Microsoft-Access Tutorial

You can remove the key property again by once more
selecting Primary Key. If the key consists of more than
one field, you first select all the fields by clicking on
their left-hand marker with Ctrl down. Then select
Primary Key by right-clicking inside one of the field
lines.
7. Close the window. Access asks you for the name
of the table. Call it tblGuest. (The prefix tbl will
help you remember that it is a table. As the system
grows, there will be guest windows, guest buttons
and many other things. Without discipline on your
part, it becomes a mess.)
If you have not defined a primary key, Access will
warn you and suggest that it makes one for you. Don't
let it - do it yourself. Or at least check what Access
makes in its excessive helpfulness.
Enter data
After these efforts, it is time to record some guests.
Fortunately it is easy:
8. Select the guest table in the database window.
Click Open or just use Enter.
Now the system shows the table in user mode (Datasheet
view) so that you can enter guest data.
9. Enter the guests shown on Figure 2.1C. You add a
new guest in the empty line of the table - the one
marked with a star. Notice that as soon you start
entering something, the record indicator changes to
a pencil and a new star line appears. The pencil
shows that you are editing the record, and the
record you see is not yet in the database.
On Figure 2.1C we originally entered a guest that got
guestID 4, later deleted this guest. Access will never
reuse number 4 for a guest.
Close and reopen the database
To feel confident with Access, it is a good idea to close
and open the database now.
10. Close the large Access window. (Not the small
database window inside the Access window.)
Notice that Access doesn't ask whether you want to
save changes. Access saves them all along, for instance
when you define a table or when you enter a record in
the table.
11. Find your database file (hotel.mdb) in the file folders.
Use Enter or double click to open it.
Access 2003 is very security concerned and asks you
several questions when you open the file. The dialog
may vary from one installation to another, but is
something like this:
12. The file may not be safe. Do you want to open it?
Your database is safe, so answer Open.
13. Unsafe expressions are not blocked. Do you want
to block them? You want full freedom, so answer
No.
14. Access warns you one more time whether you
want to open. Say Open or Yes. (In some versions
the question is a very long text box, and you
cannot understand it. Say yes anyway.)
As an alternative, you may say yes to blocking the
unsafe expressions. This will save you some questions
when you open the file in the future. However, some
installations don't allow you to block expressions.
Note that Access 2003 shows that your database is in
Access 2000 format. This is all right. It allows you to
use it also from Access 2000. You can convert it to
other formats with Tools -> Database Utilities -> Convert
Database.
Undo. Use Esc to undo the changes you have made to
the current record.
• The first Esc undoes changes to the field where the
cursor is.
• The second Esc undoes all changes to the record
where the cursor is.
As soon as you move the cursor to the next line,
Access stores the record in the database and you cannot
make an automatic undo anymore. However, you can
manually edit the stored record. Notice that the pencil
disappears when the record is stored in the database.
Shortcut keys for data entry
F2: Toggles between selecting the entire field and selecting
a data entry point.
Shift+F2: Opens a small window with space for the
entire field. Useful for entering long texts into a
field that is shown only partly in the table. However,
the text cannot be longer than you specified in
the table definition.
Alt+ArrowDown: Opens a combo box. Choose with
the arrows and Enter.
Shortcut keys for navigation
Tab and Shift+Tab: Moves from field to field.
Ctrl+Tab: Moves from one tab form to the next, for instance
in the lower part of the table definition window.
F6: Moves between upper and lower section of a window,
for instance in the table definition window.
Ctrl+Enter: Opens the table in design mode (in the database
window).
See also shortcuts on the reference card
8 2. Creating a database