2. Form Design Guidelines Provide meaningful title Organize fields logically Use appealing form layout Include familiar field labels Be consistent with terminology and abbreviations
3. Form Design Guidelines – 2 Allow for convenient cursor movement Prevent and correct errors Include explanatory messages for fields
4. Using Forms Bound form has a Record Source Displays data from fields in record source Unbound forms Do not have record source Designed to help users navigate through database
5. Subforms Subform is a form embedded in another form Primary form (called main form) Usually has one-to-many relationship with data in subform Main form and subform linked Subform displays only records that related to current record in main form
6. Command Buttons Command buttons Users click to perform common tasks Can contain Text, Icons, Graphics Create Using Command Button Wizard By adding button to form then setting properties Be consistent when creating command buttons Location on form Order
7. Tab Order and Tab Stop Form created with form tool or Form Wizard Places fields in order they appear in table design After fields are rearranged for more logical data entry, correct tab order Test each form!
8. Parameter Queries Way to change query ‘on the fly’ Can use prompt for user Can get information from form controls Forms!FormName!ControlName
9. Using Lists List controls: set rowsource Listbox Combobox Forms: set recordsource Reports: set recordsource Remember to requery! Find right event to respond to
10. Reports Grouping: When RecordSource has all of the data needed, and all needed records are included Sub-reports: When need data that’s not part of RecordSource OR RecordSource wouldn’t include all records Use CanGrow, CanShrink
11. Report Events Limited number Most deal with laying out and formatting data Use NoData instead of showing an empty report
12. Domain Functions Also called Domain Aggregate Functions Allows creation of summary information without a query DCount DSum DMax
13. Domain Function Syntax Need a field to work with Need to specify where the field is found (table or query) Can optionally add a ‘where’ clause to limit the records included DCount(“PatientID”,”Visits”,”Total<100”)
14. Event-driven Applications Have to choose which event to respond to Events can be generated by the user or changes in data or objects
15. Visual Basic for Applications Many commands start with ‘DoCmd’ Code is organized into procedures Property Procedures Functions Subroutines Procedures can use arguments to pass data Use With … End With when referring to an object several times
16. Bang & Dot Operators Two methods to reference “owned” objects Use ! (bang) if referring to a control in a query In code, can use both ! (bang) and . (dot) If referring to fields in a recordsource, use ! If referring to controls can use either
17. Using Variables Scope: How long a variable lasts and where it can be accessed Forcing declaration: Option Explicit Objects: Can represent more than just basic data, can create object variables Need to create an instance – New keyword Use Set to make an assignment
18. Collections Most objects are members of some group A collection is a group of like objects Forms collection holds all forms A form’s controls collection holds all controls that belong to that form
20. Where Condition Optional argument for many commands When opening a form or report, can limit the records to be used, even if the recordsource is a table DoCmd.OpenForm “frmName”,,,”field=1”
21. Error Handling Logic errors Runs but doesn’t give the right results Syntax errors Compiler can’t process your code Run-time errors Problem happens during execution Use On Error to respond to
22. Data Models ADO: ActiveX Data Objects For working with data Typically used in code DAO: Data Access Objects For working with data Used in Forms, Reports by Access ADOX: ADO Extensions For working with database For security and database
23. ADO Principal Objects Connection: ‘pipe’ for moving data Command: what data to work with Recordset: local copy of data from a table or query
