Understand the role of forms

- [Instructor] The next Access object that we're gonna start working with is forms. Form objects serve several important roles in the database. First, forms create the main user interface for your database and allow you to set up the navigation systems and group tasks together in ways that make sense for your organization. Forms provide a blank canvas for you to populate with lots of objects, in order to manipulate the data and functionality of the database. You'll do this by adding references to table fields and records and other control objects, such as buttons, that are attached to macros or Visual Basic routines in order to provide interactivity and trigger pre-scripted events.

You can also create a unique experience for the users of your database by adding images and using font and color schemes that are pleasing to work with and that support the organization's brand. Finally, you can add additional interactive controls to your data, such as toggle buttons and dropdown combo boxes and charts. Primarily forms will be used to interact with your data. They typically display one record at a time in a highly customizable way so that you can see the entire picture of how the related fields come together. Each field on a form acts as a window into a single cell on the source table and any edits that you make on the form get saved right back into the table.

Forms are also used to for managing the business of managing the database. They don't have to be connected to a data source at all. They can merely act as an interface for your users to provide parameters for query criteria and to generate customized reports. Forms can also be used to organize buttons into logical groupings or related tasks. For example, with the navigation form, you can use buttons to move from object to object completely bypassing the long list in the navigation pane. In fact, a well-crafted database often bypasses the navigation pane altogether.

This allows you to work in a way that makes sense for your particular workflow and sequence. As an added benefit, or maybe even the most important benefit, this also keeps people focused on the areas of the database that they should be working with and can help keep them out of areas that should stay behind the scenes. So that's a little bit about the role of forms and how they serve Access Databases. Let's dig in and start creating some of our own.