Is Access 2010 going to help me? - Help Req please :-)

[Rendeverance]

Hi all,

I have been using Excel near-daily for years and can pretty much make it do anything I want - i.e. I am comfortable with it.

However since my more complex spreadsheets take a long time to calculate, and can be harmed by incorrect or incomplete data entry (I use data validation to help ensure against this but I believe a separate database might add to the protection), I want to rebuild a couple of my spreadsheets!

My thoughts are that by using an Access database as the raw data storage and input medium, I can speed up and optimise my spreadsheets, allow them to easily work with multiple databases / change the databases, and make them easier to use / upgrade by having the raw data stored externally from the spreadsheet. I can then look forward to developing a front end and possibly a small data input application to update my database from my phone or other remote locations.

Am I looking in the right direction?



Now the reason I am asking help is because although I am quite proficient with the other office programs (except sharepoint and infopath - since I have had no use for them yet) - I am a complete access newbie - having not used it since office 97!

I have looked about and have made some basic progress so far - created tables with the required fields, specified what data those fields can be populated with - i.e. created drop-downs etc and managed to import some existing data.

I have then attempted to do the following but since I am not familiar with all the database terminology I cannot find out how to do this, even with these forums and google etc lol


So essentially I have data, say with the following fields:-

_Date, Description, Type, Catagory​

Now I want to have these in a form someone can fill out (simple enough) BUT I need additional fields to be availiable for population depending on the selected 'catagory'... i.e.:

Someone selects the catagory 'fruit', they would then be provided an additional field they can fill (that is not there if they selected any other category)


Can this be done? Can someone please fill me in on how to achieve this? I would be very grateful indeed as I am tearing my hair out lol

 

[jackd]

Possibly.
Access is NOT Excel. Excel can do all sorts of calculations, analysis, etc.
Access is a relational data base that can store and retrieve data. To really understand RDBMS you should be familiar with normalization, and normal forms.

You could use Access to store data, and use some automation to use Excel functions and capabilities where needed.

As I am sure you know, people could really do "dumb" things with Excel - well that is also true of Access. Used incorrectly it can seem to be a major pain, but used appropriately it can simplify and streamline some tasks.

Very few, if any people, could use Excel out of the box to do major analysis. The same is true for Access. Do some background fundamental learning and I'm sure Access will have a role in what you are doing. But jump in with both feet and gung ho on the keyboard and I'm sure you can get frustrated quicker than you could imagine.

Good luck with your decision and projects.

Here are a few references for Access RDBMS fundamentals:

http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/forum/topic238.html table and database design
http://www.accessmvp.com/strive4peace/ Access Basics
http://www.fontstuff.com/siteindex.htm#access Great tutorials
http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/AccessMain.htm Free Video Tutorials Access

 

[Rendeverance]

I will have a read...

Thank you for your reply it was most helpful