Create a Database Table Lab 7, Step 1 A. Open Access and create a new database named Lab7_yourlastname.accdb. Access the ilabs and open the Office 2010 application folder. Select Access 2010: The Access 2010 screen will open in the New tab of the File menu. In this tab, select, but do not create or double-click, the Blank Database option: After it is selected, look to the right of screen. There should be a window panel that appears with Blank database at the top. In the File Name textbox, name your new database Lab7_yourlastname.accdb:
Click Create. Because a database begins with tables, the Table Object will automatically open: Note: The reference to Access 2007 in the title bar refers to the database file format, not the version of Access you are using. Access 2010 does not have its own file format. Consequently, it uses the Access 2007 file format.
Notice that the table already has an ID field, which is an AutoNumber by default. This means that when new records are added, the field will automatically populate with the next available number in the sequence. To see how easy Microsoft has made table creation in its product, click on the More Fields tool in the Add & Delete group of the Fields tab. A dropdown list of fields will automatically open up: To create a new field in your database, you can click the More Fields button and select the field type from the dropdown list. After the field is added, you can rename it to match the requirements below. Go ahead and add the first field type from our list, Text field, and label it Item. Select Rich Text from the dropdown list.
After the field is added to the table, it will be labeled field1. Just backspace over field1 and type in Item and the name. You can continue adding the remaining fields using this method or alternatively, you can click on the Click to Add field and choose from a small selection of general fields. Using either method, complete adding the following fields in this order and name (label) them the following: Text field - Item Memo field - Description Text field - Condition Date & Time field - Acquired Date Currency field - Purchase Price Text field - Location Text field - Manufacturer Text field - Model Memo field - Comments
Once you re done adding them, your table will look like the following: Click on Item. Notice that the Data Type & Formatting group shows you the Data Type for this item. You can select to make this field Unique (no record can hold the same value) or Required (data MUST be entered in each record). You are viewing the table in Datasheet View (very similar to Excel). You can provide more specific formatting by viewing the table in Design View. In the Views group, select View, and then select Design View: You will be required to save your table. Save the table as tblinventory. This will use standard database naming conventions, which will allow you to easily differentiate objects in your database: Click OK.
Your table will open in Design View: In Design View, you can make changes to the Properties of the fields in your table. Click on Item to view the Properties of this field:
Change the Field Size to 25. It is good database design practice to size your fields appropriately. If you reserve 255 characters for a field that will never exceed 25, you are wasting storage space. Although storage is cheap, databases can grow to terabytes in size, so paying attention to field size can be a good practice. To make some of these fields work like we want them to, we are going to have to edit their properties. Click on Condition. The General tab needs to look like this: Notice that this option has a Default Value of (2) Good. This means that if you do not change this field, the item will be classified as being in Good condition. The second tab, Lookup, when clicked on initially, will just be a Text Box. Change this to Combo Box (which enables a dropdown list of options).
Now modify the rest of the properties to look like this: You will need to select Value List for the Row Source Type from the dropdown box. After you change it to Value List, you will have to update all Lookup properties everywhere Condition is used next to the lightning bolt icon. Go ahead and select that value and Access will update the database.
Since you have no records entered, it will return a No objects needed to be updated box. Click OK. Now you will need to create your row source data values such as Great, Good, etc. Select the modifier next to Row Source: You will be prompted with a dialog box to enter your data values. Make sure to enter your data just as the list shows in the following picture:
Click OK. Your Lookup tab should now look like this. Go ahead and finish entering the remaining values if needed. For this database, we want to specify the Rooms in our house. We can create a Lookup field to do this. But before we move on, click on Location, go to the Lookup tab, and change the Display control to Combo Box and the Row Source Type to Value List. Click on the Location field Data Type dropdown and select Lookup Wizard:
NOTE: If the following security notice pops up, just click on Open: The Lookup Wizard will spawn. Select, I will type in the values that I want :
Type in the values you wish to use in your database: Note: In the example screenshots for this Lab, the rooms added are: Kitchen, Office, Master Bedroom, Guest Bedroom, Maggie's Bedroom, Workroom, Dining Room, and Living Room. Click Next, accept the defaults, and then click Finish.
Switch to Datasheet View to see the Lookup field you just created. Select Datasheet View from the View button. If prompted, save the table. Your table should now look like this: Let s add a few new fields in Design View. Switch back to the design view using the View button as we did in the previous step. Add a SerialNumber field. Although this is probably going to be numeric, you want to assign a Text data type. Numeric data types should only be used for fields that will be used in calculations:
Add a Warranty field with a Boolean Data Type (Yes/No): Add a ManufacturerURL field with a Hyperlink Data Type:
Your Table Design should now look something like this: You may wish to use additional Properties for the fields. Some of the most commonly used Properties are as follows: Format Select the Acquired Date field. In the Format Property, click on the dropdown arrow and select Short Date:
Caption Use this Property to define what will show up as a label in Forms and Reports. For example, for the ManufacturerURL field, you might want to use a Caption that says Manufacturer Support Website : Validation Rules Use these rules to ensure users enter the correct information. Click on the Acquired Date field and go the General tab. Using the below screenshot as reference, fill out the Validation Rule and Validation Text sections: One last thing to note is the Primary Key. The ID field in this record is automatically entered as the Primary Key. This number is the unique identifier of each record you add to your database. As you learn more about database design, you will understand how important this number is. For now, just be aware that every record in every database should contain a Primary Key which uniquely identifies each record added to a table.