In the Real WorldPutting What You ve Learned in Perspective

In the Real World Putting What You've Learned in Perspective

If you're new to Access, many terms used in this chapter might sound like ancient Aramaic. The objective was to give you an overview of some of the most important objects that make up an Access application, the relationships between these objects, and how you assemble the objects you create into self-contained, easily navigable applications. Using the Database Wizard helps you quickly understand the components and comprehend the behavior of a completed Access application. If you're interested in designing an Access inventory management application, for example, use the Inventory Control template to create an elementary sample application. You're likely to find that one of the Database Wizard or downloaded templates bears some resemblance to your intended application. Most Access 2003 templates that appear in the task pane's Search Results page have sample data, which makes it easier to determine if you can use the design as a starting point for the application you intend to create.

If you didn't perform the step-by-step tutorial to create the sample application and Web page of this chapter, not to worry. There's a copy of the Contacts.mdb database and Contacts2.htm in the \Seua11\Chaptr02 folder of the accompanying CD-ROM. Sample databases for most of the chapters are included in corresponding \Seua11\Chaptr## folders.

Data access pages were Access's initial approach to browser-based collaboration on private intranets and the public Internet. You can use Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 to display and edit data in Access's Jet or MSDE databases. Access 2003's new capability to export tables and queries or link to Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) lists is an alternative database collaboration method. WSS runs only under Windows Server 2003, which is an initial impediment to widespread SharePoint deployment. Unless your organization is an early WSS adopter, DAP is your best bet for creating simple browser-based front ends to Access 2003 and SQL Server 2000 databases. Chapter 24, "Designing and Deploying Data Access Pages," and Chapter 25, "Converting Access Objects to Data Access Pages," show you how to take best advantage of DAP, and Chapter 26, "Integrating with InfoPath and SharePoint Services," describes how to get the most out of InfoPath and WSS with Access 2003 data sources.

The remainder of this book covers each category of Access objects in detail, beginning with Table and Query objects and then progressing to Form and Report objects. By the time you get about halfway through this book, you gain the experience necessary to design your own versions of these objects. The last half of this book deals with advanced topics, such as exporting Access forms and reports to XML-based Web pages, using InfoPath to edit tables of Access databases, generating SharePoint lists from tables and queries, creating data access pages with Spreadsheet, PivotTable, and PivotChart controls, and writing professional-quality VBA code.