All good database designers document their work. It’s important to leave a trail of notes for others to be able to fully understand the design decisions that were made and to help clarify why the system was built the way it was. In this video, Adam Wilbert tours the Access interface and points to a number of places where documentation can be written to provide guidance to other users.
- [Instructor] The only thing worse than opening…up an unfamiliar database and realizing that you…can't figure out what the creator was thinking…when they put it together is opening up…a database that you yourself created and not…remember why you did it the way you did.…I'm a big proponent of keeping a detailed…documentation trail inside the database file.…Fortunately, Access provides a lot…of opportunities for you to leave notes…to the next database designer that has to follow…in your footsteps.…First, let's go ahead and open up a table in design view.…I'll just use the guest table.…Each field has an optional description area…where we can type in a note describing the type…of data stored or any specific notes on its formatting.…
We entered a couple of these earlier in the course.…Also, if you right click on the table, or in fact…any object here in the navigation pane,…you can come down to the properties at the very…bottom of the popup menu.…This will provide a place where we can type in…a description for the object and what its uses are.…
Author
Adam Wilbert
Released
9/24/2018- Navigating the interface
- Creating tables
- Defining data types
- Defining table relationships
- Sorting and filtering table data
- Editing forms
- Creating queries and reports
- Maintaining a database
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
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Introduction
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1. Getting Started
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Database concepts4m 39s
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Create the database file4m 11s
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Understand the Trust Center2m 57s
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Dig into ribbon tabs5m 35s
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Database navigation pane4m 35s
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Create a database backup1m 35s
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2. Creating Tables
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Enter data3m 43s
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Primary and foreign keys4m 51s
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Import tables5m 2s
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3. Setting Field Properties
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Control input with masks4m 39s
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Set a default value2m 40s
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Data validation rules4m 14s
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Data lookup fields2m 56s
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Additional field properties4m 26s
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4. Organizing Records
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Sort table data2m 41s
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Filter table data2m 21s
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Delete records1m 55s
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Search and replace values2m 22s
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5. Using Queries
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What are queries?3m 2s
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Simple Query Wizard4m 19s
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Build queries in Design view6m 18s
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Build expressions5m 33s
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Obtain summary statistics7m 29s
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6. Creating Forms
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Generate forms from tables5m 36s
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Use the Form Wizard3m 9s
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Form Design view5m 8s
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Find records4m 50s
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7. Creating Reports
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Introduce reports2m 46s
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Report Wizard4m 36s
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Edit a report in Design view6m 24s
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Edit a report in Layout view4m 58s
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Group and sort records5m 26s
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Create calculated totals3m 18s
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Create labels3m 21s
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Adjust print settings4m 15s
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8. Maintaining the Database
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Set startup options3m 25s
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Conclusion
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Next steps1m 1s
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Video: Document your thought process