Uses of Microsoft Access

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Microsoft Access is an all-in-one database program that can store data internally or link to data in external sources. The data applications you can create range from simple to sophisticated. You can use Access to create address books or invitation lists or to create a database to house your personal CD collection. With some programming knowledge, you can create single-user applications for small businesses (perhaps linking to Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel), or you can create sophisticated multiuser client-server databases to run on an intranet or the Internet (linked to data stored in Microsoft SQL Server databases).

Access provides excellent design tools for creating forms for entering and editing data and for creating reports that you can use to collect and present that data. Access forms and reports can be connected to local tables, linked to external data sources, or converted to data access pages to display information on the Web or a company intranet. This flexibility allows you to use Access either as an all-in-one database containing both data tables and interface objects or as a front-end database with links to data stored in other sources.

Front-End and Back-End Databases

Access databases are often split into a back-end database, which contains the data tables, and a front-end database, which contains the forms, reports, data access pages, and other interface and supporting components. Splitting a database allows the interface components to be replaced or modified without disturbing the data in the tables.

See Chapter 15, "Using Add-Ins Expand Access Functionality," for more details on using the Database Splitter utility.

Access is also an excellent prototyping tool. With Access, you can design forms and reports that are bound to Access tables filled with dummy data to show potential users how the final database will look. When the interface design has been finalized, you can connect the forms and reports to real data in another Access database or in a SQL Server database. You can even start with an Access database that stores data internally and then upsize to a SQL Server back end with a user-friendly Access front end when the size of the tables (or the need to connect via the Internet) makes it appropriate to store data in SQL Server tables.

The following sections introduce you to the main Access components, as well as the general tools and utilities you’ll use to work with Access databases.



Microsoft Access Version 2002 Inside Out
Microsoft Access Version 2002 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft))
ISBN: 0735612838
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 172
Authors: Helen Feddema

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