Annoyances Alley - The Access Database Wizard
October 8, 1998
Annoyances Alley is a tiny glimpse into the Annoyances series of Office 97 related books from Woody Leonhard, Lee Hudspeth, and T.J. Lee.
This is just one of the detailed tips related to optimization and customization that appears in "Office 97 Annoyances" published by O'Reilly & Associates (ISBN 1-56592-310-3) and reprinted here with permission.
"The Access Database Wizard
When you first fire up Access, you can choose to create a blank database (one where you are going to build everything yourself), open an existing database (equivalent to File / Open Databases), or you can run the Database Wizard. The Database Wizard in Access makes creating a ready-to-run database a snap. It is really an impressive piece of software engineering. Novices, experts, and everyone in between will like this feature.
You can also kick off the Database Wizard when you click on File / New Database. Choose the Databases tab in the New dialog and choose one of the many database templates that ship with Access. See Figure 5-5. The Database Wizard kicks in after you select a template and assign a name to the file using the File New Database dialog.
Note: For some reason known only to Microsoft, some of the template names are in all caps, while most are in mixed case.
The list of templates is pretty complete. Which is good, because you can't open, modify, or easily create your own Database Wizard templates. In this respect Access operates in a different universe from Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Part of this is due to the nature of databases, but most is due to how the Wizard works and the amount of code behind it. In any event, using the Database Wizard lets you quickly generate a database containing tables, entry forms, and a ready to use interface. The Wizard displays the tables that it will create (based on the template you started with) and lets you choose from a number of fields that can be used for a particular table. You check and uncheck the appropriate boxes to control what fields are used. You can also have the Wizard populate the table with sample data (by checking the Yes, include sample data check box). This lets you work with the database immediately; you can experiment to see if it meets your needs before populating it with your own data. See Figure 5-6.
The next few panels of the Wizard let you pick display styles for the various screens, much like the AutoFormat features in the other Office applications. This is another nifty way to create a very presentable database in a hurry. The style elements are used throughout the various on-screen forms. You can also choose a style for any printed reports that are a part of the database. Next, you can choose a database report format (styles and colors) that controls things like headings and layout.
Lastly, you can specify a title for your database that is automatically inserted on the database's main Switchboard screen. If you want a particular picture, like a logo, to appear on all your reports, you can specify that as well. See Figure 5-7.
When you're done, Access creates all the components of the database. When you open the database, the main Switchboard form greets you. As you can see, the Switchboard serves as a user interface for working with your newly generated database. See Figure 5-8.
The Switchboard is already set up with command buttons for the main functions of the application. If your needs are basic, you can probably use your database as is. Or you can start customizing it and go on from there.
Although you could quibble at some of the design features of a database created via the Wizard (spaces are used in field names, database objects are not named according to any accepted naming convention, etc.), most would find these considerations quite immaterial. Instant database in just a few clicks! Very nice."
Annoyances titles are available for order at the Office
Annoyances Web site:
http://www.PRIMEConsulting.com/annoyances/
or at the publisher's site:
http://www.ora.com/annoyed/
