Object Dependencies

By now you're starting to accumulate quite a few objects in your database. Access keeps track of the relationships between these objects, and it can show them to you as well. To see this in action, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tables shortcut in the database window.

2. Right-click the Catalogs table and select Object Dependencies.

3. Access may ask whether to update the dependency information in the database. Click OK.

4. Access will display the dependency information in a task pane at the side of the screen, as shown in Figure 13.18.

   Figure 13.18. Displaying the dependencies of the Catalogs table.

   

The dependent objects are presented in a treeview. You can click the plus signs to expand the treeview, up to four levels deep. For example, in this case clicking the + sign next to the Plants table will show you the objects that depend directly on that table.

This default view allows you to perform easy impact analysis. You can immediately see which objects in your database will be affected by a change to the selected object. This lets you see the repercussions of major changes (such as deleting an object or changing the columns returned by a query) before you make them.

You can also reverse the process and see the ancestors of the selected object by clicking the Objects That I Depend On option button in the Object Dependencies task pane.

The Absolute Minimum

We covered a lot of ground in this chapter, and yet we did not see everything that you can do in form design mode. This is one of the areas of Access where there is much more depth than we can cover in an introductory book. As you're working with forms in design mode, keep these points in mind:

• AutoFormats enable you to quickly change the appearance of a form.

• The Field List can be used to add new bound controls to a form.

• Both forms and the controls on forms have properties that control their appearances and behaviors. You can alter these properties by manipulating the controls directly or by changing values in the Properties window.

• The Toolbox enables you to add new controls of various types to your Access forms.

• Sections and subforms provide more advanced ways of managing the design of forms.

• You can use the Object Dependencies task pane to see how the objects in your database are related .