(Week 6) Adding Pictures in Ms Access

Access provides several ways to store and display images. You can display images, such as pictures, logos, and photographs, on your forms and reports. To do so, you first need to store those images.

I've learned in Week 6 how to add pictures in Ms Access. Adding pictures in Ms Access especially in reports and forms would make it more presentable.

You can store Ms Access by embedding images directly in an OLE Object field in a database table. Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) is the technology used to share files among the various Office programs.  You use an OLE Object field when you need to store images (or links to them), and files from other Office programs directly in your database.


This method is the easiest to implement because you use the screens and tools that Access provides. Also, the images become part of your database and they travel with it. You never need to update the links to your image files.However, embedding images can rapidly inflate the size of your database and cause it to run slowly. This is especially true if you store GIF and JPEG files, because OLE creates additional bitmap files that contain display information for each of your image files, and those additional files can be larger than your original images. In addition, this method only supports the Windows Bitmap (.bmp) and Device Independent Bitmap (.dib) graphic file formats. If you want to display other common types of image files, such as GIF and JPEG images, you have to install additional software.

Source:

            http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/store-images-in-a-database-HP005280225.aspx

Week 5 (Data Types and Field Properties)

Week 5.... I've learned the different data types.

• Text - you may type alphabetical/numerical data maximum of 255 characters.
• Memo - you can have 64 000 characters and no specific format.
• Number - only contains digit 0-9, calculated
• Date/Time - just like am/pm
• Currency - used for money and will auto-format to contain the dollar sign and commas.
• Auto Number - automatically number, consecutive, never been duplicated.
• Yes/No - one or two possibilities(yes/no, true/false, on/off), checkmark or checkbox
• Hyperlinks - clickable links
• OLE - Object Linking and Embedding, use to insert pictures, sounds, etc.

                         
                                                                                                              
I've also learned about the Field Properties

• Field Size - is set to 225 but you can make this larger or smaller.

                                                       

• Format

                                                                           

• Input Mask - field property that determines display format and limits the type of data that can be entered. The number entered is automatically punctuated and displayed properly.

                                                                                               

•  Default Value - Access will enter a value in a new record automatically.

                                                               

• Validation Rule - field property that limits or conditions on the data that can be entered on the field.

                                                        

• Validation Text - a custom message that's displayed if invalid data is entered in a field.

                                               

Week 4 (Creating Forms and Reports)

       Access forms are much like paper forms: you can use them to enter, edit or display data. Data entry form are the primary means of entering data into tables in the database. I've learned that access provides several different ways in creating forms. It includes creating a form using the Design View and using the Form Wizard.

       I've learned that using form wizard allows us the easy way to create basic new forms in Access. I've also learned that forms can have several different layouts just like columnar, tabular, datasheet and justified.

       Having a style in your form would make it more attractive. Access has several display styles that determine how the form will appear. A tab key is used to navigate between fields in the form.

       Access reports organize and summarize data for viewing online or for printing. I've learned that reports add formatting to the output just like having fonts, colors, backgrounds and other features. We can create a report using the Report Wizard.

       Report wizard just like the Form Wizard has also its layout. You would choose from either a columnar, tabular or justified. I've learned that using report wizard you can quickly create your reports. Once the report is displayed, it can be viewed, printed or transferred into Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.

                                                           

                                                                      

Week 3 (Creating Queries)

      Queries are the primary mechanism for retrieving information from a database and consist of questions presented to the database in a predefined format. It is a fundamental means of accessing and displaying data from tables. I've learned that we can create a query by using either the Query Design or the Query Wizard.

      To create a new query, click on the Create tab and then        click on the query wizard button.



When the Query wizard appears, highlight the Simple Query Wizard selection and click OK.







       I've learned that to start creating a Simple Query wizard, we should specify the table for the query and which fields would be displayed. Fill in the Selected Fields by just simply clicking on the right arrow button. Finally, give a name for the new query and click on Finish button.
       I've also learned that the Query Design View has two major sections. In the top section, the tables used for the query are displayed along with the available fields. In the bottom section, those fields that have been selected for use in the query are displayed. For us to Run the query, just simple click on the Run button with the large red exclamation point then save and close the query.