Transcript Chapter 3
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Chapter 3
Reviewing Forms,
Reports, and Data
Access Pages
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Chapter Objectives
• Design easy-to-use forms and data access pages
that facilitate the entry of valid data
• Bind forms, reports, and data access pages to
tables and queries
• Create expressions that display the result of
calculations
• Create groups within the database window that
contain related forms, reports, and data access
pages
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Reviewing Forms, Reports,
and Data Access Pages
• In addition to table and query datasheets,
Access offers three ways to display data:
forms, reports and data access pages
• These objects contain:
Sections
For example, header and detail sections in forms, page
and group headers in reports, and captions and headers in
pages
Controls
For example, text boxes and check boxes
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Reviewing Forms, Reports,
and Data Access Pages
• Forms, reports, data access pages, and their
corresponding sections and controls have
properties
Property sheet
A window in which you can modify the properties
of an object
Used to specify the format of an object
Used to specify valid input
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Forms, Controls, and
Properties
• Professionally styled Access applications
have users enter and view data through
forms (or pages on the Web)
• Forms
Can be customized to mirror other documents
in the work environment
Help enforce data integrity by restricting the
data that the user may enter
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Components of a Form
• A form control
Refers to any object that is placed on the form
• Form Header
Contains column headings for a form
• Form Footer
Contains controls that summarizes values in Detail section
• Detail section
Values displayed change depending upon the record that is
currently being viewed
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Components of a Form
Figure 3-1 Design view of frmProspects
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Unbound and Bound Forms
• Bound form
Form that is tied to, or associated with, either a table or
query
• Record source
Table or query with which the form is associated-that is,
the source of the data
• RecordSource property
Listed in the Data tab of the form’s property sheet
May contain the name of the table, the name of a query,
or an SQL statement
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Unbound and Bound Forms
• Unbound form
Form that is not tied to any table or query
• Splashscreen
Displays one or more brief messages to the user that
automatically appear and disappear
• Switchboard
Do not display data, but rather contain command
buttons that open reports or other forms
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Controls
• ControlSource property
Located in the Data tab of the control’s
property sheet
• Unbound controls
Controls that do not have a value for their
control source property
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Properties
• A property sheet contains five tabs
• Properties in:
Data tab
Specify the record or control source
Format tab
Control the aesthetics of the object
Event tab
Used to link an object to a VBA procedure or macro
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Properties
• A property sheet contains five tabs (cont.)
• Other tab
Contains miscellaneous properties such as the
name of an object
Name property
Used in VBA procedures and macros to refer to object
• All tab
Displays all of the properties specified
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Form Style
• Tips that facilitate good form style:
Use a consistent color and formatting scheme
Use a consistent button, menu, and toolbar
scheme across related forms
Restrict the amount of text and pictures on a
form to a volume that a use can easily
comprehend
Use a soft coloring scheme that is easy to look
at for long periods of time
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Form Style
• Tips that facilitate good form style (cont.):
Build an application that helps the user
remember valid data entries
Test the user interface for understandability of
the graphics and for cultural sensitivity
Determine the type of monitors that will be
used in conjunction with your application
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Form Style
• Tips that facilitate good form style (cont.):
Use shortcut keys or access keys to allow the
selection of menus, toolbars, and command
buttons through keystrokes
A shortcut key is a keystroke that executes a menu
item or command immediately
An access key moves the focus to an item in the
menu
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Working with Forms
• You can place a background image on a form
by specifying the path to a picture in a form’s
Picture property
• Background colors of controls and from
sections are set through the BackColor
property
• The text color of a control is set using a
control’s ForeColor property
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Working with Forms
Table 3-1
Common form
design tasks
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Working with Forms
• To remove the navigation buttons that
appear on the bottom of the form:
Select No in the form’s NavigationButtons
properties
• To remove the record selector that appears
on the side of the form:
Select No in the form’s RecordSelector
properties
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Working with Forms
Table 3-2
Form design
wizards
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Working with Forms
Table 3-2 Form design wizards (continued)
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Controls That Organize: Tab
Controls and Subforms
• When you use a Tab Control control instance
to organize controls on a form, the user can
click a tab to display the controls that are
located within the particular tab
• Subform control instance
Allows a form (referred o as the main form) to
display the contents of another record source
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Controls That Organize: Tab
Controls and Subforms
• The property sheet of the subform identifies
the fields that link the main form (Link
Master Fields property) to the subform
(Link Child Fields property)
• Source Object property
Contains the name of the form displayed by the
subform
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Controls That Display and
Update Data
• When you modify a form or create an unbound
form, you can place controls on a form by:
Clicking a control on the toolbox and then dragging
the mouse on the form to indicate the location and size
of the control
If the toolbox is not displayed, click the Toolbox
button in the toolbar
• Field list
Contains a list of fields in a form’s record source
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Controls That Display and
Update Data
Table 3-3
Data entry
and display
controls in
Access
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Controls That Display and
Update Data
• Calculated control
A control with an expression
• RowSource property
Contains an SQL statement or the name of a
table or query that contains the values to be
displayed in the combo box
May return more than one field
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Controls That Display and
Update Data
• BoundColumn property
Identifies the field that will become the value of
the combo box after the user selects an item
Contains an integer that corresponds to the
order of the column
• ColumnWidths property
Indicates the size of the fields to be displayed
within the combo box
Occasionally, a width is set equal to zero
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ActiveX Controls
• ActiveX controls
Similar to Access controls, except they have
been developed for other applications
• Clicking More Controls in the toolbox
Displays a list of ActiveX controls
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ActiveX Controls
• Spin button
Allows a user to click on an arrow to increase
or decrease the value of a field
Amount of the increase is set up in the control’s
SmallChange property
Contains the Maximum and Minimum
properties that restrict the valid values that can
be entered
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Option Groups
• Option group
Displays a group frame containing toggle
buttons, option buttons, or check boxes
Ensures that the user will select a valid value
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Working with Property Sheets
to Enforce Data Validity
• To allow users to change the data on a form,
you must set the form’s AllowEdits property
to Yes
Set AllowDeletions to Yes to allow users to
delete records
Set AllowAdditions to Yes to allow users to
add new records
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Working with Property Sheets
to Enforce Data Validity
• To change the value displayed through a
control, set the Locked property to No and the
Enabled property to Yes
• A way to distinguish controls is to change the
BackStyle property to transparent
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Working with Property Sheets
to Enforce Data Validity
• Input Mask, Validation Rule, Validation
Text, and Default Value are important
properties in the Data tab of a control
Similar to the field properties with the same
names found in the table’s Design view
Access automatically uses them when these
values are set as field properties within the
control’s ControlSource property
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Creating Conditional Formats
• Conditional Formatting dialog box
Opened from the Format menu
Specifies the conditional formats
• Field Value Is condition
Sets the format when the value of the
corresponding control meets certain conditions
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Creating Conditional Formats
• Expression Is condition
Allows you to change the properties of one control
while testing the values of different controls
• Field Has Focus condition
Allows you to change properties when the user places
the cursor in the control
• ForeColor, BackColor, and Enabled properties
Can be changed when the condition is True
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Form Design Considerations
That Influence Maintenance
• Organization and standards are half the
battle when creating easy-to-maintain
systems
• One standard that facilitates programming
and maintenance is consistent use of object
naming conventions
• These naming conventions require tags to
appear in front of all object names
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Creating Reports
• Reports
Provide access to data in tables and queries
Read-only access
Means that the report cannot modify data in its
record source
Normally, reports are printed on paper
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Report Sections
• Controls in the Report Header appear once
at the beginning of the report
• Controls in the Report Footer appear at the
end of the report
• Page Headers and Page Footers display
controls at the beginning and end of the page,
respectively
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Report Sections
• Report group
Set of records that share a common value for a
particular field
• Controls in a Group Header appear at the
beginning of a report group
• Controls in the Group Footer appear at the
end of a report group
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Report Sections
Figure 3-10
rptEmployer
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Report Sections
Figure 3-11
rptEmployer
in Design
View
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Report Wizards
• Simplest way to create a report is through
report wizards
Similar to form wizards
Available from the shortcut menu prompts for
the tables and queries for the record source
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Data Access Pages
• Data access pages
Special Web interface supported by Access
Stored as an HTML file
• HTML files do not physically reside inside an
Access mdb file
Icons within the Page tab of the Database window point
to the HTML file
The HTML file contains a reference back to the
database
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Creating a Data Access Page
• Header sections
Display records from a table or query
• RecordSource property
Identifies table or query used to supply data to section
• Bound HTML control
Similar to a locked text box, but is preferred because it
displays data more efficiently
• Controls that display or update data have a
ControlSource property
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Creating a Data Access Page
• You can add bound controls to a section by
dragging a field from the Field List window
Figure 3-13
Field list window
of a data access
page
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Creating a Data Access Page
Figure 3-14
Page view of
pagCitizenships
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Creating a Data Access Page
Figure 3-15
Design view of
pagCitizenship
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Creating a Data Access Page
• Footer
Displayed at the end of a group
• Caption
Contains labels that appear prior to the data in
the Header
• Navigation section
Contains controls that allow the user to
navigate through various displayed records
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Creating a Data Access Page
• Sorting and Grouping window
Specifies whether these sections are created
• Data Page Size text box
Located in the Sorting and Grouping window
Indicates the number of records that should be
displayed at one time
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Creating a Data Access Page
Figure 3-16
Sorting and
Grouping
window
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Creating a Data Access Page
• To create a new group, click the control to
promote it and then:
Click Promote or
Click Group by Table in the toolbar
Creates a section that will contain all of the fields in
the table
• Clicking Demote removes a section
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Chapter Summary
• Forms, reports, and data access pages are the
system from an end user’s point of view
• Forms
Principal interface of an application
Display data and allow the user to update data
Should be designed to help the user enter valid data
• Reports support printed reports
• Data access pages support interaction through the
Web
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Chapter Summary
• Most forms, reports, and data access pages
are bound to a table or query through the
RecordSource property
• Wizards are frequently used to create an
initial version of a form, report, and data
access page
• Forms, reports, and data access pages
should obey proper design characteristics