New to Access

[jeffe333]

Hi,



I am brand new to Access, and I've been asked to be responsible for inputting data from a pre-filled questionnaire into an Access db. The entries in the db field are supposed to match up w/ the questionnaire, however, this is not the case. I've found a viewer (http://www.alexnolan.net/software/mdb_viewer_plus.htm) so as to be able to access the db, but I am unable to find the entries I need to change w/in the db. For instance, all the tables are listed under CatID, yet I don't see the data in that table anywhere. It's also quite possible that I'm using the incorrect terminology. If so, I apologize. Is anyone able to tell me how to query this db for the data I need. I'm certain that you'll require further information from me. If so, please do not hesitate to ask, and I will be more than happy to provide whatever information you require in order to help. Thank you.


Jeff

[jeffe333]

Hi,

I previously posted this, but it's not showing up in the forum, so I'm trying again. I'm new to Access, and I've been asked to input data from a pre-filled questionnaire into an Access db. The problem is, the data in the questionnaire is not in the same order as it's presented in Access. I've found a viewer that will allow me to access the underlying tables, but I'm not able to find the data that I'm looking for. I was hoping that someone might be able to point me in the right direction. If you require specific examples of what I'm seeing and what I'm looking for, I'll be more than happy to provide them. Thank you.


Jeff

[AlexHedley]

Do you have the Table schema?

Are you entering the questionnaire data into Access directly into a Table or through a Form?

You say the order is off, why not reorder it?

[jeffe333]

Thanks so much for your reply, Alex! What exactly do you mean by the table schema? I'm entering the data through a form, but I found a viewer online that allows me to access the underlying structure of the tables. Re-ordering is exactly what I'd like to do. What would be the best way to go about doing this?

[jeffe333]

Btw, I'm using something called MDB Plus to view the data. I wasn't able to open this db in Access w/out also opening the form.

[AlexHedley]

The Table Schema is the structure of the Table, i.e. what Fields do you have in the Table.

e.g. A Students Table:
StudentID | AutoNumber | Primary Key
FirstName | Text
LastName | Text
DOB | DateTime
etc

--
Really you shouldn't enter data directly into the Table, you should create a Form and use that to Enter/Edit data, although if you have a lot to do it does seems the better choice.

Therefore the order in the Table is irrelevant since the order can be changed on the Form and it will still all go into the Table.
If you do want to change the Table order go to Design View then just click on the field and drag it to where you want it to be in the order.

You say you can't open it in Access without opening the Form, this is a little confusing.
There should be a Navigation Pane on the left hand side that is made up of all your Access Objects - Tables, Forms, Reports etc.
This can be filtered to show only certain objects.
You can double click on any of these to open.

I've never used this viewer you mention but if you have Access why use something else?

[June7]

A table is a 'bucket', tables do not have 'order', just drop stuff in the bucket (data entry). Use queries to filter/sort on whichever field(s) you want (date, customer ID, account number, last name, zip code, etc).

That viewer might be a nice tool for casual use or, as the site stated, for a developer who want's an interface to a backend other than the frontend. But if you need to work with a database a lot, better get to know database principles, Access functionality, and programming (macros and/or VBA) so you can build what you need. That viewer won't get you there.

I merged the two threads.

[Dal Jeanis]

jeffe -
1) Just to clarify, how do you know that the entries in the form are not matching up with the table?
2) do you have a full copy of MS Access available to you, or are you using a runtime version?
3) What is the file extension of the database (mdb, accdb, accdr, or whatever)

As a general case, if the database hasn't been carefully secured, you should be able to create a blank (junk) database, import the tables and forms from the live database, and then look at the form and the code behind it to see what tables the form is linked to.

Once you have done that and looked it over, then start posting very specific questions here, and we'll walk you through it. For example - "I need to add some entries to a dropdown box called cbo123. How do I do that?"

[jeffe333]

Hi All,

Thank you for your replies! I'll try to reply to the questions posed to me in the order they were posted in this thread.

Alex: When I say that I can't access the db in Access, what I mean is, when I open the file, which has an .mdb extension, it opens the form in Access. It doesn't show me the underlying db. I know what you mean when you say that it should have the management pane on the left, but I don't see that when this files is opened.

Dal: I think that I should clarify. It's not that the form and the table don't match up. The data is getting to the right place in the db. The problem is, I have two questionnaires: One paper questionnaire and one Access form questionnaire. They should both be identical. In other words, all the questions should appear in the same order in both. However, they do not, so it greatly slows the process of entering the data. I do have a full copy of Access, and the file extension of the form/db that I'm working w/ is .mdb.

Ideally, I like the idea of rearranging the data in the form, since the db is just a bucket for the info. What would be the best way to do this? Thank you.

[June7]

Hold down shift key while opening db. This should override most custom settings and automatic code execution and make the navigation pane and full ribbon available.

Making database data entry form look like paper questionnaire form is difficult if not impossible in a normalized structure.

[jeffe333]

I Googled how to make changes to a form, and I read about opening the form in design view, which I did. However, when it shows the variables in the db, they're all listed in alphabetical order in a long list. However, there are multiple forms, and each one should have a list that is in alphabetical order, yet they aren't. This is the change I need to make. How can I view each form individually?

[AlexHedley]

Just do the reverse:

Prevent the Navigation Pane from appearing when you open a database

Open the database.

Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Access Options.

Click the Current Database category, and under Navigation, clear the Display Navigation Pane check box.

Click OK. You must close and reopen the database to see the effects of the option.

[AlexHedley]

Just open each Form one at a time from the Navigation Pane.

[jeffe333]

Thank you, Alex. I was able to access the navigation pane. After further review of this problem, it appears that the hard-copy forms we have are different for different waves of this project that we're working on. Therefore, changing the form to match the current questionnaire we have wouldn't completely resolve the issue, b/c we'd have to do it again in the next wave. I'm not sure that there's a good solution to this problem.

[AlexHedley]

Are they different questions each time?

You could have a Form and related Table for each Questionnaire