Chapter 12 - Using PivotTables and PivotCharts to Analyze Data

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As you know, you can view and modify data in forms, sort and filter data in queries, and print data in reports. But when you look at a form, a query, or a report, you see the results of applying a specific set of filter criteria and sort orders to a specific group of fields—you can’t change the field selection, sort orders, or filter criteria in Form view, Datasheet view (for queries), or Print Preview. For example, you might have a report that shows just the current year’s sales and groups sales alphabetically by region. This report is just what you need to view the current sales results for the Midwest region, but if you later need to view sales results by salesperson rather than by region, you would have to create a new report, and possibly a new query to use as the report’s record source.

PivotTables (a view that summarizes and analyzes data in a datasheet or form, enhanced in Microsoft Access 2002) and PivotCharts (a view that shows a graphical analysis of data in a datasheet or form, new to Access 2002) let you look at your data from many different points of view, without having to create numerous queries and reports to implement different sorts and filters. You can prepare a single query containing the data you want to work with and then do all the filtering, sorting, and cross-tabulating you want directly in the PivotTable or PivotChart. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to display your data in flexible and attractive PivotTables and PivotCharts.

You won’t see PivotTable or PivotChart groups in the Database window. In Access, these features are implemented as views of various database objects. Tables, queries, and forms have a PivotTable and a PivotChart view, which can be selected from the View menu on the Access menu bar or by using the View selector on the Form View, Design View, or Query Design toolbar. Although several different database objects have PivotTable and PivotChart views, generally forms are used to create them. For convenience, in this chapter, we’ll look at just form-based PivotTables and PivotCharts.

Both PivotTables and PivotCharts allow users to rearrange data interactively, right in the PivotTable or PivotChart view. The flexibility of PivotTables and PivotCharts means that the form designer doesn’t need to figure out in advance just how users will want to display their data; instead, the designer can concentrate on preparing a set of data for the PivotTable or PivotChart and let users arrange and summarize the data as they prefer, for whatever analysis they want to do at a particular time.

You can create a PivotTable or a PivotChart in a variety of ways in Access 2002, as you’ll see later in this chapter. You can switch to PivotTable or PivotChart view from an existing form, create a new form based on a query or table using the PivotTable Wizard, or select the AutoForm: PivotTable selection from the New Form dialog box.



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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