USING ACCESS TO CREATE A SCIENCE DATABASE A database allows you to enter, store, retrieve, and manipulate data efficiently. You will first design your database and enter information into a table called the Datasheet. Using the information in the datasheet you will create a Query which allows you to select and display data that match specific criteria. Finally, you will produce a report based on the query. Datasheet Query Report As a class project, your students have been tracking the weather for two months. Using a database, your students will record their findings. They will then use the Query function to find stored records that match target criteria. Using a query about the number of days the rainfall exceeded.10 inches, students will produce a report on all records that include rainfall at that level. As in all Skills Builders, look for this computer icon next to each step. Whenever you see it, you should complete that step on your computer. The right side of the page will show you what you should see on your screen as you complete each step. Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 1
Read / do this: You should see this: 1 To Begin Access:?? Click on the Start button on the Task Bar.?? Click on Access.?? If it is not listed, click on All Programs and then find Access.?? The Access window will open with a task pane on the right.?? Click Blank Database. 2 To Name Your New Database:?? When you begin a new database, Access will open a dialog box. It is here where you can name your database as well as indicate the location you want to save it to.?? The default name will be db1.mdb (or db2, db3, etc.).?? In the File name text box, select the default name and type in the name Weather Database. Once the database is named, its name will appear in the title bar. Default name 3 To Save Your New Database:?? Click on the down arrow to the right of the Save In box.?? Direct the file to be saved to the location of your choice. (My documents, Drive A, or a special folder)?? Click the Create button. New name Drop down menu for Save options Create Button Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 2
Name of Database 4 To Design a Table:?? Double click the first option in your window, Create Table in Design View.?? The Design View will open. In the next step, you will type the field name, indicate the type of field it is, and give an optional description of the field if you wish. Create Table in Design View option 5 To Enter Fields and Structure in the Design View:?? Under the Field Name column in the first row, type Date.?? Press the Tab key on the keyboard. Notice you have moved to the right under the Data Type column. The default data type is Text. Click on the down arrow to the right to display the drop down menu. Select Date/Time from the menu.?? Tab again to move to the Description column. This is an optional column in which you can describe the field if you wish. Type Date information was recorded.?? Press the Tab key to go to the next field. Select Date/Time Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 3
There are several Data Types. For this activity we will be using the Date/Time type as well as the Number and Text types. To see the list of Data Types, click the drop down menu arrow to the right of the Data Type column. When you are entering information in the design view, notice that the bottom half of the screen shows the Field Properties. Field properties may need to be changed to display data in desired formats. To display rainfall in two decimal places, properties for Number data must be changed as indicated to the right. Use drop down menus (down arrows on the far right of each row) to make the following changes:?? Change Field Size to Double.?? Change Format to Fixed.?? Change Decimal Places to 2. 6 To Complete the Design:?? Type in the remaining fields along with their data types and descriptions.?? Note that the Data Type for the fields, Forecast and Actual, will be Text. Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 4
With the table design finished, you will need to close the table and give it a name. 7 To Close the Table:?? Select File from the Menu bar.?? Click Close..?? A dialog box will appear asking if you want to save the changes to the table.?? Click Yes.?? When the Save As dialog box opens, type in the name Weather.?? Click OK.?? Click OK. When designing a database, you may want to assign a unique identifier to a field which will be unique to only one record. An example of this would be a social security number or student number. This unique identifier is also called a primary key. It is optional. For this database, we will not use a primary key. 8 To Omit Primary Key:?? You will see a dialog box asking if you want to create a primary Key.?? Click No. Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 5
9 You will now be back in the main database screen. Notice that the Weather table is now listed. It is time to enter the data into the table. To Enter the Data:?? Double click the Weather table.?? The empty table will appear. Weather Table 10 To Enter the Data in the Table:?? Type in 10/5/02 and press Tab.?? Type in 1.20 under the Rainfall field and press Tab.?? Continue typing the information to complete the table as shown. Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 6
11 To Close and Save the Datasheet:?? Select Close from the File menu.?? When asked if you want to save the changes, click the Yes button.?? You will return to the main database window.?? Notice that your new table will be listed. New Table The feature of a database that allows you to select and display data that match specific criteria is called a Query. In this activity we will want to find a number of different queries based on various criteria. As in tables, you can use the query results to create reports and forms. Select Queries in the Object Pane Query in Design View 12 To Create a Query:?? Click Queries in the Object Pane.?? Double click the Create query in Design View option.?? The design view of the Query window will open.?? The Show Table dialog box will open, listing all the tables we have. Since we only have 1, that is the only one in the list.?? With Weather selected, Click the Add Button. Add Button Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 7
To Display Table Fields:?? The table will show up in The Weather 13 the upper pane. Table Display in?? Close the Show Table Upper Pane dialog box. 14 To Increase the Size of the Upper Pane:?? First, maximize the Query window.?? Move the pointer between the top and bottom panes.?? When the pointer changes to a two-headed arrow (blue at right), drag down to increase the size of the top panel. Maximize Sizing Arrow If you had more fields than you could see in the field list, you could enlarge the list by dragging the lower edge down. However, in this case, the entire list is visible so this is not necessary. Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 8
The first query is designed to find all the records for Actual Weather that were partly cloudy days. The query will include the Date, Rainfall, and Actual fields. 15 To Include the Fields in the Query:.Double click Date. It appears in the first column of the query design.?? Double click Rainfall and it will appear in the second column. Fields Available for the Query There are several options located on the left of the Query Design window.?? Sort lets you sort in ascending or descending order by that field.?? Show allows you to either display or hide a field used in the query.?? Criteria lets you select a condition or term by which you wish a record to be selected.?? Or allows you to add alternative criteria. The Criteria row is used to find a specific criterion. Example: All Partly Cloudy days. The Or row is used to search for records that match one criterion OR another. Example: All Cloudy days or Partly Cloudy days. Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 9
16 To Create and Run the Query:?? Enter partly cloudy in the Actual column in the Criteria row.?? Click the Run button on the toolbar. Query Design?? The Query will appear showing only records in which the Actual Weather was Partly Cloudy. Run Query Button Queries can be named and saved. Then they can be used to create reports or forms. Query Results 17 To Save the Query:?? Click the Close box on the Title Bar of the Query window.?? You will be asked if you want to save the changes to the query.?? Click the Yes button.?? In the Save As dialog box, type the name Partly Cloudy Days.?? Click OK.?? The new query will be displayed in the main database window when the Queries Object is selected. Query Name Queries Objects Partly Cloudy Query Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 10
When using numbers as the criteria, you can use the following comparison operators: > (greater than), < (less than), >= (greater than or equal to), <= (less than or equal to), and NOT (not equal to). The next Query is designed to use the > symbol to search for those records with rainfall above.10. Query Design 18 To Use Numeric Criteria for a Query:?? Click the Design Query to create a new query.?? Add the Table as in the previous Query.?? Add all the fields.?? Under the Rainfall Column in the Criteria row, type in >.10?? Click the Run button on the toolbar. Criteria Query Display?? The Query will display the 3 records that match the criteria. 19 To Save and Print the Query: To Close and Save:?? Click the Close box on the Title Bar of the Query window. A Save As dialog box will be displayed.?? Enter the Query Name Rainfall Measurement.?? Click the OK button to save. To Print:?? Click on the Print icon on the database toolbar.?? When the print dialog box is displayed, click OK. Query Name Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 11
You can use the saved queries as well as tables to produce reports. We will use the Rainfall Measurement Query to create a report. 20 To Create a Report:?? Click on Reports in the Objects Bar located to the left of your window.?? Double click Create reports by using wizard. Reports Object Click to Start Wizard 21 To Select the Query and Fields for the Report:?? If your Query does not display in the Table/Queries box, click the drop down arrow to the right of the Tables/Queries box to select it.?? Select the fields you want to use in your report by double clicking the desired fields. You can also click on the single right arrow button (>) to move a field. Each field you double click will move to the Selected Fields box. Fields Available for Report To Display Available Tables and Queries Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 12
22 To Continue the Wizard:?? When all the desired fields appear in the Selected Fields box, click the Next button. You can select the fields in any order. You can also select all the fields at once by clicking on the Select All arrows. 23 Report Wizard Step 2:?? Grouping lets you organize large databases into subgroups,. Since this is a small database, no grouping is necessary.?? Click the Next button. Report Wizard Step 2 24 Report Wizard Step 3: We can sort up to 4 fields, but we will sort with just 1 (Use the drop down menu to find the field you want):?? Click the arrow to the right of Field 1.?? Select Rainfall.?? Click on the Next button. Report Wizard Step 3 Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 13
25 Report Wizard Step 4:?? In the Report Layout, Tabular will be selected which is the layout we want to use.?? Notice you can select either Landscape or Portrait. We will use Portrait orientation.?? Click the Next button. Report Wizard Step 4 Landscape In the Style window, notice each style is previewed when you select it. 26 Report Wizard Step 5: To choose the style you want for your report:?? Select any of the styles listed or leave it on the default style, Corporate.?? Click the Next button. Report Wizard Step 5 27 Report Wizard Step 6: To Name your report:?? You can use the name that appears or type in a new name. Rainfall Measurement is the default. Leave it as is.?? You have a choice of Preview the report or Modify the report s design. Select Preview.?? Click the Finish button. Report Wizard Step 6 Preview Option Title Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 14
Your Report will appear. Notice that the numbers are lined up at the right of the columns and the text lines up at the left of the columns. You may want to center the data under the columnar headings to make your report visually more attractive. 28 To Format the Report: To modify the format, it is necessary to switch from the current view to design view.?? Select View from the menu bar.?? Click Design View. The Design View of the report has 5 sections: The Report Header, the Page Header, Detail, Page Footer, and Report Footer. The area to the left of each section is called the section selectors. The data that we want to center are located under the Detail Section. 29 To Center the Headers and Detail Data:?? Point to the left of the Page Header Section. A small black selector arrow will appear.?? With the selector arrow visible, click once and handles appear around all the boxes in the row.?? Holding the Shift key down, move to the left of the Detail Section. Once the selector is visible, click again. The next row will also be selected.?? Click on the Centering button the toolbar to center both. Selector Arrow Center Button Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 15
30 To View and Print Format Changes: To see how your report has changed with the new centering format, you will need to view it in the Print Preview:?? Select View from the Menu.?? Click on Print Preview.?? Your report will appear with the changes you made.?? Click on the print icon on the toolbar to print out the final version of the modified report. Centered Report Print Preview Option When formatting a report, you can select all the columns (as we did) or you can select specific ones. You can also change the fonts, color, sizes and more. All the formatting would be done in the Design view. Save Changes 31 To Close and Save the Report:?? Select Close from the File menu.?? Click the Yes button when asked if you want to save the changes.?? You will return to the main database window. With the Reports objects selected, the Rainfall Measurement Report will be displayed. Rainfall Measurement Report Allyn and Bacon, 2003 page 16