Access Database Tutorial

Building Access forms is a time consuming aspect to front-end database designs and in this Microsoft Access tutorial , I want to add some extra aesthetics and alternative control enhancements for you. There are many Access form controls, formats and properties that can be applied to a form over and above the basics ranging from the more advanced conditional formatting options to the custom built controls including my recent post on coloured tab controls . So here’s some alternatives for your traditional command button… Using the standard command button, you can still apply different format effects using the correct event with some Access VBA code or adopt a different control altogether (i.e. a Label) and make this your button click action instead. Hyperlinks are also another way to apply actions for opening another form or running a report and can exclude VBA code (for basic actions). Microsoft Access Tutorial: How To Build Alternative Access Form Controls – The Command ...

Continuing with the  Microsoft Access training  series,  building Access label reports  is pretty straight forward (especially with the built-in wizard tool). As a snapshot and quick peek into my  Access database eBook , here’s some more information to help establish your options. This type of report can be used for printing label address information to fit a pre-defined or custom defined label sheet (normally an adhesive or plain paper sheet). It can be based on a Table, Query or another external data source altogether (i.e. Excel or Outlook). It can also be used for creating badges, product labels, category name cards and other simple types of data layout reports. Some users will use Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge feature instead of the basic Access Label report where data from an Access database can support other Office applications. If you are going to take advantage of the ‘one-stop’ solution, then keeping it all within the Access database environm...

There are various formatting choices that give flexibility and make reports more efficient.  Microsoft Access 2016  has a  report Wizard  (as a starter point) that walks you through the process of creating a report. The report look and feel will greatly depends on the user’s requirements. The more complex it gets, the higher the degree of customization is needed. The greatest strength of any report is in its structure. If the report is informative, it will surely stand out. You can improve your reports by inserting headers and footers, adding logos, and changing color combinations. In this blog, you will learn how to insert time and date into the header and footer sections of your  Microsoft Access 2016    report. Header and Footer Sections The header section...

Microsoft Access Database : The mindset of the VBA programmer From my new VBA book due out soon, here’s an extract about the mindset of the  Microsoft Access  database VBA programmer… We need to start by establishing a frame of reference as to what we should expect when we are writing VBA code. Consider the scenario where you command a child to “ open the door .” Think about all the individual actions that it takes to accomplish that one statement. The child has to approach the door, align the hand with the door knob, move the hand and grasp it around the door knob, and then twist and pull the door knob while swinging the arm in an arc motion. We don’t have to command each specific step, and indeed life would be very tedious if we constantly had to issue commands at such a micro level of detail. However, somewhere along the line, the child had to learn what it meant and all the steps in the process to open a door. The child didn’t have to be told for each step and pr...