Im going to start trying to experiment with access it is on my work pc but not on my laptop is it worth me getting it or experimenting with it first in case I cant get the hang of it, any advice on where is best to start is appreciated.
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- Thread starter Peter1973
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If you have it on your work machine, why spend the money if you haven't ever tried using what you do have?
Do you have any experience with any database program? If no, you need to start by looking for MS Access for Dummies.... don't get me wrong, not trying to slam you. In order to learn ANY database application correctly, you need to understand the fundamentals first. Access is a true Relational database and the most important thing for you to get a handle on, right off the bat is Normalization and the different types of Relationships that make a Relational database what it is. If you can't take the time to learn these, go out and get a flat file program or use a spreadsheet to store your data. (I hate it when people store things like names, addresses and phone#s in a spreadsheet. It's like fingernails on a chalk board.) You then need to understand the proper way to design the fields you are going to use to store data. Many people will store first name and last name in one field or they will combine other fields that should be kept seperated. This may suite your particular application but it's a very bad habit to get into and should be avoided if you want to learn how to do things the right way.
Now, you can learn this stuff as you go also, but any bad habits learned early on may be hard to change later. So, if you're chomping at the bit to create something, create a database to hold names addresses and phone numbers of your friends/relatives.... This would require you to create at least two tables... one for Names and Addresses and one for phone#s. Because someone could have more than one address, you could even turn this into three tables... Names, Addresses and Phone#s. This would be a simple database but it would require you to create primary and foreign keys (very important), as well as creating relationships between the tables (very important). Once you create the tables, keys and relationships, you can create a form to add data to these tables and then a query to display data on a specified name. You could also create a report to list everyone.
If you follow this example, you will use each of the main components of Access and you should get a feel for what it can do for you... giving you additional ideas. It will also give you enough exposure to Access for you to decide if it's really what you want to do. The one remaining area of Access you need to explore would be VBA (code behind the forms).
PS... Phone#s would be a seperate table because many people now have more than one phone... main and cell... you could add work phone in there too. This would give you a one-to-many relationship... same as if they had more than one address.
Hope this helps.
Do you have any experience with any database program? If no, you need to start by looking for MS Access for Dummies.... don't get me wrong, not trying to slam you. In order to learn ANY database application correctly, you need to understand the fundamentals first. Access is a true Relational database and the most important thing for you to get a handle on, right off the bat is Normalization and the different types of Relationships that make a Relational database what it is. If you can't take the time to learn these, go out and get a flat file program or use a spreadsheet to store your data. (I hate it when people store things like names, addresses and phone#s in a spreadsheet. It's like fingernails on a chalk board.) You then need to understand the proper way to design the fields you are going to use to store data. Many people will store first name and last name in one field or they will combine other fields that should be kept seperated. This may suite your particular application but it's a very bad habit to get into and should be avoided if you want to learn how to do things the right way.
Now, you can learn this stuff as you go also, but any bad habits learned early on may be hard to change later. So, if you're chomping at the bit to create something, create a database to hold names addresses and phone numbers of your friends/relatives.... This would require you to create at least two tables... one for Names and Addresses and one for phone#s. Because someone could have more than one address, you could even turn this into three tables... Names, Addresses and Phone#s. This would be a simple database but it would require you to create primary and foreign keys (very important), as well as creating relationships between the tables (very important). Once you create the tables, keys and relationships, you can create a form to add data to these tables and then a query to display data on a specified name. You could also create a report to list everyone.
If you follow this example, you will use each of the main components of Access and you should get a feel for what it can do for you... giving you additional ideas. It will also give you enough exposure to Access for you to decide if it's really what you want to do. The one remaining area of Access you need to explore would be VBA (code behind the forms).
PS... Phone#s would be a seperate table because many people now have more than one phone... main and cell... you could add work phone in there too. This would give you a one-to-many relationship... same as if they had more than one address.
Hope this helps.
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Thanks for the advice i will have a go at it just one quick question I am hoping to get the hang of using it so I can create a database for 200 people with various ammount of data stored on them such as current shift pattern, current start time, name, employee number, salary, date started, hol entitlement and so on. Firstly would tackling this be taking on a bit more than I could handle and also I have some systems in work which read from excel sheets is it easy to have information transfered from access to excel?
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Tough question to answer being that I don't know your motivation and/or work habits. For someone who really wants to learn Access, your project might not be that difficult.
The FIRST thing you want to do is list ALL the information you want to store in this database. You need to lay out your table structure(s) and normalize them before you do much of anything else. You also need to identify what tables should be linked to other tables.... issues like "You can have one record per item in this table, but more than one in that table". This is how you determine relationships. Once that is done correctly, you have the other hills to climb.
As for Excel to Access... that's a snap. You can import Excel directly from within Access. Each spreadsheet you import will create a table in Access. (You can also tell Access what table to import to). You would then create a query to append data from the imported table to your tables. This is easy, but you need to be able to seperate your information correctly otherwise, you data can become corrupted. Your spreadsheet probably contains mixed data and a properly configured Access will require that you seperate that mixed data.
The FIRST thing you want to do is list ALL the information you want to store in this database. You need to lay out your table structure(s) and normalize them before you do much of anything else. You also need to identify what tables should be linked to other tables.... issues like "You can have one record per item in this table, but more than one in that table". This is how you determine relationships. Once that is done correctly, you have the other hills to climb.
As for Excel to Access... that's a snap. You can import Excel directly from within Access. Each spreadsheet you import will create a table in Access. (You can also tell Access what table to import to). You would then create a query to append data from the imported table to your tables. This is easy, but you need to be able to seperate your information correctly otherwise, you data can become corrupted. Your spreadsheet probably contains mixed data and a properly configured Access will require that you seperate that mixed data.
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SydneyGeek
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