2. 2. In the section to the right of the
screen, click on the Blank Database
option:
The File New Database dialog box
comes up:
1. Start Access 2003 by selecting it
from the Windows Start Menu.
Access shows up:
3. 3. The database will be stored on a
computer as a file. Browse to the
directory where you want to
save the database file; also type in
the file name of your choice in the
File Name textbox. In
this tutorial you will name the file
volunteer.mdb. Then click on the
OK button
After you have created the new file,
you are ready to manipulate the
database:
4. 4. Double click the Create table in
Design view link on the top center
of the screen. You will see
a new form:
Creating Your First Table Field
1. Now you will add each field to
the table structure on this form,
starting with first name. Click on
the first blank textbox in the Field
Name column:
2. Type First_name in the Field
Name column:
5. 3. Tab to the next column titled
Data Type. This is a drop down list
containing the data types that
you can choose from. Since the
first name will contain alpha letters,
the data type that best
suits it is Text, which you will
select from the drop down list:
At the bottom of the form,
there are additional options
that you should pay attention
to:
6. 5. The Required property specifies whether a value is
required to be entered in this field when
you add a new record. In this case, we do need the
first name of each volunteer, so change
the value to Yes.
Filling in the appropriate values—to create the rest of
the fields: last name, social security number (SSN),
phone number, and birth date.
4. The Field Size property specifies the maximum
number of characters the field can hold. Leave
the value to the default of 50.
7. Creating Rest of the Fields
1. For the last name field, you will
choose the same Data Type, Field
Size, and Required value
as you did for the first name field.
When you have filled in all the
properties for last name, the
form should appear as shown
below:
8. 2. Create the SSN field as such:
a. Field Name: SSN
b. Data Type: Text (the only field
that should have the data type
Number is if the value
would be required for calculation,
which SSN does not quality)
c. Field Size: 9 (to restrict the entry
to 9 digits, which is the standard for
all SSNs)
d. Required: Yes
9. 3. Create the phone number field as
such:
a. Field Name: Phone_number
b. Data Type: Text (the only field
that should have the data type
Number is if the value
would be required for calculation,
which phone number does not
quality)
c. Field Size: 50
d. Required: No (perhaps not all
volunteers have a phone number)
10. 4. Create the birth date field as
such:
a. Field Name: Birth_date
b. Data Type: Date/Time
c. Required: Yes (there may be a
law that dictates only people over
age 14 may
volunteer)
11. Defining Primary Key and
Saving the Table
Follow these steps to make SSN
your primary key:
1. Highlight the SSN row in the
Table Creation form:
2. Right click anywhere in this row,
and select the Primary Key option:
Now the SSN field will have a key
to the left:
12. 3. Next, click on the Close button
of the Table Creation form (not the
Close button of the Access
window!).
5. Name the table Volunteer and
click OK.
4. You will be asked if you want to
save the table. Click Yes. Now you
will be given the
opportunity to name the table:
13. 1. Double click on the Volunteer
table, which takes you to the table
with no data yet:
2. Enter the following values in the
first record:
a. First name: John
b. Last name: Smith
c. SSN: 999999999
d. Phone number: 395-433-3443
e. Birth date: 1/23/1990
Editing the Database Table
Now that you have created the
Volunteer table, you can add to or
edit its content:
14. 4. For the second record, enter all of the same data as you did with the
first record. When you
finish and try to click outside the record, you get an error message
stating that you have
entered duplicated data in the Primary Key:
3. Click on the next record; notice that since we entered all valid data, no
error message was
encountered.
In the following steps, you will enter invalid data into the fields. Note
how Access performs
error checking:
15. 6. Enter more invalid data into the
second record. This time, enter
valid data for all fields except
Birth date, for which you will enter
12/35/2000. Because December
does not have a 35th day,
Access will return an error message
stating the date entered is not valid:
5. Click OK and Press the Escape
key on the keyboard to clear the
second record.
16. 7. Click OK and Press the Escape key on the keyboard to clear the bogus
value in the Birth date
field.
8. Enter any valid date for the Birth date field.
9. Close the table, which automatically saves any change made since
opening the table.
10. Your Finished
