a single command.

You can write programs that use DBMS commands to fetch data that you want to display and allow
the user to update the data.
Data Control
Spreadsheets and word processing documents are great for solving single-user problems, but they are
difficult to use when more than one person needs to share the data.
When you need to share your information with others, DBMS gives you the flexibility to allow
multiple users to read or update your data.

An DBMS that is designed to allow data sharing also provides features to ensure that no two people
can change the same data at the same time.

Because you can share your Access data with other users, you might need to set some
restrictions on what various users are allowed to see or update.
 2. MS Access - Objects
MS Access uses “objects" to help the user list and organize information, as well as prepare specially
designed reports. When you create a database, Access offers you Tables, Queries, Forms and Reports.
Databases in Access are composed of many objects but the following are the major objects −

Tables
Queries
Forms
Reports

Together, these objects allow you to enter, store, analyze, and compile your data. Here is a summary of
the major objects in an Access database;

Table
Table is an object that is used to define and store data. When you create a new table, Access asks you to
define fields which is also known as column headings.

Each field must have a unique name, and data type.

Tables contain fields or columns that store different kinds of data, such as a name or an address,
and records or rows that collect all the information about a particular instance of the subject, such as
all the information about a customer or employee etc.

You can define a primary key, one or more fields that have a unique value for each record, and one
or more indexes on each table to help retrieve your data more quickly.

Query
An object that provides a custom view of data from one or more tables. Queries are a way of searching for
and compiling data from one or more tables.

Running a query is like asking a detailed question of your database.

When you build a query in Access, you are defining specific search conditions to find exactly the data
you want.

In Access, you can use the graphical query by example facility or you can write Structured Query
Language (SQL) statements to create your queries.

You can define queries to Select, Update, Insert, or Delete data.

You can also define queries that create new tables from data in one or more existing tables.

Form
Form is an object in a desktop database designed primarily for data input or display or for control of
application execution. You use forms to customize the presentation of data that your application extracts
from queries or tables.

Forms are used for entering, modifying, and viewing records.

The reason forms are used so often is that they are an easy way to guide people toward
entering data correctly.
 When you enter information into a form in Access, the data goes exactly where the
database designer wants it to go in one or more related tables.

Report
Report is an object in desktop databases designed for formatting, calculating, printing, and
summarizing selected data.

You can view a report on your screen before you print it.

If forms are for input purposes, then reports are for output.

Anything you plan to print deserves a report, whether it is a list of names and addresses, a financial
summary for a period, or a set of mailing labels.

Reports are useful because they allow you to present components of your database in an easy-to-
read format.

You can even customize a report's appearance to make it visually appealing. Access

offers you the ability to create a report from any table or query.
 3. MS Access - Create Database
Using a Template

we will be covering the basic process of starting Access and creating a database. This chapter
will also explain how to create a desktop database by using a template and how to build a
database from scratch.

To create a database from a template, we first need to open MS Access and you will see the
following screen in which different Access database templates are displayed.

To view the all the possible databases, you can scroll down or you can also use the search box.

Let us enter project in the search box and press Enter. You will see the database templates
related to project management.
 Select the first template. You will see more information related to this template.

After selecting a template related to your requirements, enter a name in the File name field and
you can also specify another location for your file if you want.

Now, press the Create option. Access will download that database template and open a new
blank database as shown in the following screenshot.
Now, click the Navigation pane on the left side and you will see all the

other objects that come with this database.

Click the Projects Navigation and select the Object Type in the menu.
You will now see all the objects types — tables, queries, etc.
Create Blank Database

Sometimes database requirements can be so specific that using and modifying the existing
templates requires more work than just creating a database from scratch. In such case, we make
use of blank database.

Step 1 − Let us now start by opening MS Access.

Step 2 − Select Blank desktop database. Enter the name and click the Create button.

Step 3 − Access will create a new blank database and will open up the table which is also
completely blank.
 4. MS Access - Data Types
Every field in a table has properties and these properties define the field's characteristics and
behavior. The most important property for a field is its data type. A field's data type determines
what kind of data it can store. MS Access supports different types of data, each with a specific
purpose.

The data type determines the kind of the values that users can store in any given field.
Each field can store data consisting of only a single data type.
Here are some of the most common data types you will find used in a typical Microsoft Access
database.

Type of Data Description Size

Text or combinations of text and numbers, Up to 255 characters.

Short Text including numbers that do not require calculating
(e.g. phone numbers).

Lengthy text or combinations of text and Up to 63, 999

Long Text
numbers. characters.

Numeric data used in mathematical calculations. 1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes (16

Number bytes if set to
Replication ID).

Date and time values for the years 100 through 8 bytes
Date/Time
9999.

Currency values and numeric data used in 8 bytes

Currency mathematical calculations involving data with
one to four decimal places.

A unique sequential (incremented by 1) number 4 bytes (16 bytes if set

AutoNumber or random number assigned by Microsoft Access to Replication ID).
whenever a new record is added to a table.

Yes and No values and fields that contain only 1 bit.

Yes/No one of two values (Yes/No, True/False, or
On/Off).
 Data Types Description Size

Files, such as digital photos. Multiple files can Up to about 2 GB.

Attachment be attached per record. This data type is not
available in earlier versions of Access.

OLE objects can store pictures, audio, video, Up to about 2 GB.

OLE objects
or other BLOBs (Binary Large Objects)

Text or combinations of text and numbers Up to 8,192 (each

stored as text and used as a hyperlink part of a Hyperlink
Hyperlink address. data type can contain
up to 2048
characters).

The Lookup Wizard entry in the Data Type Dependent on the

column in the Design view is not actually a data type of the
data type. When you choose this entry, a lookup field.
wizard starts to help you define either a
simple or complex lookup field.
Lookup Wizard
A simple lookup field uses the contents of
another table or a value list to validate the
contents of a single value per row. A complex
lookup field allows you to store multiple
values of the same data type in each row.

You can create an

expression that uses
You can create an expression that uses data
data from one or
from one or more fields. You can designate
Calculated more fields. You can
different result data types from the
designate different
expression.
result data types from
the expression.

These are all the different data types that you can choose from when creating fields in a
Microsoft Access table.