Reviewing Forms, Reports, and Data Access Pages

1
Chapter 3

• Reviewing Forms, Reports, and Data Access Pages

2
Chapter Objectives

• Design easy-to-use forms and data access pages
  that facilitate the entry of valid data
• Bind forms, reports, and data access pages to
  tables and queries
• Create expressions that display the result of
  calculations
• Create groups within the database window that
  contain related forms, reports, and data access
  pages

3
Reviewing Forms, Reports, and Data Access Pages

• In addition to table and query datasheets, Access
  offers three ways to display data forms, reports
  and data access pages
• These objects contain
• Sections
• For example, header and detail sections in forms,
  page and group headers in reports, and captions
  and headers in pages
• Controls
• For example, text boxes and check boxes

4
Reviewing Forms, Reports, and Data Access Pages

• Forms, reports, data access pages, and their
  corresponding sections and controls have
  properties
• Property sheet
• A window in which you can modify the properties
  of an object
• Used to specify the format of an object
• Used to specify valid input

5
Forms, Controls, and Properties

• Professionally styled Access applications have
  users enter and view data through forms (or pages
  on the Web)
• Forms
• Can be customized to mirror other documents in
  the work environment
• Help enforce data integrity by restricting the
  data that the user may enter

6
Components of a Form

• A form control
• Refers to any object that is placed on the form
• Form Header
• Contains column headings for a form
• Form Footer
• Contains controls that summarizes values in
  Detail section
• Detail section
• Values displayed change depending upon the record
  that is currently being viewed

7
Components of a Form
Figure 3-1 Design view of frmProspects
8
Unbound and Bound Forms

• Bound form
• Form that is tied to, or associated with, either
  a table or query
• Record source
• Table or query with which the form is
  associated-that is, the source of the data
• RecordSource property
• Listed in the Data tab of the forms property
  sheet
• May contain the name of the table, the name of a
  query, or an SQL statement

9
Unbound and Bound Forms

• Unbound form
• Form that is not tied to any table or query
• Splashscreen
• Displays one or more brief messages to the user
  that automatically appear and disappear
• Switchboard
• Do not display data, but rather contain command
  buttons that open reports or other forms

10
Controls

• ControlSource property
• Located in the Data tab of the controls property
  sheet
• Unbound controls
• Controls that do not have a value for their
  control source property

11
Properties

• A property sheet contains five tabs
• Properties in
• Data tab
• Specify the record or control source
• Format tab
• Control the aesthetics of the object
• Event tab
• Used to link an object to a VBA procedure or macro

12
Properties

• A property sheet contains five tabs (cont.)
• Other tab
• Contains miscellaneous properties such as the
  name of an object
• Name property
• Used in VBA procedures and macros to refer to
  object
• All tab
• Displays all of the properties specified

13
Form Style

• Tips that facilitate good form style
• Use a consistent color and formatting scheme
• Use a consistent button, menu, and toolbar scheme
  across related forms
• Restrict the amount of text and pictures on a
  form to a volume that a use can easily comprehend
• Use a soft coloring scheme that is easy to look
  at for long periods of time

14
Form Style

• Tips that facilitate good form style (cont.)
• Build an application that helps the user remember
  valid data entries
• Test the user interface for understandability of
  the graphics and for cultural sensitivity
• Determine the type of monitors that will be used
  in conjunction with your application

15
Form Style

• Tips that facilitate good form style (cont.)
• Use shortcut keys or access keys to allow the
  selection of menus, toolbars, and command buttons
  through keystrokes
• A shortcut key is a keystroke that executes a
  menu item or command immediately
• An access key moves the focus to an item in the
  menu

16
Working with Forms

• You can place a background image on a form by
  specifying the path to a picture in a forms
  Picture property
• Background colors of controls and from sections
  are set through the BackColor property
• The text color of a control is set using a
  controls ForeColor property

17
Working with Forms
Table 3-1 Common form design tasks
18
Working with Forms

• To remove the navigation buttons that appear on
  the bottom of the form
• Select No in the forms NavigationButtons
  properties
• To remove the record selector that appears on the
  side of the form
• Select No in the forms RecordSelector properties

19
Working with Forms
Table 3-2 Form design wizards
20
Working with Forms
Table 3-2 Form design wizards (continued)
21
Controls That Organize Tab Controls and Subforms

• When you use a Tab Control control instance to
  organize controls on a form, the user can click a
  tab to display the controls that are located
  within the particular tab
• Subform control instance
• Allows a form (referred o as the main form) to
  display the contents of another record source

22
Controls That Organize Tab Controls and Subforms

• The property sheet of the subform identifies the
  fields that link the main form (Link Master
  Fields property) to the subform (Link Child
  Fields property)
• Source Object property
• Contains the name of the form displayed by the
  subform

23
Controls That Display and Update Data

• When you modify a form or create an unbound form,
  you can place controls on a form by
• Clicking a control on the toolbox and then
  dragging the mouse on the form to indicate the
  location and size of the control
• If the toolbox is not displayed, click the
  Toolbox button in the toolbar
• Field list
• Contains a list of fields in a forms record
  source

24
Controls That Display and Update Data
Table 3-3 Data entry and display controls in
Access
25
Controls That Display and Update Data

• Calculated control
• A control with an expression
• RowSource property
• Contains an SQL statement or the name of a table
  or query that contains the values to be displayed
  in the combo box
• May return more than one field

26
Controls That Display and Update Data

• BoundColumn property
• Identifies the field that will become the value
  of the combo box after the user selects an item
• Contains an integer that corresponds to the order
  of the column
• ColumnWidths property
• Indicates the size of the fields to be displayed
  within the combo box
• Occasionally, a width is set equal to zero

27
ActiveX Controls

• ActiveX controls
• Similar to Access controls, except they have been
  developed for other applications
• Clicking More Controls in the toolbox
• Displays a list of ActiveX controls

28
ActiveX Controls

• Spin button
• Allows a user to click on an arrow to increase or
  decrease the value of a field
• Amount of the increase is set up in the controls
  SmallChange property
• Contains the Maximum and Minimum properties that
  restrict the valid values that can be entered

29
Option Groups

• Option group
• Displays a group frame containing toggle buttons,
  option buttons, or check boxes
• Ensures that the user will select a valid value

30
Working with Property Sheets to Enforce Data
Validity

• To allow users to change the data on a form, you
  must set the forms AllowEdits property to Yes
• Set AllowDeletions to Yes to allow users to
  delete records
• Set AllowAdditions to Yes to allow users to add
  new records

31
Working with Property Sheets to Enforce Data
Validity

• To change the value displayed through a control,
  set the Locked property to No and the Enabled
  property to Yes
• A way to distinguish controls is to change the
  BackStyle property to transparent

32
Working with Property Sheets to Enforce Data
Validity

• Input Mask, Validation Rule, Validation Text, and
  Default Value are important properties in the
  Data tab of a control
• Similar to the field properties with the same
  names found in the tables Design view
• Access automatically uses them when these values
  are set as field properties within the controls
  ControlSource property

33
Creating Conditional Formats

• Conditional Formatting dialog box
• Opened from the Format menu
• Specifies the conditional formats
• Field Value Is condition
• Sets the format when the value of the
  corresponding control meets certain conditions

34
Creating Conditional Formats

• Expression Is condition
• Allows you to change the properties of one
  control while testing the values of different
  controls
• Field Has Focus condition
• Allows you to change properties when the user
  places the cursor in the control
• ForeColor, BackColor, and Enabled properties
• Can be changed when the condition is True

35
Form Design Considerations That Influence
Maintenance

• Organization and standards are half the battle
  when creating easy-to-maintain systems
• One standard that facilitates programming and
  maintenance is consistent use of object naming
  conventions
• These naming conventions require tags to appear
  in front of all object names

36
Creating Reports

• Reports
• Provide access to data in tables and queries
• Read-only access
• Means that the report cannot modify data in its
  record source
• Normally, reports are printed on paper

37
Report Sections

• Controls in the Report Header appear once at the
  beginning of the report
• Controls in the Report Footer appear at the end
  of the report
• Page Headers and Page Footers display controls at
  the beginning and end of the page, respectively

38
Report Sections

• Report group
• Set of records that share a common value for a
  particular field
• Controls in a Group Header appear at the
  beginning of a report group
• Controls in the Group Footer appear at the end of
  a report group

39
Report Sections
Figure 3-10 rptEmployer
40
Report Sections
Figure 3-11 rptEmployer in Design View
41
Report Wizards

• Simplest way to create a report is through report
  wizards
• Similar to form wizards
• Available from the shortcut menu prompts for the
  tables and queries for the record source

42
Data Access Pages

• Data access pages
• Special Web interface supported by Access
• Stored as an HTML file
• HTML files do not physically reside inside an
  Access mdb file
• Icons within the Page tab of the Database window
  point to the HTML file
• The HTML file contains a reference back to the
  database

43
Creating a Data Access Page

• Header sections
• Display records from a table or query
• RecordSource property
• Identifies table or query used to supply data to
  section
• Bound HTML control
• Similar to a locked text box, but is preferred
  because it displays data more efficiently
• Controls that display or update data have a
  ControlSource property

44
Creating a Data Access Page

• You can add bound controls to a section by
  dragging a field from the Field List window

Figure 3-13 Field list window of a data access
page
45
Creating a Data Access Page
Figure 3-14 Page view of pagCitizenships
46
Creating a Data Access Page
Figure 3-15 Design view of pagCitizenship
47
Creating a Data Access Page

• Footer
• Displayed at the end of a group
• Caption
• Contains labels that appear prior to the data in
  the Header
• Navigation section
• Contains controls that allow the user to navigate
  through various displayed records

48
Creating a Data Access Page

• Sorting and Grouping window
• Specifies whether these sections are created
• Data Page Size text box
• Located in the Sorting and Grouping window
• Indicates the number of records that should be
  displayed at one time

49
Creating a Data Access Page
Figure 3-16 Sorting and Grouping window
50
Creating a Data Access Page

• To create a new group, click the control to
  promote it and then
• Click Promote or
• Click Group by Table in the toolbar
• Creates a section that will contain all of the
  fields in the table
• Clicking Demote removes a section

51
Chapter Summary

• Forms, reports, and data access pages are the
  system from an end users point of view
• Forms
• Principal interface of an application
• Display data and allow the user to update data
• Should be designed to help the user enter valid
  data
• Reports support printed reports
• Data access pages support interaction through the
  Web

52
Chapter Summary

• Most forms, reports, and data access pages are
  bound to a table or query through the
  RecordSource property
• Wizards are frequently used to create an initial
  version of a form, report, and data access page
• Forms, reports, and data access pages should obey
  proper design characteristics