Guided Project 7-1 For this project, you enhance the functionality of a database for a friend s music collection. You use Design view to create a main form and a subform, and customize the form to add sections, modify properties, enhance the look of the form, and add a calculated control. Skills Covered in This Project Create a main form in Design view. Edit a form in Design view. Create a subform using the Datasheet button. Add Form Header and Form Footer sections to a form. Add and edit a control in a form. Change the tab stop property of a control. Change the border style property of a form. Add a subform to a main form using the Subform Wizard. Use an aggregate function on a subform. Add a control on a main form that refers to a control on a subform. Apply a theme to a form. Add an image to a form. Step 1 Download start file Important: Download the resource file(s) needed for this project from the Resources link. Make sure to extract the file(s) after downloading the resources zipped folder. Visit the SIMnet instant help for step-bystep instruction. 1. Open the MusicDatabase-07.accb database start file. 2. The file will be renamed automatically to include your name. Change the project file name if directed to do so by your instructor. 3. Enable content in the security warning. 4. Build the main form. a. Click the Form Design button [Create tab, Forms group] to open a new form. b. Click the Add Existing Fields button [Form Design Tools Design tab, Tools group] to open the Field List. c. Click the Show all tables link to display the database tables. d. Click the plus symbol next to the Album table to display the fields. e. Double-click the AlbumID field to add it into the Detail section. f. Double-click the AlbumName field to add it into the Detail section. g. Double-click the ArtistName field to add it into the Detail section. h. Close the Field List pane. i. Save the form as SongListingsOnAlbumsByArtist. 5. Add header and footer sections, label controls, and adjust the size of the sections. a. Right-click to open the context menu. b. Select the Form Header/Footer option to add Form Header and Form Footer sections to the form. c. Click the Property Sheet button [Form Design Tools Design tab, Tools group] to open the Property Sheet. d. If necessary, click the Format tab. e. In the Selection type box, select Form and enter 7.5" in the Width property. f. In the Selection type box, select Detail and enter 4" in the Height property. g. In the Selection type box, select Form Header and enter 1" in the Height property. h. Add a label control into the Form Header section and enter Songs on My Albums into the label. i. For the label, change the Width property to 1.8, the Height property to.3", the Top property to.2", the Left property to 2.25", the Font Size property to 14 pt, and the Font Weight property to Bold. j. Hover your pointer on the lower border of the Form Footer section until the resize pointer appears. k. Click, hold, and drag the mouse to decrease the height of the section so no space remains in this section. Access 2013 Chapter 7 Creating Advanced Forms Last Updated: 3/2/15 Page 1
l. Save your changes to the form. 6. Modify the controls in the Detail section of the form. a. Select the AlbumID label. b. Right-click to open the context menu and select Delete. c. Select the AlbumID text box. d. Change the Visible property to No and the Top property to.11. You need this field to have the relationship with the subform, but it is not a useful piece of information to display to the user. e. Select the AlbumName text box. f. Change the Width property to 3.2, the Top property to.42, the Left property to 1.4, and the Border Style property to Transparent. On the Other tab, in the Tab Stop property, select No. g. Select the AlbumName label. h. On the Format tab, change the Caption property to Album, the Width property to.5, the Top property to.42, the Left property to.8, and the Text Align property to Right. i. Select the ArtistName text box and change the Width property to 1.5, the Top property to.7", the Left property to 1.4, and the Border Style property to Transparent. On the Other tab, in the Tab Stop property, select No. j. Select the ArtistName label and change the Caption property to Recording Artist, the Width property to 1.1, the Top property to.7, and the Text Align property to Right. k. With the label still selected, press and hold the Shift key and select the Album Name label. l. Click the Align button [Form Design Tools Arrange tab, Sizing & Ordering group] and select the Right option. Your form should look similar to Figure 7-86. Don t worry about the location of the AlbumID field since it is not visible to the user. m. Save and close the form. 7. Build the subform. a. Select the Songs table in the Navigation pane. b. Click the More Forms button [Create tab, Forms group] and then select the Datasheet button to open a new form in Datasheet view. c. Position the pointer over the SongID column header, and click to select that column. d. With the cursor positioned over the SongID column header, right-click to open the context menu and select Delete. e. Position the pointer over the AlbumID column header, and click to select that column. f. With the cursor positioned over the AlbumID column header, right-click to open the context menu and select Delete since you don t need to include the foreign key in the subform. g. Switch to Design view. All of the controls are selected. Click inside the Detail section to deselect the controls. h. Select the SongTitle text box and enter 4.6" in the Width property box. 7-86 Design view of main form Access 2013 Chapter 7 Creating Advanced Forms Last Updated: 3/2/15 Page 2
i. Select Form in the Selection type drop-down list and enter 6" in the Width property box. j. Select Detail in the Selection type dropdown list and enter 2.5" in the Height property box. k. Save the form as SongsSubform. l. Switch to Datasheet view. The form should look similar to the form shown in Figure 7-87. m. Close the form. 7-87 Datasheet view of subform 8. Add the subform onto the main form. a. Open the SongListingsOnAlbumsByArtist form in Design view. b. If the Use Control Wizards option is not selected, click the Use Control Wizards button [Form Design Tools Design tab, Controls group] to toggle it on. c. Click the Subform/Subreport button [Form Design Tools Design tab, Controls group]. d. Click in the Detail section of the form below the fields (near the ½" width tick mark and 1" height tick mark). The SubForm Wizard launches. e. Select the Use an existing form radio button. f. Select the SongsSubform form from the list and click Next. g. Accept the Choose from a list radio button and the highlighted Show statement and click Next. h. Accept the suggested name for the subform and click Finish to add the subform to the main form. i. Save the form. j. Switch to Layout view. Note that the AlbumID text box displays in Layout view, even though the visible property is set to No. k. Press the Next Record arrow in the Navigation bar of the main form to advance to the next record. Verify that the subform updates to display the twelve songs on Lady Antebellum s Own the Night album. 9. Customize the subform to adjust field widths, and remove the border, Navigation bar, and label. a. Enter 6 in the Current Record box of the Navigation bar of the main form. b. In the subform, scroll down until the Moves Like Jagger song is visible. This song has the longest title in the database. c. Click to select the SongTitle column in the subform. d. Move the pointer to the right border until it changes to the sizing pointer, and then click, hold, and drag the pointer to increase the width of the column until you can see the entire song title. e. With the yellow selection border surrounding the entire subform, move the pointer to the right border of the subform until it changes to the sizing pointer. Decrease the width of the subform so the scroll bar is closer to the Length column. f. Switch to Design view. The Save dialog box displays. Click Yes to save your changes. g. If necessary, open the Property Sheet and click the Format tab. The SongsSubform should display in the Selection type box. h. Select Transparent in the Border Style property box. i. In the subform, click the Select All box to select the subform (Figure 7-88). In the Property Sheet, the Selection type updates to show Form and the Select All box in the subform updates to display a black square. j. Select No in the Navigation Buttons property box. k. Click to select the SongsSubform label. 7-88 Select All box in the subform l. Right-click to open the context menu and click Delete. m. Save the form. If Access displays a message box that the main form has changed since you opened it, click Yes to save the changes. Access 2013 Chapter 7 Creating Advanced Forms Last Updated: 3/2/15 Page 3
n. Switch to Form view. Verify that the border, Navigation bar, and label have been removed. Notice that a scroll bar does not display on the screen because all the songs from the Seeds from the Underground album can display on the form. o. Click the Next Record arrow. The scroll bar appears because there are more songs on the Own the Night album than fit in the window size of the subform. 10. Add a calculated control onto the subform and enter an aggregate function. a. Switch to Design view. b. Click the Detail section bar of the subform to select it. c. Right-click inside of the Detail section to open the context menu and select the Form Header/Footer option to add those sections to the subform. d. Click, hold, and drag the vertical scroll bar on the subform down to the Form Footer section. e. Hover your pointer on the bottom border of the Form Footer section, and then click, hold, and drag the mouse down to increase the height of that section to approximately.5. f. Add a text box control to the Form Footer section of the subform. g. If necessary, open the Property Sheet of the text box and select the Data tab. h. Press the Build button on the Control Source property. i. Enter = Count([SongTitle]) into the Expression Builder and press OK. j. Enter SFSongTitleCount in the Name property on the Other tab. k. Delete the label that was added with the text box, as it is not needed. l. Save the form. 11. Add a text box to the main form and reference a control from the subform. a. Add a text box control to the right of the ArtistName text box. b. Switch to the Data tab, and press the Build button on the Control Source property. c. Enter = [SongsSubform].[Form]![SFSongTitleCount] into the Expression Builder and press OK. d. On the Format tab, change the Width property to.3, the Top property to.7, the Left property to 5, and the Border Style to Transparent. On the Other tab, in the Tab Stop property, select No. e. Select the label control of that text box. f. On the Format tab of the Property Sheet, enter Total number of songs in the Caption property and change the Width property to 1.5, the Top property to.7, and the Left property to 3.5. g. Save the form. 12. Enhance the look of the form. a. In the Selection type box, select Form and enter 7.5" in the Download Resources Width property. (Although you set this earlier, sometimes it adjusts based on other changes made while editing the form.) b. Click the Themes button [Form Design Tools Design tab, Themes group] to display the gallery of available themes. c. Click the Integral theme, the third button in the first row of the Office group (Figure 7-89). The form updates to use this new theme. d. Select the Insert Image button [Form Design Tools Design tab, Controls group] to open the Image Gallery dialog box. e. Select the Browse button to open the Insert Picture dialog box. Navigate to the folder where the resource files for this 7-89 Image Gallery Choices project are stored. Select the album-art.png image file (downloaded from the Resources link), and click OK. f. Move the pointer to the left of the label in the Form Header section and click to insert the image on the form. Access 2013 Chapter 7 Creating Advanced Forms Last Updated: 3/2/15 Page 4
g. In the properties of the image, enter.15" in the Top property and.5" in the Left property. h. In the Selection type box, select Form Header and enter 1" in the Height property. i. Select the label control in the Form Header section. Enter.3" in the Top property and 2.25" in the Left property. j. Save and close the form. 13. Open the SongListingsOnAlbumsByArtist form in Form view. The completed form displays. a. Press the Next record arrow in the Navigation bar of the main form to advance to the next record. Verify that the subform updates to display the twelve songs on Lady Antebellum s Own the Night album and that your form looks similar to Figure 7-90. b. Close the form. Step 2 Upload & Save Step 3 Grade my Project 14. Close the database. 15. Upload and save your file. 16. Submit project for grading. 7-90 Form view of completed main form with a subform Access 2013 Chapter 7 Creating Advanced Forms Last Updated: 3/2/15 Page 5